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| October 2008 Edition |

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General:

1. NLPG NSG Exemplar Awards

2. NLPG NSG Annual Conference
3. Feedback from Delegates
4. Government Connect Pledges £2.25m Local Authority Support
Package
5. Major Data Study Holds Key to Unlocking Brownfield Sites
6. Unlocking the Power of Local Government Information
7. Local Government Web 2.0
8. IA Seeks New NSG Custodian
9. IA Expands Team
10. Wedding Bells

NLPG:

1. Annual Improvement Schedules

2. Monthly Health Check Reports
3. NLPG Search Guidance

NSG:

1. EToN 5.0 Goes Live

2. Revised Compliance Checks
3. Annual Improvement Schedules
4. Improvement in LSG Submissions
5. LSG/LLPG Street Comparison Reports
6. NSG Meetings

-----[articles]-----

[General]
**1. NLPG NSG Exemplar Awards**
The 2008 Exemplar Awards were presented at the Underpinning
Transformational Government
conference and exhibition at the ICC in Birmingham on 16th
October. The Awards
are about three things:
To recognise the very hard work of LLPG Custodians and LSG
Custodians across England
and Wales, sometimes under difficult conditions. Perhaps in the
face of a lack of
resources or recognition.
To reward success and best practice.
To publicise the value of what is being done by the local
government community for
the local government and wider community and, above all, the
citizens they serve.

This year, the entries demonstrated that accurate and reliable

locational information
really is at the heart of delivering the government's
Transformational Government
agenda. Through the Awards process, local authorities showed how
they are using
the gazetteers for projects ranging from;

avoidable contact
flood risk analysis and prevention
targeting of resources to areas of social deprivation
promoting energy efficiency
mapping and monitoring borough migration
investigation of fraudulent benefit claims
CRM partnerships
crime and disorder reduction
street scene services

unifying tool for local government reorganization

national concessionary bus pass schemes
'Fit Britain'
recycling and waste management
preparations for FiReControl
safeguarding wildlife and ancient monuments
management of street works
enforcement of the Environmental protection Act

John Hayes, Director of IDeA, presented the Awards and enthused

about the innovation
demonstrated in the entries for this year's Awards. A synopses
of the submissions
are available [1] here. These examples and other winners are
all underpinned by
the NLPG and the NSG.
NLPG Awards

NLPG Most Creative Use

Winner
Dartford Borough Council
Runners-up
London Borough of Barking & Dagenham

Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames

Highly Commended
Chorley Borough Council

Shepway District Council

NLPG Best Business Process Transformation

Winner

South Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council

Runners-up
Chiltern District Council

Mid Devon District Council

Surrey Fire & Rescue Service

Highly Commended

Blackpool Council

Caradon District Council

Nottingham City Council

NLPG Best Use of NLPG Data by a Partner

Winner
Nottingham City Council
Runners-up
Durham City Council
Sedgefield Borough Council

NLPG Most Improved

Winner
London Borough of Lewisham
Runners-up
Birmingham City Council

Caerphilly County Borough

NSG Awards

NSG Best Streetworks Application

Winner
London Borough of Camden
Runners-up
Conwy County Borough Council

Kent Highways Services Alliance

NSG Most Innovative Use of Additional Street Data

Winner
Kent Highways Services Alliance
Runner-up
South Oxfordshire District Council

NSG Most Creative Use of Level 3 NSG

Winner
Not Awarded
Runners-up
Kent Highways Services Alliance

Monmouthshire County Council

NSG Most Improved

Winner
Warwickshire County Council
Runners-up
Hampshire County Council

Leicestershire County Council

Joint NLPG/NSG Awards

NLPG/NSG Best Integrated Use of

Winner
London Borough of Haringey
Runner-up
Monmouthshire County Council

NLPG/NSG Best Integration of the NLPG and NSG

Highly Commended
Bury Metropolitan Borough Council

London Borough of Brent

London Borough of Ealing

 London Borough of Lewisham

London Borough of Sutton

Luton Borough Council

Warrington Borough Council

[1] http://www.iahub.net/docs/1224511576024.pdf

**2. NLPG NSG Annual Conference**

This year's NLPG NSG annual conference 'Underpinning
Transformational Government
- everything happens somewhere' attracted over 350 attendees
from across England
and Wales. The conference included a number of significant
presentations from top
local government transformational government experts; Glyn Evans
from Birmingham
City Council, Jos Creese, local government representative on the
Council of Information
Officers and John Hayes, Director at IDeA. The afternoon
sessions included some
excellent demonstrations of the role of the NLPG in the day-to-
day operations of
the Surrey Fire and Rescue Service, the Electoral Roll, and of
the NSG in relation
to the work of Network Rail.

