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Sources of help and advice

Department of Trade and Industry

Management Best Practise

DTI's Management Best Practise InterNet web site provides access to a range of information and services designed to help companies improve their business performance through management best practises, techniques and technologies.

InterNET address: http://www.dti.gov.uk/

Connect for Better Business offers a window into best practise in action. It is a nation-wide programme that shows companies how they can improve performance and focuses on the key issues for managers today. It is built around a series of ten integrated modules on CD-ROM which are used in presentations, one-to-one sessions, seminars and events across the UK. For further information contact your local Business Link or call:

Tel: 01782 371800

Inside UK Enterprise offers the opportunity to visit leading companies employing best management practises.

Tel:01730 235015

The United Kingdom Benchmaking Index offers high quality benchmaking information and advice. A company is assessed against Financial, Management and Business Excellence measures. A detailed analysis of company performance focuses attention on areas of the company where there is room for improvement. For further information contact your local Business Link, TEC or LEC. Software Quality: TickIT
DTI supported the TickIT scheme which offers third-party certification to BS EN ISO 9000 of quality management systems for software development. Responsibility for the management of this scheme now rests with DISC, the information services arm of BSI. Further information can be obtained from:
DISC TickIT Office
389 Chiswick High Road
London W4 4AL
Tel: (020) 8996 9000
Fax: (020) 8 996 7400

Local offices of the Department of Trade and Industry

The local offices of the Department of Trade and Industry situated in Government Offices around the country, and the equivalent Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales offices, offer a wide range of information and advice. Contacts are:

East
Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk
Tel: 01223 461939
Fax: 01223 461941

East Midlands
Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland
Tel: 0115 971 9971
Fax: 0115 971 2404

London
Tel: 020 7217 3456
Fax: 020 7217 3450

Merseyside
Tel: 0151 224 6300
Fax: 0151 224 6470

North East
Northumberland, Tyne & Wear, Durham and Teeside
Tel: 0191 201 3300
Fax: 0191 202 3744

North West
Cumbria, Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Cheshire
Tel: 0161 952 4000
Fax: 0161 952 4099

Northern Ireland
Tel: 028 90529900
Fax: 028 90529550

Scotland
Tel: 0141 242 5504
Fax: 0141 242 5665

South East
Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Hampshire, Isle of Wight and West Sussex
Tel: 01483 882255
Fax: 01483 882259

South West
Avon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire
Tel: 0117 900 1700
Fax: 0117 900 1900

Cornwall (inc. the Isles of Scilly) and Devon
Tel: 01752 635000
Fax: 01752 227647

Wales
Tel: 029 20825111
Fax: 029 20823119

West Midlands
Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall, Wolverhampton, Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Hereford and Worcester
Tel: 0121 212 5050
Fax: 0121 212 1010

Yorkshire and the Humber
Tel: 0113 280 0600
Fax: 0113 233 8301

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TECs and LECs

Training and Enterprise Councils - Local Enterprise Companies in Scotland - provide help and advice on training to enable you to identify what will best suit your company's needs. For further information, contact your local TEC or LEC, or:
For TECs
Tel: 01142 594776
Fax: 01142 593229
For LECs
Tel: 0141 248 2700 ext. 2000
Fax: 0141 228 2511

Business Link

Business Links are a network of local business information and advice centres offering a wide range of services to the business community. They are run by partnerships which include Chambers of Commerce, Training and Enterprise Councils, local authorities, enterprise agencies and the DTI. To find your local office, call:

Business Link Signposting Line
Tel:0845 7567765

Investors in People

Investors in People is the national standard which sets a level of good practise for improving an organisation's performance through its employees. For further information and to prepare for recognition as an Invester in People companies can contact their local TEC, or LEC in Scotland.

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Professional Associations

National Measurement Accreditation Service (NAMAS)

NAMAS is a service of the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), the UK national standards laboratory. NAMAS offers formal accreditation to calibration and testing laboratories. Accredited laboratories benefit from the world-wide reputation of NAMAS and are automatically included in the NAMAS Directory of Accredited Laboratories and in the DTI QA Register.
Enquiries should be addressed to:
NAMAS Executive
National Physical Laboratory
Teddington
Middlesex TW11 0LW
Tel: (020) 8943 7140

British Standards Institution (BSI)

BSI is responsible for preparing British Standards which are used in all industries and technologies. It also represents British interests at international standards discussions to ensure that European and worldwide standards will be acceptable to British industry. Information about all aspects of BSI's work including sales information on British, international and foreign national standards can be obtained from:
BSI
389 Chiswick High Road
London W4 4AL
Tel: (020) 8996 9000
Fax: (020) 8996 7400

Information regarding Quality Assurance and general information and publications about standards, including packs and visual aids for use in technical and consumer education are available from:
BSI Quality Assurance
PO Box 375
Linford Wood West
Milton Keynes MK14 6LL
Tel: (01908) 220908
Fax: (01908) 220671

Note: The following standards in the quality field are available from the BSI:
BS4778 - Quality vocabulary;
BS6143 - Guide to the economics of quality;
BS7850 - Total Quality Management;
BS EN ISO 9000 - Quality Management Systems.

