eZine: May 2010

In this edition:
General (contains 11 articles)
- 1 Mick Donn
- 2 DEC Close of Consultation
- 3 Postcode Address File - changing postal addresses
- 4 Westminster Briefings will examine INSPIRE and the UK Location Programme
- 5 Guardian's FoD to Continue
- 6 Exemplar Awards to be launched in June
- 7 Everything Happens Somewhere
- 8 Monthly Reports
- 9 VOA Matching
- 10 Service Charges
- 11 IA Expands IT Team

NLPG (contains 1 article)

- 1 NLPG Advance
1. General

1.1. Mick Donn

There was some very sad, unexpected and sudden news that Mick Donn, Lake District
National Park and Chair of LoGGIC, unexpectedly passed away this month. His death has
left a very large gap in the community.

Mick brought a huge amount of energy and enthusiasm to everything he was involved in.
He has worked closely in and had a very significant impact on the management of
geographic information in local government for many years and he will be sorely missed.

A funeral and memorial service were held last week. The family are asking for any
donations to be made to [1]Air Ambulance and [2]the Langdale and Ambleside Mountain
Rescue
[1] http://www.airambulanceassociation.co.uk/donate.php
[2] http://www.lamrt.org.uk/

1.2. DEC Close of Consultation

Local Government Information House would like to thank those of you who submitted a
response to the recent consultation on the two documents which relate to the creation,
ongoing maintenance and use of the National Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG). The
consultation sought views on the:
Data Entry Conventions and Best Practice for the National Land and Property Gazetteer
(DEC-NLPG) version 3.0 and the
Data Transfer Format 7.3 for the National Land and Property Gazetteer (DTF7.3) version
3.0

Both consultations were launched on 9 April 2010 and closed on 24 May at 5pm. In
total, over 800 copies of the DEC-NLPG, nearly 300 copies of the DTF7.3, nearly 400
copies of the consultation questions were downloaded and LGIH have received nearly 200
responses to the consultation questions.

The next steps before the final publication are as follows:

all comments received will be collated by LGIH

all collated comments will be provided to the DEC technical working group, which
comprises a group of local government volunteers
in June the DEC technical working group will progress the review of the comments
received
the documentation will be revised where necessary by the DEC technical working group
if the DEC technical working group are unable to resolve any issues, then a Resolution
Panel, chaired by an independent person will be set up with the aim of producing a
final document
the final document will be submitted to the LLPG Custodian Regional Chairs for
ratification before final publication
all comments and questions will receive an answer in the form of a consultation
response document which will be published on the LGIH part of the IDeA website the aim
is that the final document will be published later this summer.
1.3. Postcode Address File - changing postal addresses
The Postal Services Commission have published the findings of their first review of the
code of practice governing changes to the Postcode Address File (PAF). The code
includes rules that allow people to ask Royal Mail to make changes to parts of their
postal addresses.

Three related decision documents were published on 21 May and can be viewed here:
[1]here.
[1] http://www.psc.gov.uk/policy-and-consultations/consultations/postcode-address-file-
-changing-postal-addresses.html

1.4. Westminster Briefings will examine INSPIRE and the UK Location Programme
The 2009 European INSPIRE regulations are now in effect. Consequentially, all public
authorities and public data holders are required to record specific location based data
with the first deadline being 2011. The benefits of INSPIRE, and of the wider UK
Location Programme, will lie in enabling improved local decision making through
stronger evidence bases, along with more informed, targeted and efficient delivery of
public services.

Issues:
Who is affected by the INSPIRE directives?
How to collect and collate data in line with the requirements of INSPIRE?
How to improve local communication and data sharing infrastructure?
How can this data then be best utilised by local service providers and businesses?
How is wider implementation of the 2008 UK Location Strategy progressing?
How can local authorities use location data to develop a 'sense of place'?
What are the cost implications of more robust and efficient data gathering?

A full agenda and registration information can be found on the Westminster Briefing
[1]website . If you are a local government organisation and would like further
information about the Inspire Directive, please visit the Inspire and UK Location
Programme Community of Practice [2]website.
[1] http://www.westminster-briefing.com/?p=13357
[2] http://www.communities.idea.gov.uk/c/214148/home.do

1.5. Guardian's FoD to Continue

The Guardian's Free Our Data campaign is continuing in its quest; once they know which
ministers they need to lobby - and once they know what the ministers viewpoints are -
they will be pushing the campaign as before. The Con-Lib coalition has indicated that
it is keen to free up government data and, says the Blog, there is still so much data
which needs to be freed.

1.6. Exemplar Awards to be launched in June

A 'new look' NLPG NSG Exemplar Awards scheme will be launched during June. All
Custodians, ALOs and SN&N Officers will be sent a brochure about the Awards; the
categories and how to enter. Information will also be posted on the NLPG and NSG
websites as well as published through the Ezine.
1.7. Everything Happens Somewhere
The Exemplar Awards will be presented at the 'Everything Happens Somewhere Conference'
in Sheffield on 20th October. Delegates to the conference will be able to vote for an
overall Exemplar winner - details on this and the rest of the conference agenda will be
available during June.

1.8. Monthly Reports

Next month Local Government Information House and Intelligent Addressing are proposing
to introduce new monthly reports to LLPG and LSG Custodians. These reports will
reflect the measurement criteria set out in the recent Authority Dataset Improvement
Schedules completed by Authorities. The reports are intended to help Custodians plan
their work schedules to meet the pledges made in their returns.

1.9. VOA Matching

The current Council Tax match rate is now 99.41%. All 9 regions in England are now
over 99%, with 5 regions over 99.5% and over 84% of authorities have a CTAX match rate
of more than 99%. There are no local authorities with a CTAX match rate of less than
90% and only 5 local authorities with a CTAX match rate of less than 95%. The current
Non Domestic Rates match rate at an all time high of 76.78%. There are now only 143,288
records left to match for Council Tax and just over 418,200 records left to match for
Non Domestic Rates.

1.10. Service Charges

The service charges for the next financial year (2010-2011) are now published on the
[1]NLPG and [2]NSG websites. These include MSA, non-MSA and commercial fees. If you
have any further questions or are interested in any of the services please contact the
helpdesk.
[1] http://www.nlpg.org.uk
[2] http://www.thensg.org.uk

1.11. IA Expands IT Team

Intelligent Addressing has taken on Valentina Lucic as a Systems Administrator to work
in the Infrastructure department. Val comes from Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina,
where she graduated in electrical engineering before marrying and moving to Canada.

Val worked in several systems and network support, administration and engineering
roles while living in Canada. The family moved to London in 2002, and she decided to
take some time out to help her young daughter settle into life in the UK.

Having worked as a contractor, she has now decided to work full-time at Intelligent
Addressing. She brings with her years of experience, and many useful skills and
qualifications (including Cisco, Microsoft certifications).
2. NLPG

2.1. NLPG Advance

Following discussion with the Regional Chairs, LGIH and IA have agreed to carry out a
trial to test the viability of NLPG Advance. A number of authorities have expressed an
interest in being involved and are currently in discussions about how to take the trial
forward.