Jargon Buster
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| We've put together a 'jargon buster' of terms and expressions that are commonly found on the Internet, and also a few that you will find on this site. If you have any other terms you would like to see added, or would like us to explain a term that is not listed, just drop us a line. |
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Accountable body: An organisation which agrees to take responsibility for ensuring that a regeneration programme spends its money appropriately. Newcastle City Council acts as accountable body for Newcastle New Deal for Communities.
Active Community Unit: A Home Office unit which helps to promote the voluntary and community sector by encouraging people to become involved in their communities, particularly in deprived areas.
Additionality: A way of measuring the benefits of a project's activities which highlight the changes brought about as a result of its work.
ALMO (Arm`s Length Management Organisation): Many local authorities across the country have now established Arm's Length Management Organisations (or ALMOs) to manage their housing stock. Your Homes Newcastle was set up to play this role locally by Newcastle City Council in 2004, and now manages over 34,000 homes.
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Annual action planning:
Each year New Deal produces an annual action plan which shows all the projects we plan to develop, appraise and evaluate in the coming year. This action planning provides the basis on which budgets are agreed with central government.
Appraisal: Every project New Deal supports has to develop an 'appraisal' document - which sets out what the project is trying to achieve, how it will work and how long the project lasts for. It's basically another name for a business plan. In most cases you can download project appraisals from the 'Project Summaries' section of this site. If you have any problems, email us at newdeal@newcastle.gov.uk.
Area Investment Frameworks (AIFs): AIFs set out the regeneration priorities for an area with the aim of targeting funding from regional development agencies. They are developed by partnerships between local and regional agencies.
Area-based regeneration initiatives: In some areas, problems of economic, social and environmental deprivation result in local communities being excluded from opportunities. Area-based regeneration initiatives encourage a range of partners to work together to improve the quality of life in these areas.
Baseline: This is a measurement of the starting conditions, for example, the number of people unemployed, before a programme is undertaken. A programme can then be measured to see whether it's achieving its objectives by comparing the baseline figures with more up to date ones.
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Benchmarking: A method used by organisations for comparing themselves to other organisations (e.g. in efficiency, effectiveness etc).
Best Value: A framework, based on a set of nationally determined indicators to help local authorities measure, manage and improve their performance.
Bridging NewcastleGateshead: Bridging NewcastleGateshead is one of nine housing market renewal pathfinders set up by the government to tackle the problem of low demand housing by involving local communities, the private and voluntary sectors to create great places to live. A 15-year programme covering 77,000 homes, the scheme has received £73 million from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to support its work until March 2006. Further details can be found at www.newcastlegatesheadpathfinder.co.uk.
Business plan: This is where owners and managers of a business develop a plan for how they want to run the business. This will include consideration of the following: Where is the business now? Where do we want the business to be in x years time? What do we have to do to get there? How are we going to measure whether we've achieved what we set out to do?
Capacity: The term used for all the resources available to an organisation, including people, money, equipment, expertise and information.
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Capacity building: This is shorthand for a wide range of support, techniques and initiatives (eg: training, advice, specialist expertise) which contribute to building the capacity of individuals or organisations.
Capital funding: Money spent on buying or improving fixed assets such as buildings, roads and equipment.
Charity Commission: This is the body that regulates registered charities in England and Wales.
Citizenship: This is a government policy which encourages people to become good citizens, for example, by being active in their community through volunteering etc. Citizenship education is now compulsory for young people in secondary schools.
Community business: An organisation which is established to provide services and/or employment to the local community. It is independent and self supporting.
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Community Chest: A fund which provides small grants to community groups to help them improve life in their neighbourhood. Newcastle New Deal for Communities runs a Community Chest scheme which has already helped over 100 groups including Rye Hill Tenants' Association, Newcastle Asian Arts & Music and Tyne and Wear Basketball Development Group. Details of our fund are available from Mike Robinson on 0191 211 6207.
Community development: Community development is all about bringing people and groups together in their neighbourhoods to identify local needs, bring about improvements to life in the area and help residents have more influence over the decisions that affect them. Within New Deal, this work is carried out by a dedicated Community Regeneration Team, which includes six local residents who have taken the opportunity to train as community workers. To find out more, phone 0191 226 3617.
Community Empowerment Network (CEN): This is a network of voluntary and community groups in each of the Neighbourhood Renewal Unit's 88 most deprived areas. The network provides a channel through which they can feed into the Local Strategic Partnership.
Community Fund: The operating name of the National Lottery Charities Board which the Government set up to distribute money raised by the National Lottery to charities, voluntary and community groups in the UK and UK agencies working abroad.
Community Learning Chest: A fund which provides small grants of up to £5,000 to help individuals or groups access learning opportunities in order to be involved in regeneration activities (only available in the Neighbourhood Renewal Unit's 88 most deprived areas).
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Community strategy: The plan every local authority must draw up for improving the quality of life for local people. These plans must be the result of consultation with local residents, businesses and voluntary groups (including faith groups).
