Government - Regeneration

Need we say more - yet another example of government let lose with the verbal bullshit & spin. Does something as simple as regeneration (rebuilding) need its own regeneration jargon?

I suspect that each government department competes with each other and a measure of a departments success is how much verbal garbage they can create for themselves in a year in order to maintain their funding.

A lot of regenerations jargon is based upon things called 'initiatives' that don't actually achieve anything and simply end up being yet another failed target.

Just look at the crap below - even the explanations need another jargon buster to decipher it all - Regeneration jargon - who would have thought it necessary?

Regeneration Jargon

A

Active Community Unit (ACU) - a unit in the Home Office which aims to promote the development of the voluntary and community sector and encourage people to become actively involved in their communities, particularly in deprived areas. www.homeoffice.gov.uk/inside/org/dob/direct/acomu.html

Additionality - a way of measuring the benefits of a project which highlights the changes brought about which wouldn’t have occurred if the project hadn’t taken place. Aims and objectives: the result a project is intended to achieve, eg to create additional jobs for local people.

Anti Poverty Strategies (APS) - an attempt at a co-ordinated approach to tackling poverty including programmes to help people claim benefits, manage debt, have access to low interest small loans and better access to social work and housing services.

Area Based Regeneration - In some areas, problems of economic, social and environmental dereliction combine to lock local communities into a vicious cycle of exclusion. Area based initiatives encourage a range of partners to work together, targeting their resources to improve the quality of life in these areas.

Area Investment Frameworks (AIF) - Set out the regeneration priorities for an area with the aim of targeting funding from regional development agencies (see RDAs). AIFs are developed by partnerships of local and regional agencies.

B

Baseline - A measurement of the starting conditions, for example numbers unemployed, before a programme is undertaken. The benefits of a programme can be assessed over time by comparing the baseline with more up to date figures.

Beacon Councils - A government scheme which identifies excellence and innovation in local government. www.idea.gov.uk/beacons/

Bending Main Programmes - Tackling deprivation by focusing local agency and government department spending more specifically on the most deprived areas - see Mainstreaming.

Best Value - A framework, based on a set of nationally determined indicators to help local authorities measure, manage and improve their performance. www.local-regions.odpm.gov.uk/bestvalue/bvindex.htm

Brownfield Land - Land that has been previously developed.

Building Communities Initiative - An initiative, managed by Free Form Arts Trust, which encourages local communities to participate in housing regeneration projects. It is facilitated by Free Form Design and Technical Services with the help of government funding. www.freeform.org.uk

Business Improvement Districts - A part of an urban area where local businesses pay additional rates to create improvements in services such as street cleaning, landscaping or crime reduction.

Business Involvement - Local Strategic Partnerships are being invited to bid for these to assist businesses in maximising their contribution to Neighbourhood Renewal. Business in the Community and the British Chambers of Commerce are co-ordinating the project. www.neighbourhood.gov.uk/page.asp?id=514

C

Capacity building - Shorthand for a wide range of support, techniques and initiatives which aim build the capacity of individuals or organisations within communities to contribute effectively to regeneration projects.

Capital Funding - Money spent on the purchase or improvement of fixed assets such as buildings, roads and equipment.

City Challenge - A five year Government initiative, now completed, aimed at transforming specific rundown inner city areas and significantly improving the quality of life for local residents within its policy area

City Growth Strategy Initiative - A scheme, piloted by the Small Business Service in four areas to encourage towns and cities to develop and implement inner city strategies which put enterprise and business at the heart of regeneration, focusing on the competitive advantages of inner city areas

City Pride - Citywide partnerships launched in 1993 to enhance the cities of Birmingham, London and Manchester.

Closed-Circuit Television Initiative - Jointly managed by the Home Office, the ODPM and the National Assembly for Wales, the Closed-Circuit Television Initiative aims to help local crime and disorder reduction partnerships deploy closed-circuit television (CCTV) in areas with significant crime and disorder problems.

Common Era (CE) - The time period beginning with the year of Jesus Christ's birth. Also called Christian Era.

Communities First - A new Welsh Assembly programme to establish 100 partnerships in areas of deprivation across Wales to tackle deprivation using a comprehensive approach and the involvement of the local community.

Communities Scotland - An executive agency of the Scottish Executive, directly accountable to the Scottish Parliament which carries out three functions Regeneration, regulation and inspection of social landlords, and investment and performance in housing. www.communitiesscotland.gov.uk

Community Businesses - Organisations which are established to provide services and/or employment in a local community. Their focus is about building the community and the local economy, but doing so in a business-like way as independent and self-supporting organisations.

