Improvement Service

BENEFITS QUESTIONS

•    What are the benefits to my organisation of implementing the PSIF?

PSIF is an amalgamation of the criteria from the EFQM Excellence Model, the Investors in People standard and the Customer Service Excellence standard. It integrates the assessment approaches delivered by these frameworks and therefore minimises duplication of assessments and increases efficiency. What’s more, PSIF will help support the delivery of Best Value in your organisation.

The benefits of the framework are clearly demonstrated by the local authority which developed it. West Lothian Council has deployed the framework across all its services (excluding schools) and as a result has achieved national recognition for its performance, customer focus and culture of excellence including:

•    An excellent Best Value Audit report in 2005
•    Retention of the IIP standard council-wide since 2001
•    Council-wide Charter Mark for all services (excluding schools) in 2007
•    Transition to the CSE standard using the PSIF for 10 services
•    Housing Services won the Scottish Awards for Business Excellence in 2006 and were finalists for the 2007 EFQM Excellence award


•    What is the main benefit of using PSIF rather than another quality framework?

PSIF is an amalgamation of the criteria from the EFQM Excellence Model, the Investors in People standard and the Customer Service Excellence standard. It integrates the assessment approaches delivered by these frameworks and therefore minimises duplication of assessments and increases efficiency.

The PSIF also clearly links to other existing frameworks in use within the public sector in Scotland, reducing duplication of effort.  As public sector organisations consider the Crerar Review of 2007, a comprehensive and rigorous self-evaluation process such as PSIF, which is recognised for delivering results for organisations, their customers and stakeholders, would provide the ideal framework for improvement in the future.  The PSIF has been mapped with those frameworks used by regulatory bodies such as SWIA, HMIE and SLIC.  These bodies have also agreed to accept evidence towards future inspections via the PSIF framework reducing duplication of effort and time within local authorities.  The PSIF operates as a partnership with a dynamic learning and sharing forum hosted online and via a schedule of networking and learning events.  This provides a meaningful and open forum to share lessons learned and offer the opportunity for further benchmarking.