Surrey County Council is promising even more improvement to its services, now that all its departments have achieved the Investor in People standard.

The last department to achieve the award was social and community services. Now the council hopes to get corporate and overall IIP status in the new year.

SCC executive member for IIP, Angela Fraser is promising there will be no complacency. She said: Im delighted that all our departments have now achieved the IIP accreditation standard, and have done so within the target time of before Christmas.

To achieve the standard is one thing. It now has to be maintained and not one of us can afford to sit back and think the work is over. It has only just begun.

IIP was established by the Government in partnership with other organisations to set national standards of good practice for training and development of people, to achieve business goals.

Each of the services at SCC has been recognised in its own right for having achieved the standard.

Accreditation is rigorous, carried out by assessors who interview a percentage of staff to ensure that standards of training and development are in line with business objectives.

The IIP standard looks at the measures in place to ensure staff are trained and developed to do their jobs effectively and efficiently. Staff must be supported in continuous improvement and learning new processes.

The award is not a once-for-all achievement but is subject to regular review.