Community Chest - Neighbourhood Renewal Community Chests was administered by voluntary sector ’lead organisations’ and offer small grants of up to £5,000 to community groups for projects to help them renew their own neighbourhoods. It has now become part of the Single Community Programme

Community Empowerment Fund (CEF) - This fund aimed to help community and voluntary groups to become empowered in order to participate in Local Strategic Partnerships and neighbourhood renewal. Government Offices for the Regions are responsible for distributing CEF resources and there will be £36m over three years. It has now been amalgamated into the Single Community Programme.

Community Forum - The Community Forum was launched on 23 January 2002. Its purpose is to act as a sounding board for Ministers and the Neighbourhood Renewal Unit and provide a ’grass-roots’ perspective on neighbourhood renewal strategies. www.neighbourhood.gov.uk/page.asp?id=521

Community Fund - The operating name of the National Lottery Charities Board, the independent organisation set up by Parliament in 1994 to distribute money raised by the National Lottery to support charities and voluntary and community groups throughout the UK and to UK agencies working abroad. www.community-fund.org.uk

Community Legal Service Partnerships - Local networks of providers of legal services, supported by co-ordinated funding and delivering services to local communities based on identified priority need.

Community Planning - The process where a local authority and partner organisations come together to plan, provide and promote the well-being of their communities. It promotes the active involvement of communities in the decisions on local services which affect people’s lives including for example health, education, transport, the economy, safety and the environment.

Community Strategies - The plans which local authorities are now required to prepare for improving the economic, environmental and social well being of local areas and by which the councils are expected to co-ordinate the actions of the public, private voluntary and community organisations that operate locally.

Creative Partnerships - Organisations that provide a bridge between schools and cultural organisations, enabling every pupil to have the chance to work with creative professional and organisations to develop creative skills.

Creative Spaces Initiative - A programme run by The Architectural Foundation. www.creativespaces.org.uk

Crime Concern - A national crime reduction organisation and registered charity which provides advice and help to a wide range of professional and voluntary agencies to support their work in reducing crime and the fear of crime within local communities and runs over 60 projects across England and Wales. www.crimeconcern.org.uk

Crime Reduction Partnerships - Statutory partnerships formed as a consequence of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 which required the Police and local authorities and others to work together to tackle crime and disorder within a local authority area. www.crimereduction.gov.uk

Crime Reduction Programme - A Government funded programme which consists of a series of diverse initiatives which have been shown to be effective at reducing crime or the fear of crime.

D

DCA (DCA) - Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) www.dca.gov.uk

DCMS (DCMS) - Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) www.culture.gov.uk

Deadweight - A way of measuring the benefits of a programme which identifies the things that would have occurred anyway without the intervention of the programme (see additionality)

DEFRA (DEFRA) - Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) www.defra.gov.uk

Delegation levels - The levels which determine who within an organisation is authorised to make certain decisions.

Delivery Plan - A plan which sets out what a project or programme intends to achieve, when, where and at what cost.

Development Trusts - A network of independent, not-for-profit, community-based organisations which are engaged in the economic, environmental & social regeneration of a defined area or community. www.dta.org.uk

DfES (DfES) - Department for Education and Skills (DfES) www.dfes.gov.uk

DfT (DfT) - Department for Transport (DfT) DfT (DfT) - Department for Transport (DfT) www.dft.gov.uk

DH (DH) - Department of Health (DH) www.dh.gov.uk

Discount rate - The annual percentage rate at which the value of money reduces over time to give a present day value.

Displacement - The extent to which the effects of a project impact - positively or negatively - on surrounding areas

DTI (DTI) - Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) www.dti.gov.uk

DWP (DWP) - Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) www.dwp.gov.uk

E

Early Excellence Centres - Local centres which offer models of good practice in early year’s education in deprived areas

Education Action Zones - Local clusters of schools in deprived areas receiving special government grants to work together with others to raise education standards. www.standards.dfee.gov.uk/eaz/

Employment Zones - Areas where additional money is available to help the long term unemployed into work. www.dfee.gov.uk/employmentzones

English Cities Fund (ECF) - A scheme aimed at attracting private sector funds into neglected cities. ECF is a partnership between English Partnerships, developer AMEC and investors Legal & General. www.englishcitiesfund.co.uk

English Partnerships - The national regeneration agency, helping to support high quality sustainable growth in England. www.englishpartnerships.co.uk

Enterprise Zones - Sites for industrial development within older urban areas across GB with relief from paying business rates and relaxed planning restrictions the last EZs will expire in 2006.

