Developing a self-assessment framework, then applying it across almost 60 services, was never going to be easy. But, says West Lothian Council, the belief, effort and commitment that led to the Public Service Improvement Framework (PSIF) has benefitted both the Council and its citizens.
West Lothian Council established a partnership with Quality Scotland, Investors in People Scotland and the Cabinet Office to develop a holistic framework which would drive continuous improvement throughout the authority and challenge and stimulate service performance.
The fruition of this partnership was the Public Service Improvement Framework (PSIF): a framework which comprised the legislative duties of Best Value with the structure and rigour of the EFQM excellence model and focus of the IIP and Charter Mark standards.
The PSIF is fully implemented across the broad spectrum of the authority's services and is now the foundation for excellence, performance and service planning and improvement activities with fifty-eight assessments carried out in a two-year rolling programme.
Applying the PSIF Framework
Implementing the PSIF across nearly sixty services has not been achieved without overcoming barriers and challenges, such as balancing the demands of service delivery with improvement activities. The PSIF requires a commitment from service teams of time and people resources to achieve effective results from the process. However, there is a strong, collective belief in West Lothian Council that the investment of time and resources would prove beneficial to the organisation and, ultimately, the community.
The implementation of the framework is facilitated and co-ordinated by a central quality team of three FTE Quality Development Officers. This central support team ensures the consistent application of the framework across service areas assisting senior managers in identifying and highlighting the benefits of the process for service managers and their teams. There are continuous, significant and effective communication exercises conducted across the organisation which help to establish realistic expectations of the level of activity involved in this framework.
Benefits of PSIF
The use of the PSIF has developed the necessary capabilities in our people to be honest, open, accountable and effective in offering a critical and constructive evaluation of their service performance.
Other high profile benefits have included the corporate recognition for WLC in IIP and successful accreditation to the Charter Mark standard – now known as the new Customer Service Standard.
The PSIF was used to prepare services for the Best Value audit and afforded services a rigorous self-assessment before the inspection which highlighted areas of good performance and areas for improvement prior to an external audit
Crucial to the success of the PSIF in WLC, is the commitment at a corporate level to the framework, which has been cascaded throughout the organisation from its inception to the present day. This is essential to establishing the PSIF within services and driving the assessment schedule.