All of these presentations can be downloaded from the [1]NLPG

and [2]NSG websites.

The event was enhanced by an exhibition running alongside the

conference. And we
would like to thank the following organisations for supporting
the event:Aligned
Assets | Astun technology | Bartec Auto ID | Bluesky | eSpatial
| ESRI UK | Experian
QAS | Geonorth Consortium | Get Mapping | GGP Systems |
Hopewiser | IDOX | Infoshare
| Innogistic | Mayrise | Northgate | Ordnance Survey | Spatial
Technology | Swift
LG | Tenet Technology.

[1] http://www.nlpg.org.uk
[2] http://www.thensg.org.uk

**3. Feedback from Delegates**

From the feedback forms we received, we were pleased to see the
Birmingham ICC is
a popular venue, the location was rated on average 8/10, venue
9/10 and catering
8/10, perhaps reflected in the number of attendees who made it
this year - in excess
of 350!

Presentations were rated on average 8/10 for usefulness and

information, as were
the range of speakers. The morning focus on strategy and
afternoon focus on the
more practical issues in property and streets, seemed to suit
the range of delegates
attending, we found Custodians particularly enjoyed the
afternoon sessions, whilst
Managers were more interested in the morning session. Speakers
who were particularly
popular were Jos Creese, Head of IT at Hampshire County Council,
who presented [1]"Information
- a strategic enabler of Transformation", considered "very well
informed" with "great
advice"; Glyn Evans's, from Birmingham City Council, talk
[2]"Transforming Local
Government in the UK" was equally well received, described as
"particularly interesting
and informative", whilst Carl Walker, Surrey Fire and Rescue
Service, presentation
[3]"Working to make Surrey safer" was "fascinating" and "thought
provoking".

For those of you who were unable to attend this year's

conference, or who were unable
to see all of the speakers you intended to, presentation slides
have now been published
on the [4]NLPG, [5]NSG and [6]IA websites and can be accessed on
the Underpinning
Transformational Government pages. You will also be able to see
details of the exemplar
award winners on the [7]Exemplar Awards pages as well as
individual press releases
going in to some more detail about the entries in the [8] news
section.

We would also like to thank the exhibitors, see above for their
details. The exhibition
was rated 8/10 on average by delegates who commented that "from
a networking perspective
the whole exhibition was extremely useful".

99% of delegates who completed feedback forms said that they

would attend a similar
event next year - we hope there is a similar feeling amongst
those of you who were
unable to get completed feedback forms to us and that next
year's event will receive
such positive feedback.
[1] http://www.iahub.net/docs/1224592666739.pdf
[2] http://www.iahub.net/docs/1224592752292.pdf
[3] http://www.iahub.net/docs/1224593090252.pdf
[4] http://www.nlpg.org.uk
[5] http://www.thensg.org.uk
[6] http://www.intelligent-addressing.co.uk/iaweb/link.htm?id=2012
[7] http://www.nlpg.org.uk/nlpg/link.htm?id=2019
[8] http://www.thensg.org.uk/iansg/link.htm?id=2007

**4. Government Connect Pledges £2.25m Local Authority Support

Package**
The Government Connect programme has today announced a £2.25m
package of support
to assist and encourage implementation by local authorities of
the Government Connect
Secure eXtranet (GCSx). The system allows secure exchange of
personal information
between councils and central government where this is needed to
provide effective
services to the public.

The announcement coincides with news that all councils across

England and Wales
have committed to taking a Government Connect connection. Philip
Littleavon, Government
Connect Programme Director, says, "The programme has achieved a
huge milestone.
All Councils have now signed up to connect to the system which
means we can now
concentrate our efforts on implementation and benefits
realisation. Securing council
connection on competitive terms has generated the savings to
enable this previously
unplanned investment. I am certain this money will help local
government improve
its information security capability and to improve public
services to citizens."

See [1]www.govconnect.gov.uk for details of the new funding

package.

[1] http://www.govconnect.gov.uk/documents/GC%20SOCITM%20Press
%20Release%20v010-1.pdf

**5. Major Data Study Holds Key to Unlocking Brownfield Sites**

The way in which Local Authorities identify and assess land for
future redevelopment
could be transformed, due to advances in technology and changing
information needs,
according to a detailed study of the ten year-old National Land
Use Database of
Previously Developed Land (NLUD-PDL) published recently. See
copy of the press release
 from English Partnerships [1]NLUD Press Release and a copy of
the full report can
be found at [2]NLUD Report.

