Proudly announcing...
Council officers receive national recognition for confidently representing the professional face of local government to the Scottish public
At an Awards Ceremony held in Paisley Town Hall on 3rd December 2009, a number of local government staff from across Scotland received national recognition for confidently representing the professional face of local government to the Scottish public.
Jim McPhee of Renfrewshire Council was named winner of the Candidate of the Year in The Customer Service Professional Qualifications, Scottish local government’s new SQA-certificated professional qualifications.
Jim, who has been employed with Renfrewshire Council since April 2008 as a Customer Services Advisor in the Council’s Contact Centre, also enjoys the distinction of being one of Scotland’s first Customer Service Professional graduates.
Runner up was Carla Forbes, Service Point Assistant, Highland Council and joint third were Alison Gudgeon, Service Point Officer, again of Highland Council, and Valerie Carrick, Customer Liaison Officer at Falkirk Council.
In its inaugural year, the Award celebrates learners who have demonstrated outstanding commitment, transferred their knowledge and understanding to improve their own or their service’s working methods, inspired others, or overcome specific challenges to achieve their Customer Service Professional Qualification.
Launched initially in 2008, The Customer Service Professional Qualifications have been developed by councils, for councils involving excellent collaborative working across local authorities and a great deal of hard work on the part of The Improvement Service and a consortium of Scottish councils led by Renfrewshire Council.
The Qualifications are endorsed by COSLA, the umbrella body for Scottish local government, certificated by the Scottish Qualifications Authority and are portable across all Scottish local authorities. The Qualifications are designed to provide real, useful skills for public sector customer service employees; recognise and reward professionalism in Scottish local government and associated bodies and raise standards for new and existing staff.
Councillor Michael Cook of Scottish Borders Council and COSLA’s Strategic Human Resource Management spokesperson says,
“We all know that professionalism of staff is an important driver of customer satisfaction - as Scottish local government enters a more challenging financial climate, ensuring staff receive the right support and training to deliver effective customer service will become more and more important.
We warmly congratulate each of the winners on the twin achievement of graduating in the Qualification and receiving their well-deserved award. As well as serving as a positive example to others, their hard work and commitment are helping to deliver improved outcomes for their own service areas and for the citizens and communities which their Councils serve.”
Over half, and more in the pipeline, of Scotland’s 32 councils are now offering the Qualifications to their staff.
More information/contacts:
Martin Brown, Head of Customer Relationship Management, The Improvement Service
(e): martin.brown@improvementservice.org.uk
(t): 01506-775583
(m): 07824-548407
www.customerserviceprofessional.co.uk