Connexions: Government agency set up to offer young people information and guidance on learning and careers.
Council for Voluntary Services (CVS): Local umbrella body for voluntary organisations, including faith groups.
Delivery plan: A plan which sets out what a project or programme intends to achieve, when, where and how much it's going to cost.
Department for Communities & Local Government (DCLG): The government department responsible for neighbourhood renewal, Local Government and a range of regeneration initiatives, formerly the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. The senior minister in DCLG is currently Ruth Kelly.
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Development Trusts Association: A network of independent, not-for-profit, community-based organisations which are involved in economic, environmental and social regeneration of a particular area or community.
Displacement: The extent to which the effects of a project impact - positively or negatively - on surrounding areas.
E-Government: The use of computer and communications technology to modernise and improve government services.
Empowerment: The process of enabling people to take responsibility for themselves and helping them to make decisions about their lives.
English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL): Training or education to help improve the English of people who speak it as a second language. One example is the New Deal-backed JET project.
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English Heritage: A government agency that promotes and conserves England's historic environment. English Heritage has funded the restoration and refurbishment of many country houses, churches and other religious buildings.
English Partnerships: The government's land and regeneration agency which was set up to encourage the development of derelict land in towns, cities and rural areas. It is currently the subject of a proposal to merge it with the Housing Corporation, creating a new regeneration agency at national level.
European Regional Development Fund (ERDF): This is european funding targeted at disadvantaged regions.
European Social Fund (ESF): This is European funding, primarily for training projects in disadvantaged regions.
Evaluation: This the word used when a project or a programme is assessed. This may include how money has been spent, how effective the programme has been at achieving its aims and what lessons need to be learned for the future. All Newcastle New Deal for Communities' projects are evaluated to make sure they are achieving what they set out to do.
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GO-NE: Government Office for the North East - the Government's representative in the region, working with partners and local people to deliver services - including regeneration - within the North East.
Government Offices for the Regions (GO): These are government offices, each working with regional partners and local people to deliver the government's key aims at a regional level.
Housing Association: This describes non-profit landlords providing housing to people in housing need. Housing Associations registered with the Housing Corporation are also called Registered Social Landlords (RSLs).
Housing Corporation: The government body that regulates and funds housing associations in England. It is currently the subject of a proposal to merge it with English Partnerships, creating a new regeneration agency at national level.
Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder: See 'Bridging NewcastleGateshead' above.
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ICT: This stands for 'Information Communication Technology'.
Ipsos MORI: This is a nationally recognised research organisation, perhaps best known for its public opinion polls. Ipsos MORI visit every New Deal for Communities area every two years to carry out a comprehensive survey into local people’s views on life in the area.
JET (Jobs through Employment & Training): This is a New Deal for Communities-backed scheme offering support into training and employment for people who speak English as a second language.
Joint Academy: A government initiative designed to promote new schools being developed through partnerships with central government, a local authority and a sponsor organisation (eg: private sector company, voluntary sector organisation or faith group).
Learning and Skills Council (LSC): The local organisation responsible for adult training in England.
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Lifelong learning: The continuous development of skills and knowledge to increase chances of employment and improve quality of life.
Local Area Agreement (LAA): Local Area Agreements are made between local authorities and the community to set out how services should be provided and targets met. Newcastle’s Local Area Agreement runs from April 2007 to March 2010, concentrating on three themes: reducing inequality, building a stronger economy and improving quality of life. It involves pooling 12 funding streams, amounting to over £13 million in total.
Local Development Framework: Previously known as a Unitary Development Plan, this is a statutory plan which sets out the Council's planning policies in metropolitan districts. It covers a wide range of land related issues and makes provision for industry and offices, tourism and leisure facilities, shops and new homes, while at the same time protecting the environment for the benefit of future generations.
Local Enterprise Growth Initiative (LEGI): A £300 million Government scheme to encourage enterprise in some of the most deprived communities across the country. Newcastle’s bid to the first round of LEGI was unsuccessful, but a further bid is anticipated.
Match funding: The term used when funders will only fund a percentage of the total cost of a project (eg: 50%) and require the remainder to be matched with income from other funders on donations in kind.
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Milestones: Key events with dates which mark the stages in the process of a project or programme.
Monitoring: Regular collection and analysis of input, output and outcome statistics, along with information concerning the problems being tackled.
MORI: See Ipsos MORI (above).
National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO): An umbrella organisation which represents the voluntary sector.
NDC: A shorthand for New Deal for Communities.
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NDC(N): Newcastle New Deal for Communities has £55 million and a ten-year opportunity to make changes in our area - but we want life in the West End to carry on getting better long after our Government funding runs out. That's why we have set up a limited company, New Deal for Communities (Newcastle) Limited, which, like the programme itself, is led by local residents. The company runs some of our projects and will play a vital role in continuing our work after 2010.
