Service standards
Overarching statement of intent
We are committed to providing a responsive and consistently high quality service which is valued by the people with whom we work. We are dedicated to building productive, open and honest relationships with our stakeholders, and to sharing information as openly as possible within the constraints naturally imposed by the nature of our work. We will listen and offer redress when things go wrong.
Service standards
The standards of service we aim to provide are as follows:
- The GDS office will be staffed between 09:00 and 16:00 Monday to Friday (excluding public holidays and Civil Service privilege days), but the Service will be able to respond following CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological Nuclear) or major HAZMAT (HAZardous MATerials) incidents on a 24/7 basis, 365 days a year.
- We will be polite and courteous without exception.
- We will guarantee confidentiality, within the constraints imposed by relevant legislation, wherever necessary.
- We will communicate in plain language and not use unnecessary or inappropriate jargon.
- We will answer calls promptly:
- We will greet callers with the name of the organisation and our own name.
- When we pass an enquiry to another member of staff, we will pass on the caller’s personal details and the nature of the query so that we do not need to ask for them again.
- Where a message has been left, we will return all calls within 1 working day, unless our voicemail messages indicate that we will not be able to respond until a later time.
- We will reply to all correspondence within 15 working days.
- If a holding response is sent, we will indicate when we will write substantively, and aim to do that within a further 10 working days.
- In order to communicate quickly and effectively, we will use electronic services, in particular our website and e-mail to publicise services and provide information.
- We will arrange, when officers are out of the office, for important work to be progressed in their absence.
- If you are invited to our office we will provide you with the name of the person you will see and, if you need them, directions to the office.
- If you visit us for a meeting you will be met promptly - within 5 minutes of your arrival at our building for unescorted visitors, and within 15 minutes of your arrival at the entrance to the site for escorted visitors.
- If we are forced to cancel a meeting, we will inform you within 24 hours, or immediately if the meeting is due to take place within 24 hours to explain why this meeting was not possible.
- We will do our best to provide information/advice about other Defra services, not provided by GDS.
Monitoring and improving standards
- We will conduct surveys to monitor satisfaction with our services as well as monitoring responses to all forms of communication against the standards set out in this document.
- We will ensure customer responses are relayed back to our managers and staff so that action may be taken to improve our quality of service.
- We will take personal responsibility to ensure our work is free from errors and makes sense to our audience.
- We will acknowledge complaints within 5 working days, and will investigate thoroughly and issue a response within 28 days.
If you remain dissatisfied with the standard of our service, you may write the Chief Executive of the GDS at:
Government Decontamination Service
MoD Stafford
Beaconside
Stafford
ST18 0AQTelephone: 08458 50 1323
Fax: 01785 21 6363
E-mail: gds@gds.gsi.gov.uk
If you feel that your complaint has not been resolved, you can write to Defra's Service Standards Complaints Adjudicator at:
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
3-8 Whitehall Place
London SW1A 2HH
Telephone: 020 7270 8986
Fax: 020 7270 8578
Email: service-standards.adjudicator@defra.gsi.gov.uk
If you are not satisfied with the Complaints Adjudicator's decision, you may refer your complaint to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman via a Member of Parliament.
Page last modified: 3 January 2007
Page published: 12 May 2006