European Objective 1 funding - Objective 1 targets EU Structural Funds on areas which have an economy falling well behind the European average for wealth creation. europa.eu.int/comm/regional_policy/objective1/index_en.htm

European Objective 2 funding - Objective 2 targets EU structural funds on areas that have suffered through the decline of a major industry. europa.eu.int/comm/regional_policy/objective2/index_en.htm

European Objective 3 funding - Objective 3 targets EU structural funds towards developing lifelong learning, supporting those at risk from exclusion in the workplace, promoting the role of women in the workforce and promoting adaptability and entrepreneurship.

European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) - An EC structural fund which aims to reduce inequalities in socio-economic development between the regions in the Community, by supporting infrastructure projects, job-creation investments, local development and aid for SMEs. europa.eu.int/comm/regional_policy/funds/prord/prord_en.htm

European Social Fund (ESF) - Supports activities that develop employability and human resources in five key areas - active labour market policies; - equal opportunities - improving training and education and promoting lifelong learning; - adaptability and entrepreneurship - improving the participation of women in the labour market. europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/esf2000/index-en.htm

Evaluation - An assessment, after a project or programme has started, of the extent to which objectives have been achieved, how efficiently they have been achieved, and whether there are any lessons to be gained for the future

Excellence in Cities - A programme to drive up standards in schools in 47 areas of England. www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/excellence

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F

Family Service Units - A charity working with families in need with 19 family service units in inner cities in England and Scotland. www.fsu.org.uk

Floor targets - Deprivation will be tackled through the bending of main Departmental programmes such as the police and health services, to focus more specifically on the most deprived areas. Departments now have minimum targets to meet, which means that, for the first time, they will be judged on the areas where they are doing worst, and not just on averages. www.neighbourhood.gov.uk/page.asp?id=585

Forward strategy - Arrangements that will continue the process of renewal and development after funding from the renewal programme stops. It is sometimes called an exit, continuation or succession strategy.

Foyer - A place that provides homes, training and work opportunities for homeless young people. www.foyer.net

G

Gap funding - The main vehicle by which the government hopes to encourage developers to build on brownfield sites by providing aid for private companies to help them redevelop contaminated, derelict and disused sites that might not otherwise be profitable.

Government Offices for the Regions - There are nine Government Offices, each working with regional partners and local people to help deliver the governments key aims at regional level. www.rcu.gov.uk

Groundwork - A charity supporting regeneration through practical environmental work in deprived areas. www.groundwork.org.uk

H

Health Action Zones - Partnerships between the NHS, local authorities, the voluntary and private sectors and local communities which represent a new approach to public health, linking health, regeneration, employment, education, housing and anti-poverty initiatives to respond to the needs of vulnerable groups and deprived communities. www.haznet.org.uk

Healthy Living Centres - The Healthy Living Centre initiative is managed by the New Opportunities Fund (NOF). The programme targets areas and groups that represent the most disadvantaged sectors of the population. HLCs are expected to seek to influence the wider determinants of health, such as social exclusion, poor access to services, and social and economic aspects of deprivation which can contribute to inequalities in health. www.doh.gov.uk/hlc/index.ht

Highland and Islands Enterprise - The main economic development agency for the highlands and islands of Scotland. www.hie.co.uk

Home Zones - Residential streets in which the road space is shared between drivers and other road users, with the wider needs of residents being accommodated. They are about promoting quality of life and neighbourliness. www.local-transport.dft.gov.uk/hzone

Housing Action Trusts - Six Government agencies set up to regenerate some of the most deprived local authority estates in England. www.housing.odpm.gov.uk/local/hat/index.htm

Housing Corporation - The Government body that regulates and funds housing associations in England. Housing Management Renewal Areas bring together local authorities and other agencies in areas where the housing market is thought to be failing. www.housingcorp.gov.uk

Housing Pathfinder Partnerships - These were announced in May 2002 and are being formed in Manchester, Salford, Burnley, Rochdale, Stoke, Birmingham, Sheffield, Liverpool and Hull. They involve private sector partners and funding of £2.66m is available for each Pathfinder.

Human Neighbourhood Project - Run by the Human City Institute. Project workers support local groups in planning, creating and acting to get their own project underway.

I

Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) - A US not-for-profit organisation founded in 1994 by Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter. It is helping the government in England develop inner city growth strategies. www.icic.org

L

Leakage - The extent to which the activity proposed benefits people outside the target area or group.

Learning and Skills Council - The Government agency now responsible for adult training in England. www.lsc.gov.uk

Leverage - The additional money that a programme causes others to contribute.

