IPSG Expert Meeting – Customer Satisfaction Mapping 1st December 2005

Summary of findings (1) 22 countries responded and completed the spreadsheet Pretty much all countries conduct some research The best researched sectors are Health and Education both in terms of satisfaction and other measures Federally funded community centres least likely to be measured Sector comparisons made by about a third

Summary of findings (2) Only seven countries compare results between sectors: Sweden; Malta; Denmark; Norway; Finland; Austria and Belgium The majority do have some understanding of levels of trust and expectation that customers have in services, but sources of information are diverse Health, education and the police force/criminal justice system most likely to be understood (and transport) Little is know about trust and expectation of community services (both federally and locally funded)* * Deflated by a lot of “don’t knows”

Summary of findings (3) Difficult to assess cultural impacts at this point but some awareness that economically diversity is evident Some comments about differences within countries quite apart from other EU countries Challenges are perceived in the main to be better delivery and customer focus, and a few mentions of an aging population Hard-working chosen as descriptor most often. Elements of conservatism (slow to change) and awareness of growing still to be done

Measuring Customer Satisfaction Yes Slovakia Latvia Germany Sweden Malta Denmark Norway UK Netherlands France Poland Finland Hungary Ireland Slovenia Austria Cyprus Estonia Spain Belgium A lot A little Neither/ nor Not very much Not at all Italy Luxembourg

Measuring customer satisfaction? …but not all sectors are covered to same degree Not very much/at allA little/lot Health Education Police Force & Criminal Justice Transport Community Services (local) Community Services (federal)

Measuring Customer Satisfaction with Health Yes Slovakia Germany Sweden Malta Denmark Slightly different clustering but only marginal… Norway UK Netherlands France Poland Finland Hungary Ireland Slovenia Austria Cyprus Estonia Spain Belgium A lot A little Neither/ nor Not very much Not at all Italy Luxembourg

Measuring Customer Satisfaction with Education Yes Slovakia Latvia Germany Sweden Malta Denmark Norway UK Netherlands France Poland Finland Hungary Ireland Austria Cyprus Estonia Spain Belgium A lot A little Neither/ nor Not very much Not at all Italy Luxembourg

Some of the differences? The culture of service quality is less developed than in other countries. [We] are much less wealthy and the population may therefore be content with lower levels of services. Extreme economic affluent country, expectation levels are high and rising main focus is on central government with little devolution

Some of the challenges? To carry on with good value for money To be more customer friendly; to improve efficiency. To improve customer participation in designing services and to promote public administration transparency Combining the trend with lesser offices and better use of modern technology, and still keep customer satisfaction on a high level The diffusion of e-government services

How do countries see themselves?

Recommendations Best practice consortia to be considered based on clusters An further exploration of either health or education (or both) with relevant departments within countries – what exactly is being done? Assess how comparisons are being made – common measurements or assumptions? Are there key measures considered to be best practice? Can these be incorporated to current studies? Explore value of a “benchmark” – particularly policy implications