The RDA has granted Customer First UK, a York-based customer service quality standard, £108,500 over the next three years so it can assess an initial 50 business support organisations which access Yorkshire Forward funding.

The campaign will urge hundreds of firms and other institutions in the region, which are part of networks with the first 50, to gain the accreditation as Yorkshire Forward promotes quality in the business community. Business support bodies, local authorities, voluntary organisations and universities are all being encouraged to go for the Putting The Customer First standard.

Customer First UK was founded in 2004 and was acquired last year in a partnership between QED Professional Development, of Doncaster, and the National Federation of Enterprise Agencies.

Frea O'Brien, Customer First UK general manager, said: "This Yorkshire Forward campaign throws down the challenge to business support organisations in the region to demonstrate that they can compete with the best in the country. Hundreds of people within these organisations, as well as those they assist, will benefit from this campaign which will ensure that people seeking business advice get the best possible service. This is particularly crucial in the current tough economic climate where more are seeking advice on how to cope and people who have been made redundant are looking to start new ventures."

Simon Hill, Yorkshire Forward executive director, said: "Yorkshire and Humber already has highly-skilled business support organisations and we are providing this initial funding to encouraging them to achieve the Customer First UK quality standard as part of our initiatives to promote and support excellence throughout the business community."

n Customer First UK was initiated by Helen West, Business Link Yorkshire chief executive, when she led Business Link York and North Yorkshire before the regional offices merged.