How to Guide: Data Collection for Local Directgov Programme

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APPENDIX F CONTROLLED LISTS

The Local Government Service List (LGSL , also known as ‘The PID List’) describes every service that a Local Authority might provide directly to citizens (residents, businesses and other people it serves). Hence LGSL represents the raison d’être of a Local Authority. It should be possible to cross-reference documents, Web pages - in fact just about everything a Local Authority does that is seen by its citizens - against an LGSL service. Only internal activities or ones where another body takes the leading role would normally fall outside LGSL.

Other lists are cross-referenced with LGSL to define the characteristics of each service and ways of grouping services. Cross-references between lists are sometimes referred to as ‘mappings’. Mappings are published from Web pages at www.esd.org.uk/standards. In esd-toolkit itself, a Local Authority may create its own Hierarchical lists (also known as ‘trees’), may record its own types of information and define its own mappings.

The esd-toolkit’s ‘core tree’ is formally known as the Local Government Directory List (LGDL). LGDL defines the organisational structure of a typical Local Authority and mappings to LGSL show which services might be the responsibility of which organisational units (i.e. departments). esd-toolkit subscribers create a modified version of LGDL to define their own local structure in what esd-toolkit knows as the ‘local directory’ or ‘local tree’ for a Local Authority.

The Local Government Category List (LGCL) provides a breakdown of services by subject headings, going from broad to narrow topics from the upper to the lower levels of its tree structure. LGCL may act as the browser navigation structure for a Local Authority’s Web site or may provide a starting point for designing a navigation structure that is particular to one Local Authority or a county portal. Mappings to LGSL show how services are grouped under subject category headings. Mappings are also grouped under Cabinet Office e-Government Unit’s Government Category List (GCL) which gives a higher level subject breakdown of all areas of government.

The Local Government Classification Scheme (LGCS) is defined by the Records Management Society of Great Britain, Local Government Group to provide a structure suitable for classifying all Local Authority records in accordance with good records management practice by function/activity. Mappings to LGSL show which services fall under which classification headings.

Hence three hierarchical lists group services in three different ways:

Other controlled lists group services as follows:

How the LGSL/LGIL/LGChL Relate

LGSL (Local Government Services List) defines customer facing services that a Local Authority provides, for instance ‘Council Tax’.

LGIL (Local Government Interaction List) defines the different ways customers can interact with the Local Authority in relation to a service, for instance ‘Providing Information on Council Tax’. For each LGSL service, there is likely to be a number of different LGIL terms that apply.

LGChL (Local Government Channel List) defines the different routes customers can use to interact with the Local Authority, for example ‘Telephone’ or ‘Web site’. For each service interaction, there is likely to be a number of different LGChL terms that apply.

Access channels and interactions

An access channel for a service can only exist if the interaction has first been ‘linked to’ the service in question. Therefore, in order for Engagement Support Consultants ESOs and the pilot Local Authority to collect information about the access channel, the interaction must first exist in the esd-toolkit. Therefore, they will need to familiarise themselves, not just with the process of updating access channel data using the esd-toolkit, but also with the functionality of interactions.

The effect on BVPI 157 reporting

As BVPI 157 is calculated using interaction data to show ‘e-enabled’ services, there might be the need to add interactions to a service where we have identified that a page exists on the Authority’s web site about the service. Therefore when adding the interaction we can mark it as ‘e-enabled’, and as such any interactions that are added to the esd-toolkit for the purpose of Local Directgov will have a positive effect on BVPI 157 reporting.

Integrated Public Sector Vocabulary (IPSV)

This product will bring together the three main controlled vocabularies available to public sector bodies in one merged vocabulary or taxonomy. The vocabulary can be used to populate Subject Metadata and index and categorise information across the public sector.

The vocabularies that are being merged are:

Who is behind the merger?

The merger has the support of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM), Local e-Government Standards Body (eSB) and the vocabulary owners.

It is funded by the ODPM via the LAWs2 Project from the Roll Out and Dissemination Budget for the National Projects.

Why merge the vocabularies?

What is the primary use for the integrated vocabulary?

How should you use / implement the IPSV?