LGA publishes words the public sector shouldn't use
The annual list of words that shouldn’t be used by the public sector to talk to people has today been published by the Local Government Association.
The latest list of 250 words has been taken from the European Union, central government, quangos, regional government, business management speak and public relations phrases. Council leaders are concerned that in the midst of such a tough financial climate a failure by the public sector to explain to people the benefits from what they pay in taxes could make the difference between an individual staying afloat or going bankrupt.
The list includes new words such as:
Trialogue
Wellderly
Goldfish bowl facilitated conversation
Tonality
Webinar
Under-capacitated
Clienting
Disbenefits
The previous list of non words include:
Taxonomy
Rebaselining
Mainstreaming
Holistic governance
Contestability
Predictors of beaconicity
Synergies
Councils up and down the country are working to eradicate from their work as many of these words as possible and to help, the LGA Group has launched a plain English website to help all public bodies remove jargon. This can be found at http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=8021380
Chairman of the Local Government Association, Cllr Margaret Eaton, said:
“The public sector must not hide behind impenetrable jargon and phrases. Why do we have to have a ‘webinar trialogue for the wellderly’ when the public sector could just ‘talk about caring for the elderly’ instead?
“During the recession, it is vital that we explain to people in plain English how to get access to the services the public sector provides with taxpayers’ money.
“Any organisation that spends taxpayers’ money has a duty, not only to provide value for money to local people, but also to tell them what they get for the money they pay. People would be furious if they had no idea of what services their cash is paying for and how they should get to use them.
”Councils are leading the public sector in trying to inform residents about the services they offer. From claiming council tax benefit and helping older people get a lift to the shops, to telling people how they can get their old fridges picked up or report fly-tipping, people need to know what is available to them.
”Unless information is given to people to explain what help they can get during a recession, it could well lead to more people ending up homeless or bankrupt. We do not pretend to be perfect, but as this list shows, we are striving to make sure that people get the chance to understand what services we provide.”
