Service First (Citizen's Charter and Complaints Procedures)

Charter Documents

The Government renamed the Citizen's Charter Programme as "Service First - the new charter programme" in 1998 to reflect the emphasis on providing responsive public services that meet people's real needs.

Charters, or equivalent documents play an important role in delivering better services to the public. As part of our commitment for the better delivery of our services, we have published the following codes and customer charters from our inspectorates.

• Egg Marketing Inspectorate code of practice and customer charter
• Fish Health Inspectorate code of practice and customer charter
• Horticultural Marketing Inspectorate for England and Wales code of practice and customer charter
• Plant Health and Seeds Inspectorate charter document and code of enforcement
• Plant Variety Rights Office and Seeds Division charter document
• Sea Fisheries Inspectorate charter document and code of enforcement

We have also set out the procedures you should follow if you have a complaint about the services provided by the various Inspectorates.

Putting Things Right: the complaints procedures for Defra

A complaint is any written or spoken expression of dissatisfaction with the service we provide. We aim to ensure that we:

• treat complaints seriously and deal with them properly;
• resolve complaints promptly and informally whenever possible; and
• learn from complaints and take action to improve our service.
  

Click here for further information about our complaints procedures.