Advantage West Midlands has become the first of the nine regional development agencies to achieve a prestigious UK quality standard  for the quality and performance of its staff.

Investors in Excellence is a national quality standard which is design to recognise and promote continuous improvement within businesses and public sector organisations.

Having become the first of the regional development agencies to meet this standard, Advantage West Midlands Chief Executive Designate Mick Laverty and Chief Executive John Edwards received a plaque recognising this achievement from England World Cup winning rugby captain Martin Johnson at the glitzy Midlands Excellence awards bash at the ICC.

Advantage West Midlands join organisations including BMW, Ricoh and West Bromwich Building Society in achieving Investors in Excellence status.

In order to achieve Investors in Excellence, an organisation must demonstrate strong performance in all areas of its work including leadership, strategy, management and results.

Advantage West Midlands was awarded Investors in People status in 2006 and last year was given the maximum four-star rating in the Independent Performance Assessment by the National Audit Office.

Mick Laverty, Advantage West Midlands Chief Executive Designate, said: “As an organisation that is working constantly to meet the needs of the region’s economy, it is important that we set ourselves the very highest professional standards.

“Working towards Investors in Excellence has been an excellent way of driving continuous improvement in our performance as an organisation.

“This achievement is a reflection of the hard work and commitment of staff in delivering excellence in our service and we will continue to raise the bar even higher as we go forward to ensure Advantage West Midlands is delivering the best service it can for the people living in our region.”