DVTA and Down Lisburn Trust go gold on quality

Two local public sector organisations, which have put quality issues to the fore in a drive to improve their services, are the first to be awarded for their efforts under the recently launched STEPS scheme.

Down Lisburn Health and Social Services Trust and DoE’s Driver Vehicle Testing Agency (DVTA) received gold level recognition in the inaugural STEPS (Steps to Excellence in the Public Sector) scheme, an initiative launched last year by the Centre for Competitiveness.

While the STEPS initiative has been heralded as a NI success story, it also acts as a possible blueprint for the rest of the UK.

Initial figures indicate that the scheme has received a positive response from its core audience. Preliminary targets for entry to STEPS in Year 1 were exceeded with 16 organisations declaring their commitment to continuous improvement.

The first recipients of the new honours - DVTA and Down Lisburn Health and Social Services Trust - underwent a rigorous assessment process before qualifying for gold recognition.

Congratulating the recipients of the first gold level awards, Jim Perry, deputy CEO of the Centre for Competitiveness said: “Research has shown that quality is high on the agenda for many public sector organisations with 60 per cent having already adopted improvement initiatives, many of which are based on the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Excellence Model. “We felt it was time to recognise such achievements, and in so doing, enable other public sector organisations to recognise the tangible benefits of adopting a quality-driven approach.

“The DVTA and Down Lisburn Health & Social Services Trust have set a new precedent in quality management - but it is one which is achievable by their many counterparts in the public sector. Northern Ireland has played a vital role in the development of this scheme and I look forward to such a scheme being adopted in the rest of the UK in the near future.” (MB)