Focus on Quality - thoughts from John Littlefair of RBC
by Hazel Broad (Deputy Director)
15 October 2009
Organisations who are looking into the potential benefits of quality standards schemes will find the reflections of John Littlefair, RBC's Procurement and Partnerships Manager, helpful. John addressed RVA's recent AGM as part of our exploration of Quality and the Voluntary and Community Sector, and had these key points to offer:
• RBC does expect service providers to have some form of quality management
• The approach should be proportionate to the amount of resource they are expending on delivering the service
• The higher the risk to vulnerable clients, the greater the need for robust, systematic and recorded Quality Assurance
• Formal accreditation of QA systems is not always right, but rarely wrong if proportionate
• It need not be bureaucratic, but should be evidence based
• It should be inclusive and actively seek the views of clients/customers
Summing up, John said "the bottom line is that organisations providing services with Council funding should be able to explain in easy to understand terms: what outcomes they achieve; that they meet the needs of their clients/customers; and offer good value for money.”
news from Reading Voluntary Action (RVA)
