Councils told to cut out 'meaningless jargon'

Councils were told today to cut out 200 jargon words such as "revenue stream", "stakeholder" and "incentivising" so that ordinary people can understand them.

Business-speak phrases like "predictors of beaconicity" and "holistic governance" are off the menu if council workers want to make sense to taxpayers, the Local Government Association said.

They have compiled a list of words and phrases that councils should eliminate from their vocabulary.

Instead of "across-the-piece" they should say "everyone working together" rather then say "actioned" they should simply use the word, "do".

Workers should not "facilitate" they should "help" and instead of "fast-tracking" something they should just "speed it up"

Certain words are so meaningless they can be discarded altogether according to the LGA. The culprits include; contestability, synergies and cascading.

Chairman of the Local Government Association, Councillor Margaret Eaton, said: "The public sector must not hide behind impenetrable jargon and phrases. Why do we have to have 'coterminous, stakeholder engagement' when we could just 'talk to people' instead?

"During the recession, it is vital that we explain to people in plain English how to get access to the eight hundred different services that local government provides with taxpayers' money.

"Councils have a duty, not only to provide value for money to local people, but also to tell people what they get for the tax they pay. People would be furious if they have no idea of what services their cash is paying for and how they should get to use them.

"Unless information is given to people to explain what help they can get during a recession then it could well lead to more people ending up homeless or bankrupt. If a council fails to explain what it does in plain English then local people will fail to understand its relevance to them or why they should bother to turn out and vote.

"We do not pretend to be perfect, but as this list shows, we are striving to make sure that people get the chance to understand what services we provide."

Marie Clair, spokesperson for the Plain English Campaign said: "We are very pleased. The more jargon that gets done away with the more space there is for plain English."

She said that many of the words on the list were used to mean different things in different situations.

"We call them rubber words because they can be stretched whichever way you want to and then they bounce back at you. It is a good thing if we can get people to stop and think what word to use and what they actually want to say. It is about capturing your meaning so that it can't be twisted round and there are no question marks left at the end."

Here is the full list of the Local Government Association's 200 banned words and their alternatives:

Across-the-piece - everyone working together

Actioned - do

Advocate - support

Agencies - groups

Ambassador - leader

Area based - in an area

Area focused - concentrating on the area

Autonomous - independent

Baseline - starting point

Beacon - leading light

Benchmarking - measuring

Best Practice - best way

Blue sky thinking - thinking up ideas

Bottom-Up - listening to people

CAAs - why use at all?

Can do culture - get the job done

Capabilities -

Capacity - ability

Capacity building - enough room in the system

Cascading - why use at all?

Cautiously welcome - devil in the detail

Challenge - problem

Champion - best

Citizen empowerment - people power

Client - person

Cohesive communities - why use at all?

Cohesiveness - together

Collaboration - working together

Commissioning - buy

Community engagement - getting people involved

Compact - why use at all?

Conditionality - why use at all?

Consensual - everyone agrees

Contestability - Why use at all?

Contextual - background

Core developments - main things that are happening

Core Message - main point

Core principles - beliefs

Core Value - belief

Coterminosity - all singing from the same hymn sheet

Coterminous - all singing from the same hymn sheet

Cross-cutting - everyone working together

Cross-fertilisation - spreading ideas

Customer - people/person

Democratic legitimacy - voted in

Democratic mandate - elected to put people first

Dialogue - talk/discuss

Direction of travel - way forward

Distorts spending priorities - ignores people's needs

Double devolution - Why use at all?

Downstream - Why use at all?

Early Win - success

Edge-fit - Why use at all?

Embedded - set in

Empowerment - people power

Enabler - helps

Engagement - working with people

Engaging users -- getting people involved

Enhance - improve

Evidence Base - research shows

Exemplar - example

External challenge - outside pressures

Facilitate - help

Fast-Track - speed up

Flex - Why use at all?

Flexibilities and Freedoms - more power to do the right thing

Framework - guide

Fulcrum - pivot

Functionality - use

Funding Streams - money

Gateway review - Why use at all?

Going forward - in the future

Good Practice - best way

Governance - Why use at all?

Guidelines - guide

Holistic - taken in the round

Holistic governance - Why use at all?

Horizon scanning - Why use at all?

Improvement levers - using the tools to get the job done

Incentivising - incentive

Income Streams - money/cash

Indicators - measurements

Initiative - idea

Innovative capacity - Why use at all?

Inspectorates - monitoring bodies

Interdepartmental - working together

Interface - talking to each other

Iteration - version

Joined up - working together

Joint working - working together

LAAs - Why use at all?

Level playing field - everyone equal

Lever - Why use at all?

Leverage - influence

Localities -- places/town/city/village

Lowlights - worst bits

MAAs - Why use at all?

Mainstreaming - Why use at all?

Management capacity - Why use at all?

Meaningful consultation- talking to people

Meaningful dialogue - talking to people

Mechanisms - methods

Menu of Options - choices

Multi-agency -- many groups

Multidisciplinary - many

Municipalities - towns/cities/areas

Network model - Why use at all?

Normalising - make normal

Outcomes - results

Outcomes - focused

Output - results

Outsourced - privatised

Overarching - Why use at all?

Paradigm - Why use at all?

Parameter - limits

Participatory - joining in

Partnership working - working together

Partnerships - working together

Pathfinder - Why use at all?

Peer challenge - Why use at all?

Performance Network - Why use at all?

Place shaping - creating places where people can thrive

Pooled budgets - money

Pooled resources - time and money

Pooled risk - Why use at all?

Populace - people

Potentialities - chances

Practitioners - experts

Predictors of Beaconicity - Why use at all?

Preventative services - protecting the most vulnerable

Prioritization - most important

Priority - most important

Proactive - Why use at all?

Process driven - shouldn't everything be people driven?

Procure - buy

Procurement - buying

Promulgate - spread

Proportionality - in proportion

Protocol - guidance

Provider vehicles - Why use at all?

Quantum - Why use at all?

Quick Hit - success

Quick Win - success

Rationalisation - cut

Rebaselining - Why use at all?

Reconfigured - reform

Resource allocation - money going to the right place

Revenue Streams - money

Risk based - safest way

Robust - tough

Scaled-back - cut/reduce

Scoping - work out

Sector wise - Why use at all?

Seedbed - idea

Self-aggrandizement - Why use at all?

Service users - people

Shared priority -- all working together

Shell developments - Why use at all?

Signpost - point in the direction of

Single conversations - talking to

Single Point of Contact - everything under one roof

Situational - situation

Slippage - delay

Social contracts - - deal

Social exclusion - poverty

Spatial - Why use at all?

Stakeholder - other organisations

Step Change - improve

Strategic - planned

Strategic priorities - planned

Streamlined - efficient

Sub-regional - work between councils

Subsidiarity - Why use at all?

Sustainable - long term

Sustainable communities - environmentally friendly

Symposium --- meeting

Synergies - what use at all?

Systematics - Why use at all?

Taxonomy - Why use at all?

Tested for Soundness -- what works

Thematic - theme

Thinking outside of the box - Why use at all?

Third sector - charities and voluntary organisations

Toolkit - guidance

Top-Down - ignores people

Trajectory - route

Tranche - slice

Transactional - Why use at all?

Transformational - change

Transparency - clear

Upstream - Why use at all?

Upward trend - getting better

Utilise - use

Value-added - extra

Vision -- ideal/dream/belief

Visionary - ideal/dream/belief

Welcome - necessary and needed/step in the right direction

Wellbeing - healthy

Worklessness - unemployed