Quality Assurance

We offer a wide range of quality services for schools, academies and other local authorities, reflecting our commitment to ‘excellence and inclusion’ – giving every child the best possible start in life.

We have a rigorous system for quality assurance, which supports a culture of continuous improvement in all services. We aim to:

• secure consistency in quality standards across our range of services;
• demonstrate our commitment to continuously improving services;
• provide clear expectations for managers and staff in delivering quality services.

Our approach to quality assurance means that we:

• regularly monitor our performance against a specific set of customer service standards and service impact measures;
• use customer feedback to improve and develop services;
• have a defined and transparent process for addressing any problems or issues with services.

These processes are supported by:

• Service Level Agreements/contracts;
• service specific guidance and handbooks;
• the County Council’s Performance Management Framework.

Customer service standards and service impact measures

All our services are committed to the following customer service standards. We report on performance against these standards on an annual basis.

Customer feedback

We routinely use customer feedback to inform service development. We will seek your views using a combination of the following methods:

• annual meeting with account manager;

• annual satisfaction survey;

• complaints, compliments and comments;

• evaluation of specific events or interventions;

• specific user focus groups.

Annual meeting with account manager

You will be allocated a dedicated account manager, who is your main point of contact for any general queries about purchasing County Council services. Your account manager will arrange to meet with you on an annual basis to discuss satisfaction with services over the year, answer any questions, and begin a dialogue on services you may wish to purchase in the following year.

Satisfaction survey

At the same time as the annual meeting, you will be invited to participate in an online satisfaction survey. This is an optional survey to collect objective feedback from customers about the quality of services purchased. You will be asked questions on:

• your experience of our customer service standards;

• your overall level of satisfaction with services;

• whether you feel services provide value for money;

• where you think we could improve, or develop new services.

A summary of responses will be available from our website to help you make an informed choice about the services you might want to purchase. We will use more detailed analysis of the results to support improvements in the quality of existing services and inform the development of new services to meet demand.

Complaints, compliments and comments

We welcome comments at any time, whether positive or negative on all aspects of our services. Any comments, compliments or complaints should be submitted to your account manager, who will forward to the relevant service and co-ordinate the response process on your behalf. We will acknowledge all complaints within five working days and give a full response within 20 working days.

All complaints, compliments and comments are monitored to ensure that customer feedback informs service development.

Evaluation of specific events or interventions

A number of services ask customers to complete evaluations following specific events or interventions, such as training courses. We will use your responses to inform improvement of the specific service/course provided; but also to inform overall development of the services we offer.

Specific user focus groups

If we are proposing a fundamental change in a service, or developing a new service, we may ask you to join a user focus group. These will be timelimited and focused on the specific service being considered.

Addressing problems or under performance

We have a two step process for addressing any problems or issues, which ensures that these are resolved promptly and escalated where appropriate.

First step - contact relevant service:
In the event of a problem with a service, please inform the appropriate service lead, who will discuss a solution with you and take the necessary action.

Second step - inform account manager:

Where a problem is not resolved satisfactorily, please inform your account manager, who will investigate and co-ordinate a response. Any issues identified through account manager meetings, or the annual satisfaction survey, will be addressed through the service planning and improvement process. Progress will be monitored internally through the County Council’s Performance Management Framework.