Life long learning - The continuous development of skills and knowledge to enhance quality of life and employment prospects. www.lifelonglearning.co.uk

Local Agenda 21 - Strategies prepared by local authorities to promote sustainable development. More information

Local Public Service Agreement - Agreements between individual local authorities and the Government setting out the authority’s commitment to deliver specific improvements in performance, and the Government’s commitment to reward these improvements. The agreement also records what the Government will do to help the authority achieve the improved performance. www.local-regions.odpm.gov.uk/lpsa/index.htm

Local Strategic Partnerships - New overarching partnerships of stakeholders who will develop ways to involve local people in shaping the future of their neighbourhood in how services are provided. www.neighbourhood.gov.uk/page.asp?id=531

Locality Budgeting - The process of developing and co-ordinating budgets between all government organisations relevant to community and neighbourhood needs in a particular area.

London Development Agency - The economic development arm of the Greater London Authority. www.lda.gov.uk

M

Mainstreaming - Realigning the allocation of mainstream resources - such as the police and health services - to better target the most deprived areas. www.neighbourhood.gov.uk/page.asp?id=11

Market failure - A situation where barriers prevent the normal and efficient operation of a local economy. These may be information barriers, where local people don't know about job vacancies nearby, or the negative impact which high crime levels have on firms and workers locating to a particular area.

Milestones - Key events with dates, marking stages in the progress of a project or programme.

Monitoring - Regular collection and analysis of input, output and outcome data, along with information concerning the problems being tackled.

Multipliers - The additional or second level effects of a programme.

N

Neighbourhood Management Programme - A way of encouraging stakeholders to work with service providers to help improve the quality of services delivered in deprived neighbourhoods. www.neighbourhood.gov.uk/page.asp?id=577

Neighbourhood Renewal Fund (NRF) - Provides public services and communities in the 88 poorest local authority districts with extra funds to tackle deprivation. The original £900 million pot has been extended for a further 3 years and has been increased by a further £975 million. www.neighbourhood.gov.uk/page.asp?id=611

Neighbourhood Support Fund - Government grants of £10,000 upwards to community groups to enable them to re-engage disaffected young people. www.dfes.gov.uk/nsf

Neighbourhood Wardens - A Neighbourhood Warden provides a uniformed, semi-official presence in residential areas with the aim of improving quality of life. Wardens can promote community safety, assist with environmental improvements and housing management, and also contribute to community development. They may patrol, provide concierge duties or act as super caretakers and support vulnerable residents. www.neighbourhood.gov.uk/page.asp?id=567

New Commitment to Neighbourhood Renewal - The Government’s action plan for neighbourhood renewal in England, produced by the Social Exclusion Unit in 2001. www.neighbourhood.gov.uk/publications.asp?did=85

New Deal for Communities - A Government programme to regenerate 39 very deprived areas across England over a ten-year period. www.neighbourhood.gov.uk/page.asp?id=617

New Opportunities Fund (NOF) - One of the National Lottery funds granting awards to health, education and the environment projects. www.nof.org.uk

O

ODPM (ODPM) - Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) www.odpm.gov.uk

Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) - The Government department responsible for neighbourhood renewal, housing and urban policy. The ODPM includes the Neighbourhood Renewal Unit, the Regional Coordination Unit and the Social Exclusion. www.odpm.gov.uk

Option appraisal - The process of narrowing down a range of options to identify the particular projects to be undertaken.

Outputs and Outcomes - Outputs measure what was directly produced by the regeneration programme, such as additional training places or more houses. Outcomes measure the longer term changes in an area that were brought about by the regeneration programme.

P

Partnership Investment Programme - A scheme of public sector support for reclamation of brownfield land.

Partnerships - Partnerships vary greatly in how they are established and resourced and how they operate. There are no defining features for partnerships but they should bring together representatives from different sectors and different communities of interest to agree and work towards common goals. Organisations which bring together representatives of those who have an interest in the local area such as local authorities, health trusts, businesses, voluntary organisations, and residents groups.

Project appraisal - The assessment of particular projects to make sure that they provide value for money and that they will tackle the problem to be addressed.

Projects - The individual components or elements of an overall programme or scheme.

Public Service Agreements (PSA) - Deprivation will be tackled through the bending of main Departmental programmes such as the police and health services, to focus more specifically on the most deprived areas. Departments now have minimum targets to meet, which means that, for the first time, they will be judged on the areas where they are doing worst, and not just on averages.(See Floor targets )

R

Regional Chambers - Regional chambers have been established in each of the eight English regions (outside London), consisting of representatives from local authorities and other sectors. Their role is to support RDAs’ regional economic strategies. www.regions.odpm.gov.uk/chambers

Regional Development Agencies - These are the nine Government agencies set up in 1999. To co-ordinate regional economic development and regeneration, enable the English regions to improve their relative competitiveness and reduce the imbalances that exists within and between regions. www.local-regions.odpm.gov.uk/rda/info

Registered Social Landlords - Landlords of social housing that are registered with the Housing Corporation. Most are housing associations but they also include trusts, co-operatives and companies.

