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1. The Charter Mark should be repositioned as a combination of the unique comprehensive diagnostic tool for public services which enables organisations to achieve continuous improvement, together with the demonstration of outcomes through the measurement of customer satisfaction.
2. The new Charter Mark should continue to deliver the benefits of staff recognition and celebration of achievement.
3. The new Charter Mark should be totally aligned with the five key drivers of customer satisfaction, subject to their validation in the context of public services in this country. The validation process should be completed within three months. Any existing Charter Mark criteria not relevant to these key drivers should be dropped.
4. The scheme should incorporate a framework for more rigorous measurement of customer satisfaction built around the same key drivers. Surveys should be commissioned and owned by organisations delivering public services but with the requirement to include a minimum set of common core questions and to employ a robust methodology.
5. The combination of the redesigned diagnostic quality improvement tool and new customer satisfaction measurement framework should form a new scheme to replace the Charter Mark. This should be given a new name and branding to signal the scale of change and fresh direction. These should be developed in the next six weeks before the results of this Review are announced together with an implementation plan.
6. The rejuvenated Charter Mark should be positioned to play an important role in the broader landscape of Service Transformation and the reform of public services to meet rising and changing public expectations
7. The new Charter Mark should continue to be subject to rigorous external validation by accredited organisations so that results can be relied upon by others, but the processes should be streamlined with more reliance on organisations undertaking self-assessment. Accreditation should be undertaken on a rolling annual basis using risk-based sample checks and visits.
8. Having established basic and universal criteria for the new Charter Mark scheme (based on the five drivers of customer satisfaction), detailed criteria, specific guidance and case studies should be developed to match the needs of particular sectors.
9. Work should be taken forward (with endorsement by Ministers) by inspectors and regulators - for example in the health, education and local authority sectors - to find ways in which their inspections could place reliance (in part) on the new Charter Mark, with its emphasis on externally validated demonstration of outcomes. Where this can be achieved, those organisations which choose to acquire the new Charter Mark would benefit from improved efficiency through relief from regulatory burden.
10. The new Charter Mark scheme should be mainly targeted at organisations which deliver public services, whether they are in the public, private or not-for-profit sectors. Outsourced private sector organisations should be encouraged to participate in the new scheme.
11. The new Charter Mark should be designed to act as a spur for continuous improvement. There should be levels which can be achieved for each criterion, and awards made per sector at individual/ team/organisational level at high profile events which would celebrate and publicise achievement and success.
12. Given the important role which the new Charter Mark could play in the ongoing transformation of public services, it cannot be totally outsourced. There should be a central unit in the Cabinet Office or Prime Minister's Delivery Unit to run the scheme, lead the increased marketing which will be needed, manage outsourced service providers and ensure there is maximum impact on improving standards of public services. Sponsorship of this unit could well sit with the Service Transformation Board (or the Delivery Council which is under consideration).
13. The majority of the new scheme delivery should be undertaken by the private sector. There should be further work to define the scope of outsourced service provision, with potential for several providers to be granted a three-year franchise subject to regular re-competition. There may also be possibilities to enter into joint venture or collaborative arrangements with private sector organisations to deliver aspects of the scheme, and these should be explored.
14. Most of the cost of the scheme operation should continue to be carried by the organisations which seek and gain the new Charter Mark accreditation. Other income should be gained from sponsorship of award ceremonies, provision of surveys and benchmarking services and marketing activities, for example teaming with a national newspaper to produce an annual supplement on excellent public services.
15. Charter Mark holders have valued the endorsement they have received from Ministers and previous high profile Charter Mark award events. The new scheme should not lose these features or break this connection with Ministers. The scheme should be seen as a valuable lever for the Government to drive up standards as it seeks to measure and improve delivery of public services by Departments and Agencies, and Ministers should be seen to be actively engaged in this initiative.
16. Once the rebranding work has been completed, there should be a high profile launch event to announce the results of this Review and the implementation plan for the new scheme, setting out how this fits with the broader Service Transformation and public service improvement landscape.