​Quality of Service Directorate


The Quality of Service Directorate within the People & Standards Division is responsible for the convergence of the quality ​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 five 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.

The Quality Label​ is an initiative of the Office of the Principal Permanent Secretary, and 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 Label is designed to provide a path towards achieving an excellent level of service delivery based on constant monitoring, evaluation and improvement. The process involves primarily the analysis and assessment of the current processes, through a Business Process Re-engineering Review, with particular focus on the front-facing services. From this Review, recommended changes are proposed to the candidate department, with the objective to achieve higher quality services and reduce the turnaround times.

Another important assessment is carried out on the performance potential and job satisfaction of human resources operating within the candidate department or entities. This is carried out through an employee satisfaction survey. The directorate assesses the results of the survey and issues recommendations as deemed necessary with the objective of enhancing job satisfaction and an improved quality of service.

The Directorate also drafts a Quality Service Charter which is a form of commitment by the Quality Label holder towards its clients in terms of services offered and delivery timelines. The Quality Service Charter is uploaded on the department’s/entity’s website once the Quality Label is achieved.

Included in the Quality Label process is an assessment of the services offered, which is gauged either by Mystery Shopping exercises or a Customer Survey, depending on the nature of the service.

The efforts related to the Quality Label process do not cease once the label is achieved but it entails continuous monitoring by the Quality Label holder. On the other hand, the Directorate actively monitors awardees to e​nsure a continued service of excellen​ce.

​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.​