[1] http://www.englishpartnerships.co.uk/page.aspx?
pointerid=E673CFF98D974EBFB18873EF9C9A7405
[2] http://www.englishpartnerships.co.uk/nlud.htm

**6. Unlocking the Power of Local Government Information**

The Power of Information Task Force has recently published draft
recommendation
for local council wanting to follow a Power of Information
approach.

Ensure you have a copyright notice or a licence to tell people

what they can and
can’t do with your information (which is also your intellectual
property). Every
local authority owns its own copyrights and database rights. You
are required by
law [1](the Public Sector Information regulations) to publish
the terms under which
your material can be re-used. To minimise bureaucracy and cost
it makes sense for
your information to be available for people to re-use for free
under a simple standard
licence. The best way to do this is using the plain English
[2]"PSI Click-Use Licence",
administered by the Office of Public Sector Information. - All
you need to do is
adopt a policy for your Council's information to be licensed by
"The Controller
of Her Majesty's Stationery Office", who also licences Crown
copyright information
for the government. Further information is available from
[3]www.opsi.gov.uk.

Richard Allan, Task Force Chair says that 'We'd be interesting

in any comments,
both positive and negative, on adopting this approach for local
government data.

[1] http://www.opsi.gov.uk/advice/psi-regulations/advice-and-
guidance/psi-guidance-notes/index.htm
[2] http://www.opsi.gov.uk/click-use/index.htm
[3] http://www.opsi.gov.uk

**7. Local Government Web 2.0**

NCC has published a useful article on [1] Web 2.0 in local
government. This points
to some interesting reference sites and then offers a set of
guidance for local
government on using Web 2.0 technologies.
 The Power of Information Task Force recognises that much of the
most interesting
data for citizens is held by local rather than central
government and Richard Allen,
Task Force Chair states: "We are looking at some of the policy
issues around a power
of information approach in local government and will share this
via the [2]blog
soon."

[1]
http://www.nccmembership.co.uk/pooled/articles/BF_WEBART/view.asp?
Q=BF_WEBART_305492
[2] http://powerofinformation.wordpress.com/2008/09/30/local-
government-web-20/

**8. IA Seeks New NSG Custodian**

IA is looking for a new National Street Gazetteer Custodian
following the internal
move of Nick Turner, the previous incumbent. Reporting To Head
of Service Delivery
and based in Central London the post requires good
communications skills with strategic,
procedural and technical responsibilities supporting local
highway authorities in
their creation, maintenance and strategic direction of LSGs.

Salary £30 to £40k (based on experience) + benefits package .

Closing date for applications is November 10th. Interviews will

take place in the
week commencing November 17th. Applications, including a CV
and a letter outlining
your suitability for the post should be sent to
sbarlow@intelligent-addressing.co.uk.
Further detailed information is available from [1]NSG
Custodian.

[1] http://www.iahub.net/docs/1224257747459.pdf

**9. IA Expands Team**

Phil Dilliway has been employed as 'Business Analyst' working
on the business processes
within IA, the Quality Management System and specifying user
requirements. He will
be responsible for managing the central repository of business
processes, and logical
data models in the Enterprise Architect software package.

Phil joined IA from Currie and Brown, an international

commercial property consultancy,
where he was Business Analyst and Project Manager. He has a
degree in Maths and
previously was Director of a consultancy firm and contracts
manager for a DEFRA
agency.

**10. Wedding Bells**

The bells of the ancient church of St Mary's West Horsley rang
out, on a beautiful
crisp and sunny autumn day, in celebration of the marriage of
Neil Silley, from
IA, and Liz, on Saturday 18th October. Following the reception
at the Effingham
Gold Club the happy couple set off on their honeymoon, flying to
Denver before
driving through the sunshine state of California and then
heading off to catch the
surf on those famous Hawaiian beaches. No doubt he will be
missing the excitement
of Change Only Updates and the Conventions documents!!

[NLPG]
**1. Annual Improvement Schedules**
The links to the Annual LLPG Authority Dataset Improvement
Schedules have been emailed,
on Monday 27th October, to LLPG Custodians and notification
that these have been
sent has been emailed to ALOs of the creating authorities, who
have until November
28th to complete the online forms. A pdf of the relevant form
has also been attached
to the emails to enable custodians to complete the forms more
easily. If any LLPG
Custodian has not received the email with the link, please
contact James Neilson
at Intelligent Addressing on 020 7747 3500 or email
[1]jneilson@intelligent-addressing.co.uk.

This year's survey has been created using "Survey Monkey" which
enables respondents
to take a hard copy of their completed questionnaire. This
must be done before
selecting "send" at the end of the document. We would advise
custodians to review
and print each page as they progress through the document.

