Glossary

For ease of reference acronyms are listed here, with further explanation where appropriate, along with a number of other specialist terms. For specialist terminology relating to contracts, the reader is referred to the Project, programme & change management toolkit's Programme Manager’s Guide to Legal Contracts: Glossary (2005).

This Glossary does not duplicate items already included in Suppliers / Publishers of Tools & Guidance. It pre-emptively includes some terms not yet referred to in the Guidance text.

Further, there is a separate table that contains a number of tools and guidance referenced in the BIP, particularly in the "Improvement Journey" sections. There is also a Glossary of BPI terminology which was developed as part of the NPIP.

Acronym / Term Meaning

Activity Based Costing (ABC) A technique for putting a price on wasted activity. The principle is to derive an overall ‘cost per hour’ for each member of staff (based on pay and all overheads) and then to apportion the cost across the component activities in a process, distinguishing activities/costs that add value to the customer, activities/costs that do not add value to the customer but are nonetheless necessary to the organisation, and activities/costs that add no value at all (waste).

Arm’s Length Company The term Arm’s Length Company usually describes a commercial company (normally a Public Limited Company) set up by one or more public organisations to trade on a commercial basis. A typical example is an airport company or tram company which is owned by the council(s) but which is run commercially.

ALMO Arm’s Length Management Organisation – a specific non-commercial form of Arm’s Length Company, regulated by government. The term is only really used in connection with Housing ALMOs, a vehicle that allows the council to retain ownership of the housing stock, but transfer the management of the stock to the ALMO. An ALMO is a not-for-profit Company Limited by Guarantee set up by, and wholly owned by, the council(s) but run ‘at arm’s length’ with an un-remunerated Board that contains councillors and other stakeholder groups. An ALMO does not trade commercially nor issue dividends to shareholders.

BPI Business Process Improvement

BPO Business Process Optimisation

BPR Business Process Re-engineering

BSF Building Schools for the Future – a government programme

C&T Corporate & Transactional (services). ‘Corporate’ services are support services such as Legal, Finance, HR and IT. ‘Transactional’ services are high-volume services including Payroll (a support service) and front line services that deal with applications (e.g. Planning) and payments (e.g. Benefits).

CIC Community Interest Company - a vehicle for social enterprise companies dedicated to a community purpose. A CIC has restrictions on transfer of assets, but (unlike a registered charity) is able to distribute a proportion of its profits as dividends. A CIC cannot therefore be a registered charity. It is in a sense a ‘half-way house’ between a commercial company and a charitable company, and some former charities have converted to CICs. Some council Leisure organisations have been set up as CICS rather than charities (trusts). See http://www.cicreg.gov.uk/ for more information. There are of course many CICs that have nothing to do with councils.

CIO Chief Information Officer

CSED (programme) Care Services Efficiency Delivery programme – a DH-sponsored programme for care services with a number of work streams, including a BPR work stream for local authority social services. See http://www.dhcarenetworks.org.uk/csed/ for more information.

Delegation The term is used when one council arranges for another council to deliver a service on its behalf – e.g. a County runs the payroll for a District, or a District cuts the grass verges for the County. This is not dissimilar to Outsourcing to the private sector, except that the supplier is another public body, and the arrangement is more likely to be governed by a Service Level Agreement (SLA) than by a contract.

DH Department of Health

EPMO Enterprise Programme Management Office – a centre of expertise for programme and project management within an organisation.

ETO Economic Technical or Organisational (reason for redundancy). Following a TUPE transfer, the new employer cannot single out TUPE’d staff for redundancy, other than as part of a wider ETO measure.

ITT Invitation To Tender for a contract.

JSC Joint Service Centre – a building or call centre providing services from more than one public agency - e,g, NHS, local council, police, etc. – in a ‘joined up’ way.

JVC Joint Venture Company – a variant of a PPP whereby a company is set up with ownership and control shared between the public sector organisation(s) and a private sector organisation.

NHS LIFT NHS Local Improvement Finance Trust – a private-sector-led JVC established under a DH-led scheme for investment in primary care. This scheme is relevant to health-related local authority services where these are delivered in partnership with the NHS e.g. via a Joint Service Centre. See http://www.communityhealthpartnerships.co.uk/ for further information.

NPIP The National Process Improvement Project was a CLG project running during 2006/7 to develop the Local Authority Business Process Architecture (BPA), collect Case Studies, and promote Activity Based Costing. The outputs/modules from the NPIP pathfinders are published on this website. For more information, see NPIP.

NPDO Non Profit-Distributing Organisation

OBC Outline Business Case

OJEU
(tender / procedure)
The Official Journal of the European Union where Invitations To Tender that have to comply with EU Procurement Rules are published. The terms “OJEU tender” and “OJEU procedure” are used as a short-hand term to denote this procurement process.

Outsourcing A conventional ‘goods & services’ contract between the council(s) and a supplier.

PID Project Initiation Document

PFI Private Finance Initiative – A form of PPP in which the public authority becomes a client of an SPV set up by a private sector consortium which is given responsibility for designing, building, financing and operating assets from which a public service is delivered. Particularly appropriate when significant capital investment is required, but not confined to these cases. See http://www.pppforum.com/ for general information on the PFI scene.