The Institute of Quality Assurance (IQA)

The IQA, established for more than 75 years, has the largest membership of any professional body involved with Quality in Europe, and represents the UK in the European Organisation for Quality. It produces the monthly magazine "Quality World", a Technical Supplement, and provides training courses, conferences and seminars. Study programmes through which academic qualification are attainable are also organised.

The Affiliated Companies Scheme provides support for both large and small organisations with an interest in quality and gives them access to many of the benefits provided by the IQA. The IQA's National Quality Information Centre provides information, books, journals and a useful database to the business community, particularly smaller businesses, and publishes a list of training aids available in the UK, such as films and video tapes. The IQA also administers the International Register of Certification Auditors (IRCA). The scheme controls the registration of auditors (assessors) and registers training organisations that provide related courses. Individual and company membership is available and enquiries should be addressed to:
The Institute of Quality Assurance
PO Box 712
61 Southwark Street
London SE1 1SB
Tel: (020) 7401 7227
Fax: (020) 7401 2725

The British Quality Foundation (BQF)

The BQF exists to enhance the performance and effectiveness of all types of enterprise and organisation within the UK through the promotion of total quality management practices. Membership is open to all industrial, commercial and other corporate organisations. Through seminars, conferences, publications and other services and activities the BQF aims to promote the use and understanding of total quality as a basis for achieving improvements in performance relevant to the needs of all enterprises and organisations. The BQF also runs the UK Quality Award.
Enquiries may be addressed to:
The British Quality Foundation
215 Vauxhall Bridge Road
London SW1V 1EN
Tel: (020) 7963 8002
Fax: (020) 7963 8001

The Association of Quality Management Consultants International Ltd (AQMC)

The AQMC Ltd is a self-regulating body whose members by their training, qualifications and experience, meet requirements designed to establish that they are professionally competent to act as consultants to industry and commerce, on a whole range of quality management activities. Enquiries for consultants or membership may be addressed to the Company Secretary at:
4 Beyne Road
Olivers Battery
Winchester SO22 4JW
Tel: (01962) 864394
Fax: (01962) 688969

National Accreditation Council for Certification Bodies (NACCB)

The NACCB was launched in 1984 to make recommendations to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry concerning the competence and impartiality of certification bodies, leading to their accreditation by the Secretary of State. Accreditation enables certification bodies to display the National Accreditation Mark alongside their own certification marks. Enquiries may be addressed to:
The Secretary (NACCB)
Audley House
13 Palace Street
London SW1E 5HS
Tel: (020) 7233 7111
Fax: (020) 7233 5115

Association of British Certification Bodies (ABCB)

The ABCB is the national organisation for independent nationally-accredited certification bodies. Its membership, comprising the majority of Accredited Certification Bodies, undertake impartial certification of quality management systems, products, services and personnel. Members aim to promote consistent quality by adopting a uniformly high standard of independent certification. This benefits suppliers and gives purchasers confidence in the reliability of suppliers' claims for products and services. Enquiries may be addressed to:
ABCB Secretariat
c/o Sira Ltd
South Hill
Chislehurst
Kent BR7 5EH
Tel: (020) 8295 1128
Fax: (020) 8295 3005

National Society for Quality through Teamwork (NSQT)

The NSQT aims to enable UK companies to continuously improve business performance through the effective use of teamworking. To achieve this aim it utilises the experience and energy of its member organisations, currently well over 400, within which a whole variety of teamworking is employed.

The NSQT provides a network of regional meetings throughout the UK, seminars, workshops, and conferences for the exchange of experience. It also runs training courses, management facilitation, and an advisory service.

The NSQT maintains links to the rest of Europe as a founder member of EFQCA (European Foundation for Quality Circles and Management Associations), and to the USA through Association with AQP (Association for Quality and Participation). For more information contact:
NSQT
2 Castle Street
Salisbury
Wiltshire SP1 1BB
Tel: (01722) 326667

Quality Methods Association (QMA)

The QMA is a practical User Group for companies concerned with the direction and application of Quality and Productivity Methods within their organisations. The QMA provides a forum for the development, exchange and propagation of Quality Management and Quality Improvement practices and techniques through its Specialist Study Groups, Training Events, Seminars and the Annual Conference.
Enquiries may be addressed to:
Mrs Lori Butterworth
Administrator
Quality Methods Association
6a St Marys Bridge
Plymouth Road
Plymouth PL7 4JR
Tel: (01752) 348358
Fax: (01752) 348330

The European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM)

The EFQM has a membership of nearly 300 leading European businesses, all of whom recognise the role of quality on achieving competitive advantage. Enquiries may be addressed to:
European Foundation for Quality Management
Avenue des Pleiades 19
1200 Brussels
Belgium
Tel: +32 2 775 35 11
Fax: +32 2 779 12 37

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