[1] mailto:jneilson@intelligent-addressing.co.uk?
subject=Improvement Schedule Request

**2. Monthly Health Check Reports**

 October Health Check reports (report.txt and summary.txt) are
available to download
from the FTP site (ftp://ftp.nlpg.org.uk/) from the health check
folder in the OUT
directory of your user account (for LLPG creating authorities).

**3. NLPG Search Guidance**

NLPG Search provides a secure password protected mechanism for
all MSA signatories
to view addresses held on the NLPG through a simple input
screen. It is accessed
from the secure part of the NLPG website. The data on the search
site is approximately
24 hours behind our live NLPG database owing to transfers taking
place overnight
for all updates made during the day.

New guidance on using NLPG Search has been published on the NLPG
website (go to
MSA Support > Resources) and is also available as a FAQ (MSA
Support > FAQ > What
is NLPG Search?). NLPG Search User Guide provides information on
how to access and
use NLPG Search to identify any property in the NLPG. It
provides background search
information, explaining how to run a search and view the search
results. It also
details how to view property specific information and run
spatial searches using
the Radius search function.

[NSG]
**1. EToN 5.0 Goes Live**
EToN 5.0 ODD files will be accepted for validation at the hub
from 1st November
2008. The hub will be able to validate EToN 4.0 or EToN 5.0 ODD
files from 1st November
2008 until such a time that EToN 4.0 is no longer valid. If you
have any queries
about this, please contact the NSG Coordinator at
[1]alokat@thensg.org.uk

[1] mailto:alokat@thensg.org.uk

**2. Revised Compliance Checks**

The coordinate ranges are being modified to reflect the new
changes in the EToN
technical specification.
 The compliance checks will be revised from X coord = 1 - 660000
and Y coord = 1
- 1300000 to the following:

X coord = 80000 - 656100 and Y coord = 5000 - 657700.

This will affect the following checks: 11.33, 13.8, 14.5, 21.9,
22.10 and 23.13.

These checks will be introduced from 1st November 2008.

**3. Annual Improvement Schedules**

The links to the Annual LSG Authority Dataset Improvement
Schedules have been emailed,
on Monday 27th October, to LSG Custodians and notification that
these have been
sent has been emailed to ALOs of the creating authorities, who
have until November
28th to complete the online forms. A pdf of the relevant form
has also been attached
to the emails to enable custodians to complete the forms more
easily. If any LSG
Custodian has not received the email with the link, please
contact James Neilson
at Intelligent Addressing on 020 7747 3500 or email
[1]jneilson@intelligent-addressing.co.uk.

This year's survey has been created using "Survey Monkey" which
enables respondents
to take a hard copy of their completed questionnaire. This
must be done before
selecting "send" at the end of the document. We would advise
custodians to review
and print each page as they progress through the document.

[1] mailto:jneilson@intelligent-addressing.co.uk?
subject=Improvement Schedule Request

**4. Improvement in LSG Submissions**

Successful LSG Submissions have been consistently on the
increase over the past
3 months from those authorities that are continually meeting
their obligations to
submit and pass validation. The NSG coordinator would also like
to pass on a gentle
reminder to all of you to submit your data in the first 10
working days of November.

Those authorities that will be unable to submit their November

LSG when the bins
open should contact the NSG Coordinator at
[1]alokat@thensg.org.uk, detailing why
they will be unable to submit.

[1] mailto:alokat@thensg.org.uk

**5. LSG/LLPG Street Comparison Reports**

Comparison reports detailing differences in street information
between LLPG's and
their respective LSG's are now available upon request. The
following differences
are detailed:

NSG street record does not match NLPG hub record on coordinates

NSG street record does not match NLPG record on street name

NLPG street records that do not exist in the NSG

NSG street records that do not exist in the NLPG

Different USRN in NLPG compared to NSG with same street,

locality, town and authority
code

USRNs which are closed in the NLPG and live in the NSG, latest
version only

USRNs which are closed in the NSG and live in the NLPG, latest
version only

Authorities combining to form a Unitary authority on April 1st

2009 should look
at these comparisons and align their datasets prior to merging
their LSG's for submission
to the NSG hub. For more information please contact the IA
helpdesk at [1]helpdesk@intelligent-addressing.co.uk.

[1] mailto:helpdesk@intelligent-addressing.co.uk

**6. NSG Meetings**

Regional Meetings will be taking place in the following regions
through November:

South West

East of England

North West

South East

London
 East Midlands

Please contact your Regional Chair if you require more

information.