Neighbourhood Improvement Plans (NIPs): Residents in every part of the New Deal area have the chance to choose improvements for their neighbourhood through the Neighbourhood Improvement Plans. So far these have included new railings for Elswick Triangle; landscaping and a playground upgrade for BKW; a community garden upgrade at Mather Waverley and a number of changes at St. Paul’s. Other areas to be included are Hawthorn, Jubilee, Arthur’s Hill, Bentinck, Rye Hill and the Sycamore estate.
Neighbourhood Renewal Area (NRA): New Deal has invested £1.7 million in a Neighbourhood Renewal Area, which will improve frontages of homes in streets in Arthur’s Hill and Elswick Triangle. The scheme is also backed by the City Council and Bridging NewcastleGateshead, and is working over ten years improving things like walls, fences, gates, paving, gutters and drainpipes as well as the fronts of houses.
Neighbourhood Renewal Fund (NRF): Funding available in each of the government's designated 88 most deprived areas.
Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy (NRS): The government's overall plan for regenerating disadvantaged areas.
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Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM): See Department for Communities and Local Government.
One North East (ONE): The regional development agency for the North East including Durham, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and Tees Valley.
Participatory Budgeting: A new way of enabling local people to influence Government budgets and how they are spent. It has been piloted in parts of Newcastle.
PASS (Personal Achievement, Skills & Support): This project helps over-16s in the New Deal area to learn new skills, improve their confidence and fulfil their potential. For under-16s, the Planet Plus project provides a similar kind of service.
Performance Management Framework: This is the system used by the Government to monitor and assess the progress of New Deal for Communities partnerships.
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PLANET Plus: This project helps under-16s in the New Deal area to learn new skills, improve their confidence and get back into education. Over-16s in the area can use the PASS project for this type of support.
Primary Care Trust (PCT): These are local health bodies that are responsible for providing primary and community health services.
Priority Sites: A regeneration company set up by English Partnerships to lead on development projects. It is closely involved in the plans for Loadman Street (adjacent to Cruddas Park).
Private Finance Initiatve (PFI): This is a government initiative to develop large capital projects which are initially financed by the private sector and then leased back to the public sector. New schools and hospitals are sometimes financed this way.
Projects: The individual components or elements of an overall programme or scheme. Currently Newcastle New Deal for Communities supports over 100 projects which are working to improve life in the West End.
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Quango: This is an acronym for 'Quasi-Autonomous Non-Governmental Organisation'. These are part of central government but operate at arm's length from it, for example, the Housing Corporation.
Regeneration: The process of improving disadvantaged areas.
Regional Development Agencies (RDAs): In 1999 the government set up nine Regional Development Agencies to coordinate regional economic development and regeneration. The Regional Development Agency for Tyne and Wear is One NorthEast.
Registered Social Landlords (RSLs): These are landlords of social housing that are registered with the Housing Corporation. Most are housing associations but they also include trusts, co-operatives and companies.
Ring fencing: The process by which money within a larger fund is kept aside for a specific purpose.
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SMEs: This is an acronym for small and medium-sized enterprises (companies employing less than 250 people)
Social exclusion: The term used to describe people or areas that suffer from a combination of linked problems like unemployment, poor skills, low incomes, poor housing, high crime , bad health and family breakdown.
Stakeholders: People who have an interest in an organisation or process including users, customers, partners, employees, residents, owners, governments and regulators.
Statutory authority/agency: An organisation that is set up by law and is publicly funded, eg: Newcastle City Council.
Statutory services: Services that a public sector body is required by law to provide.
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Sure Start: A national programme that supports children and families through the early years with education, health and family services. New Deal has provided extra funding to ensure Sure Start in the West End can extend its provision further.
Sustainability: The process whereby an organisation moves from short term funding for their activities to more dependable funding.
Synergy: The term used to describe added value as a result of working together with two or more organisations.
Tyne and Wear Partnership: The Tyne and Wear Partnership is a strategic body made up of all of the main stakeholders in the economic development and regeneration of Tyne and Wear. The parternship directs, influences and co-ordinates a range of economic development and regeneration activities throughout the area. The Partnership aims to champion the economic development and regeneration of Tyne and Wear by developing and implementing a clear cohesive vision for the future.
Unitary Development Plan (UDP): Now known as a local development framework, this is a statutory plan which sets out the Council's planning policies in metropolitan districts. It covers a wide range of land related issues and makes provision for industry and offices, tourism and leisure facilities, shops and new homes, while at the same time protecting the environment for the benefit of future generations.
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Urban forum: An umbrella body for community and voluntary groups with special interests in urban and regional policy, especially regeneration.
Voluntary and community sector: The names used to describe organisations that are neither public or private sector. Voluntary organisations tend to be larger and unlike community organisations may not be rooted in one individual local community.
White paper: Statement of policy issued by government. White papers often form the basis of new legislation and are usually preceded by a consultative green paper.
Your Homes Newcastle (YHN): Your Homes Newcastle is the Arm's Length Management Organisation (or ALMO), which was set up by Newcastle City Council in 2004 to manage the Council's 34,000 homes in the city.
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