​Quality & Development Directorate

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The Quality and Development Directorate within the People & Standards Division is responsible for the convergence of the quality and training strategy across the Public Service by spearheading the vision of shaping a Public Service culture towards a Service of Excellence through its people. 

It targets a Service of Excellence across the Public Service with the customer taking centre stage. The on-going service of excellence effort steered by this Directorate is multi-dimensional and includes among others:

1. a Mystery Shopping project that involves gauging the customer experience of obtaining a public service, based on ten determinants of quality, with the aim of continuously improving the service for the benefit of the customer;
2. a customer service Quality Assessment exercise carried out at random public service offices/departments that offer services to the public, to assess them on ten determinants of quality, with the corresponding aim of continuously improving the service delivery at these customer service areas;
3. a ‘Rate the Public Service’ mobile app and a tablet exercise, wherein both cases, a customer can rate a public service area from where a service has just been accessed or received, with a view to evaluating areas according to feedback from members of the general public.

The findings derived from each of these tools are analysed by the Directorate for evaluation purposes and an action plan for the way forward is drawn up on an ongoing basis, keeping in view the priority of instilling within the Public Service a culture of excellence for the benefit of the general public whom we serve.

This Directorate, through its Quality Assurance Section, monitors training programmes and their delivery to ensure that the development of public officers is in cohension with the Quality Strategy. 

The Quality Award is managed by this Directorate.  It is conferred as a recognition to departments or entities within the Public Administration that have a proven record of providing a service of excellence to customers embracing the 4 Pillars Quality Model, upon which the Public Service is based.  The Quality Award is designed to provide a path towards achieving an excellent level of service delivery based on constant monitoring, evaluation and improvement.

The Appreciation Award – Quality Service, launched by the Office of the Principal Permanent Secretary in 2020, is being administered by the People & Standards Division (Quality & Development).
It recognises employees in the Public Administration who have provided an outstanding service to clients.  This award is an opportunity to award employees who have the common wellbeing of society at heart and who are dedicated, cherish their work and go the extra mile in the execution of their duties.

At the same time the Directorate manages the Common Assessment Framework (CAF), a quality management tool applicable to the Public Administration, to ensure continuous improvement. The CAF Effective User Label is administered by the Directorate. The CAF helps organisations to perform a self-assessment with the involvement of all staff, to develop an improvement plan based on the results of the self-assessment and to implement the improvement actions.  ​