S

Scottish Enterprise - The main Government agency for economic development in Scotland. www.scottish-enterprise.com/

Scottish Executive - The devolved government for Scotland. It is responsible for most of the issues of day-to-day concern to the people of Scotland, including health, education, justice, rural affairs, and transport and manages an annual budget of around £20 billion. www.scotland.gov.uk

Section 106 agreements (s.75 in Scotland) - Negotiated agreements to provide, for example, low cost housing or community facilities in return for the granting of planning permission.

Sensitivity analysis - An analysis of the effects of varying the projected values of variables, eg different values might be given for unemployment rates to project the effect of the differences on a local economy

Single Pot - The regeneration funds available for distribution by the Regional Development Agencies.

Single Regeneration Budget (SRB) - The Single Regeneration Budget programme aims to enhance the employment prospects, education and skills of local people and to tackle the needs of communities in the most deprived areas. www.urban.odpm.gov.uk/programmes/srb/index.htm

SME - Short for small and medium sized enterprises ie companies employing fewer than 250 employees.

Social Entrepreneurs - The equivalent of business entrepreneurs, but operating in the social, not-for profit sector. They aim to seek new and innovative solutions to social problems.

Social Exclusion - The Government has defined social exclusion as being a shorthand label for what can happen when individuals or areas suffer from a combination of linked problems such as unemployment, poor skills, low incomes, poor housing, high crime environments, bad health and family breakdown. It can also have a wider meaning which encompasses the exclusion of people from the normal exchanges, practices and rights of society. www.socialexclusion

Social Inclusion Partnerships (SIP) - Government supported partnership organisations in deprived areas of Scotland.

Sport Action Zones - A series of areas in which sport is used to reduce social exclusion and promote community development and regeneration. www.sportengland.org

Street Warden Scheme - Scheme to provide highly visible uniformed patrols in town and village centres, public areas and neighbourhoods. Street Wardens are similar to Neighbourhood Wardens, but their emphasis will be on caring for the physical appearance of the area, tackling environmental problems such as litter, graffiti and dog fouling and helping to deter anti-social behaviour; reduce the fear of crime; and foster social inclusion.

Substitution - This happens where a firm substitutes one activity for a similar activity, eg recruiting a different job applicant, in order to take advantage of public sector assistance.

Sure Start - A government scheme which aims to improve the health and well-being of families and children before and from birth, so children are ready to flourish when they go to school by setting up local Sure Start programmes to improve services for families with children under four and spreading good practice learned from local programmes to everyone involved in providing services for young children. www.surestart.gov.uk

Sustainable Communities Programme - A three year partnership between EnCams, Forward Scotland and the Sustainable Northern Ireland Programme which is testing ways in which communities can be supported to improve the quality of life in their neighbourhood. The programme aims to increase understanding of how people can become more involved in sustainable development at a local level, including how to balance social, economic and environmental demands. www.encams.org

Sustainable Development - Activity which achieves mutually reinforcing economic, social and environmental benefits without compromising the needs of future generations.

Synergy - Added value arising from the working together of two or more organisations.

T

Town Centre Managers - Manage the public realm of town centres so that they are attractive, safe and accessible to all. They work towards improving the competitiveness and image of towns and cities and organise partnerships between businesses, local authorities and the community.

Towns and Cities - Partners in Urban Renaissance - A scheme involving 24 partner towns in England, organised by the ODPM’s Urban Policy Unit and URBED which aims to identify ways to bring about positive change in inner city areas (sometimes called the Working with Towns and Cities Initiative). www.urban.odpm.gov.uk/whitepaper/towncity

Training and Enterprise Councils - Government agencies, now disbanded, set up in England and Wales in 1990 to take primary responsibility for training provision. The local Learning and Skills Councils have taken on some of their roles.

U

Urban Forum - An umbrella body for community and voluntary groups with interests in urban and regional policy, especially regeneration. www.urbanforum.org.uk

Urban Regeneration Companies - Not-for-profit companies being set up by local authorities, Regional Development Agencies English Partnerships and other partners to promote development in less prosperous area of English cities by engaging businesses in agreed physical and economic regeneration strategies

Urban Village - Part of an urban area which is has an attractive mix of homes, shops, restaurants, employers and which attracts people to live and work there. 

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