Newsletter, August 2018 No Images? Click here Hi there, In this month's newsletter, you can find
Consultation on local government information sharing standardsWe’ve conducting a major review of the standard lists (taxonomies) that define the terms used through local government. These come together in the local government information sharing standards - also known as the Local Government Business Model (LGBM). From experience over many years, the LGA has made initial recommendations as to which lists should be maintained and improved, which should be dropped and which left dormant. We now need your views to ensure that the lists go on meeting your needs and you are consulted on ongoing changes. See the article Time to move over Mickey - Changes to standard lists for a summary of suggested changes and to give your feedback. Powers and Duties tell you what services councils can or should deliverAs councils see their budgets cut by over 40% on average and the need to make savings remains acute, we’re reminded of the constant efforts needed to reduce costs, without neglecting the need to meet statutory requirements and serve residents. The Powers and Duties List can help identify what services a council is required to deliver (its duties) and what it is empowered to deliver if it chooses (its powers). The Powers and Duties tool lets subscribing councils filter services relevant to them and view associated legal powers and duties, with links to relevant legislation. Of course, your legal department should be consulted on any changes based on these resources. Subscribed users can also use the Record of Processing Activity (RoPA) download functions to produce a tailored RoPA quickly for records containing ‘personal’ and ‘special’ information and save time when complying to the new 2018 General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). ODI survey on GeoSpatial dataThe Open Data Institute (ODI) is running a project to determine how it can support the publication and use of more open geospatial data. As part of this project, it would like to find out more about how local government in the UK is engaging in the publication and use of geospatial data and open source GIS tools and applications. The ODI is primarily interested in how councils may be releasing geospatial data rather than publishing maps. If you’re involved in publishing such data, you can help by completing their survey. One billion values!The LG Inform and LG Inform Plus database holds over a billion data values as open public data. You can see for yourself what’s available via LG Inform, LG Inform Plus reports and our API by browsing the Metric Types List here. To make things easier, we’ve now added open lists of area types and period types, both linked to relevant metric types. You can also see the levels of geography (such as whole authority or ward) applicable to an individual metric by looking at its details in the metric list. See the Metric Types download page for full downloads of metric types and their links to area types and period types, as well as other lists we hold. LG Inform Workforce report now updatedThe local government workforce and earnings report in LG Inform has been updated to include data from the latest workforce survey. You can now compare key human resources data for your council with other similar councils. The latest data is from 2016/17 and includes sickness absence, labour turnover, vacancy rate, and information about the demographics of the highest earners. You can find the report by signing in to LG Inform and clicking here. The Local Government Workforce Survey is conducted annually by the Local Government Association's Research and Information team and collects information about the workforce within English councils. Where councils have given their permission, key data from this survey is uploaded to LG Inform and made publicly available. Councils are able to use this information to enable benchmarking and support improvement. Latest population estimates releasedThe demographics report provides an overview of the mid-year population estimates for England for 2017, taken from the Mid-Year Population Estimates published by the Office for National Statistics. Data in this report is updated annually in June of each year. In 2017, the total population of England was 55,619,430 people, which is an increase from 55,268,076 in 2016. The top two drivers of change were International Migration Net, which accounted for 210,570 people of the overall change, followed by Natural change which accounted for 156,763 people. Of the 55,619,430 people in England:
To see the full report for your area please click here. Training and eventsAre you interested in learning more about LG Inform or LG Inform Plus? If so, why not sign up for our online training sessions? They're quick, informative and easily accessible from the comfort of your own desk. During these online meetings, we will give you a phone number so you can dial in to a conference call. We will also share a URL so you will be able to see our screen from your desk. Find out about upcoming online training sessions here, or click on any subject name to download a PDF guide. Please email LGInform@local.gov.uk if you are interested in joining any of the sessions. Alternatively, you can book your place on one of our popular training days using the links below:
At these events, you can learn what's available, how to use the tools, and ask us any questions you may have. As ever, we're always interested to hear your ideas for improving our services and would love to hear from you, so don't hesitate to get in touch by replying to this newsletter. |