Customer Commitment

Introduction

The Highlands and Islands Enterprise Network (HIE) is responsible for economic and social development across a diverse geographical area which covers more than half of Scotland. Our aim is to enable people living in the Highlands and Islands, to realise their full potential

The Networks services are mainly delivered through ten local enterprise companies (LECs) and local Careers Scotland centres, each one based in the area it serves. Every LEC offers its customers access to a range of specialist information, professional advice, help with training, infrastructure and financial assistance. Each local Careers Scotland centre offers its customers an all-age careers advisory service.

The HIE core organisation, based in Inverness and Benbecula, provides strategic direction and support services to the whole Network.

 

 

Standards of service

We strive to offer the best possible service to all our customers in an open and accountable way and this charter sets out the high standards of service you can expect from the HIE network.

Special needs

  • We will do everything we can to make our services available to everyone. Please let us know about any special needs in advance and we will do our best to help.

Visitors

  • Our main offices will be open from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday. (Any exceptions or variations will be publicised.)
  • Visitors to our offices will be seen promptly at their appointed time.
  • Visitors without an appointment will be seen within ten minutes of their arrival by a member of staff who will either deal with their enquiry or arrange an appointment.
  • Front-line staff will wear name badges.

Phone

  • Reception staff will answer all phone calls within five rings and give the name of the organisation.
  • Other members of staff will identify themselves by name when receiving calls.
  • Incoming calls on direct lines will normally be answered within five rings. When staff are not available, their calls will be answered by colleagues, or voice-mail, which may take slightly longer.
  • Answerphone machines will only be used in receptions outside normal office hours, on public holidays, during staff development, in cases of emergency, or in exceptional circumstances.
  • We will return all telephone, voice-mail or answerphone messages by the end of the next working day, unless we have told you otherwise.

Correspondence

  • We will reply to all letters, faxes and e-mails that call for a response within seven working days of receiving them.
  • If we need more time, we will briefly acknowledge your correspondence and let you know when to expect a full response.

Media enquiries

  • Our press office will answer all media enquiries as quickly as possible and always within eight hours.

Network assistance

  • We are currently introducing changes to our Network assistance processes to enable applications under 25,000 to be processed within 10 working days.
  • In the meantime, we will process all applications for Network assistance as quickly as possible, and keep you advised of progress on a monthly basis.
  • Applications for up to 50,000 will be completed within three months.
  • In all cases, you must submit all the information we need to process the application on time.

Performance

  • We review our customer service standards regularly and independent researchers measure our performance against targets.
  • We regularly publish the results in the Network annual report.
  • Audit Scotland assesses the Networks overall performance and value for money. www.audit-scotland.gov.uk

Information and openness

  • You can get information, in plain English, about our plans and services by phoning, writing or calling in at our offices, or emailing us at hie.general@hient.co.uk or visiting the HIE Network website www.hie.co.uk.
  • The text-only option on our websites has been optimised for people with a visual disability.
  • We will deal with all requests for other information in line with the Scottish Executives code of practice on Access to Government Information. Information we are allowed to issue will be made available within 20 days of receiving your request.
  • You can get information from our LECs about assistance approved under their development programmes through our Accountability through openness policy.

Consultation

  • We consult our customers and partners regularly through day-to-day contact, meetings and customer surveys.
  • Your views on our services, and your understanding of our role, are important to us.
  • The Network consults extensively when reviewing its policies, plans and priorities.

Accounts

  • We follow the Governments policy on payment performance and aim to pay all invoices not in dispute within 30 days (or the agreed terms if different).

Your suggestions

To help improve our services, we would like to know what you think about the standard of our service. We welcome all of your comments and suggestions. Please click here to complete our Comments and Suggestions Form, or email hie.general@hient.co.uk

Complaints

  • If you are not satisfied with the quality of our service, we want to know about it.
  • We take all complaints seriously, and have an effective, easy-to-use complaints procedure.
  • If you complain directly to the member of staff dealing with you, it may be possible to solve the problem quickly on the spot.

Stage 1

  • You can make a formal complaint by contacting the Local Enterprise Company chief executive or Careers Scotland locality manager (See contact details below)
  • If your complaint is about HIE you should contact HIEs chief executive who will pass the matter to the appropriate HIE director for investigation.
  • We acknowledge all formal complaints within two working days.
  • There will be a detailed investigation of your complaint and a full and considered reply will be sent to you within ten working days.
  • If we need more time to investigate your complaint, we will contact you every week to keep you informed.
  • If we do not uphold our own standards, we will apologise, try and explain what happened and tell you what actions we are taking to make sure the problem does not happen again.

Stage 2

  • If your complaint has been investigated by the appropriate LEC chief executive, Careers Scotland locality manager, or HIE director and you are dissatisfied with the response, you can ask for your complaint to be referred to the HIE chief executive whose response completes the formal internal complaints procedure.

Scottish Public Services Ombudsman

If you remain dissatisfied after invoking and exhausting the HIE Network internal customer complaints procedure, you have the right under the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman Act 2002 to make a complaint to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman whose contact details are given below. You should note that there is a 12-month time limit for submission of complaints to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.

The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman
23 Walker Street
Edinburgh EH3 7HZ
Tel: 0870 011 5378
Fax: 0870 011 5379
Website: www.ombudsmanscotland.org.uk

This Service Charter was last reviewed: 05/02/03

 

 

 

HIE Skye and Wester Ross contacts

Robert Muir
Area Director
HIE Skye and Wester Ross
Kings House
The Green
Portree
Isle of Skye
IV51 9BS

Phone: 01478 612841 Fax: 01478 612164

Careers Scotland Centre, Kings House, The Green, Portree Isle of Skye, IV51 9BS
Tel / Fax: 01478 612328 / 613256 Email:
info@careers-scotland.org.uk