Minister Urges Civil Servants to Adopt a

Minister with responsibility for project implementation and service delivery in the public service Daryl Vaz, is urging public sector workers to adopt a “can do” attitude towards service delivery, as negative expressions could convey an unwillingness to serve customers whether or not this was the intention.
Speaking at the launch of the fourth biennial Public Sector Customer Service Competition at Jamaica House this morning (July 3), Minister Vaz said phrases such as ‘it cannot be done’, ‘we cannot do it’, or ‘I don’t know when’, should be used sparingly when serving the public. “As Minister in charge of the customer service I yearn for the day, and the sooner the better, when the first words uttered by public servants including Ministers of Government, will be to inform customers of how, when and where to obtain quality service in record time,” Minister Vaz said.
Minister Vaz said the public sector modernization and citizen’s charter programmes were developed to strengthen service delivery through a customer-oriented public sector and involved the development of minimum standards which the public should expect from the government. He said quality service should not be arbitrary but must be consistent throughout the public sector, and workers should therefore strive to deliver the highest quality of service possible, as the customer demands no less.
The public sector customer competition is open to all ministries and agencies of government that meet the criteria for entry. Only agencies with a Citizen’s Charter may be considered for the award of Best Customer Service Agency which includes a $300,000 cash award and the Prime Minister’s Trophy.
Other categories in the highly anticipated competition include the Civil Service Association Trophy for most improved customer service agency and the Cabinet Secretary’s Award for the most creative and innovative agency. Awards will also be presented to the best agency within its service category such as the ‘Best Post Office’, as well as the award for the ‘Best Customer Service Officer.’
A panel of judges will visit competing agencies and conduct customer service surveys in order to arrive at the winners. Judging will take place over a nine month period and the winners will be announced in March of 2009.
The competition is aimed at realizing the vision and strategy of public sector modernization which is to organize the public sector around the needs of the customers and to be directly accountable through a standardized code of service delivery. Service must be accessible, convenient, user friendly, integrated and cost effective with the assurance of redress where this becomes necessary.