The SCTS has been re-accredited for meeting the CSE standard in 2017.
This year’s award is based on the assessors reviewing corporate evidence and visiting the Sheriff Courts in Ayr, Banff, Dumfries, Falkirk, Glasgow, Jedburgh, Kilmarnock, Peterhead, Selkirk and Stirling; Parliament House in Edinburgh; Operations Development, Operations Delivery and Property Services Unit in SCTS Headquarters; and Tribunals Operations Glasgow.
The then Scottish Court Service first gained CSE accreditation in 2013 - with sheriffdoms, the supreme courts, the OPG and HQ having gained it at unit-level in 2011 and 2012. We have now been assessed over a three year rolling programme against 57 elements, grouped under the headings:
- customer insight
- culture of the organisation
- information & access
- delivery
- timeliness & quality of service.
This year eleven elements were given the highest rating of ‘compliance plus’ (outstanding) – unchanged from 2016; 43 elements were rated ‘fully compliant’ (satisfactory), and only three were rated ‘partially compliant’ (improvement needed) – one fewer than in 2016.
This is an improvement on our 2013 assessment when seven elements were rated ‘partially compliant’, and only four were rated ‘compliance plus’.
SCTS Chief Executive, Eric McQueen said: “This is another fantastic achievement and external validation of the excellent service that our staff provide. CSE isn’t about the badge; it’s about understanding what works really well and where we can still make improvements. In talking to assessors after their review they wanted to underline to me the passion that staff have to provide the best service and the culture of openness and improvement that exists across the whole organisation.”
This accreditation follows the latest results from the SCTS court user satisfaction survey undertaken in 2015 which showed that satisfaction levels remained very high at 89%.