PPP A Public / Private Partnership. A fairly loose term which embraces JVC and PFI and other forms of public / private partnering too.

RFQ Request For Quotation

Social Enterprise Umbrella term for any ‘business with a social purpose’. A number of vehicles are available for social enterprise companies, including ALMO, CIC, and Trust. See http://www.socialenterprise.org.uk/ for further information.

SPV Special Purpose Vehicle – The term originates in a private sector context where it is used to describe any company set up by a parent company or companies for a special purpose. The commonest usage of the term in local government is in a PFI scenario, whereby a private sector consortium will set up an SPV company for the special purpose of delivering the PFI contract with the public sector - e.g. to build and run a hospital. In this example the consortium setting up the SPV would typically consist of a building company, a hospital management company, and a bank. By extension the term is occasionally heard in a public sector context to denote a specially created legal entity set up by a public sector consortium. Such SPV entities (usually an Arm’s Length Company) are typically set up to provide services back to the consortium’s members and their clients (and perhaps to others customers too). An alternative purpose might be to aggregate demand so as to create a ‘super client’ with increased buying power (e.g. for broadband).

Trusts In a local authority context, the term denotes a social enterprise with charitable status, such as a Housing Trust or Leisure Trust. Most are set up as Societies for the Benefit of the Community under the Industrial & Provident Societies Act, and are incorporated as Companies Limited by Guarantee. Note: Many Housing Trusts are long-standing charities which, whilst they may have recently accepted council housing stock transfer, were not set up by the council. An aspect of charitable status is that any profits are reinvested for the benefit of the community the Trust serves. Since the CIC vehicle became available in 2005, some Trusts have converted to CICs so as to take advantage of the extra freedoms the CIC framework provides.

TUPE Regulations requiring protection of terms and conditions of employment and pension rights when staff are transferred to a different body. TUPE stands for Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations. The original 1981 regulations were replaced in 2006.

Acronym / Term	Meaning
Activity Based Costing (ABC)	A technique for putting a price on wasted activity. The principle is to derive an overall ‘cost per hour’ for each member of staff (based on pay and all overheads) and then to apportion the cost across the component activities in a process, distinguishing activities/costs that add value to the customer, activities/costs that do not add value to the customer but are nonetheless necessary to the organisation, and activities/costs that add no value at all (waste).
Arm’s Length Company	The term Arm’s Length Company usually describes a commercial company (normally a Public Limited Company) set up by one or more public organisations to trade on a commercial basis. A typical example is an airport company or tram company which is owned by the council(s) but which is run commercially.
ALMO	Arm’s Length Management Organisation – a specific non-commercial form of Arm’s Length Company, regulated by government. The term is only really used in connection with Housing ALMOs, a vehicle that allows the council to retain ownership of the housing stock, but transfer the management of the stock to the ALMO. An ALMO is a not-for-profit Company Limited by Guarantee set up by, and wholly owned by, the council(s) but run ‘at arm’s length’ with an un-remunerated Board that contains councillors and other stakeholder groups. An ALMO does not trade commercially nor issue dividends to shareholders.
BPI	Business Process Improvement
BPO	Business Process Optimisation
BPR	Business Process Re-engineering
BSF	Building Schools for the Future – a government programme
C&T	Corporate & Transactional (services). ‘Corporate’ services are support services such as Legal, Finance, HR and IT. ‘Transactional’ services are high-volume services including Payroll (a support service) and front line services that deal with applications (e.g. Planning) and payments (e.g. Benefits).
CIC	Community Interest Company - a vehicle for social enterprise companies dedicated to a community purpose. A CIC has restrictions on transfer of assets, but (unlike a registered charity) is able to distribute a proportion of its profits as dividends. A CIC cannot therefore be a registered charity. It is in a sense a ‘half-way house’ between a commercial company and a charitable company, and some former charities have converted to CICs. Some council Leisure organisations have been set up as CICS rather than charities (trusts). See http://www.cicreg.gov.uk/ for more information. There are of course many CICs that have nothing to do with councils.
CIO	Chief Information Officer
CSED (programme)	Care Services Efficiency Delivery programme – a DH-sponsored programme for care services with a number of work streams, including a BPR work stream for local authority social services. See http://www.dhcarenetworks.org.uk/csed/ for more information.
Delegation	The term is used when one council arranges for another council to deliver a service on its behalf – e.g. a County runs the payroll for a District, or a District cuts the grass verges for the County. This is not dissimilar to Outsourcing to the private sector, except that the supplier is another public body, and the arrangement is more likely to be governed by a Service Level Agreement (SLA) than by a contract.
DH	Department of Health
EPMO	Enterprise Programme Management Office – a centre of expertise for programme and project management within an organisation.
ETO	Economic Technical or Organisational (reason for redundancy). Following a TUPE transfer, the new employer cannot single out TUPE’d staff for redundancy, other than as part of a wider ETO measure.
ITT	Invitation To Tender for a contract.
JSC	Joint Service Centre – a building or call centre providing services from more than one public agency - e,g, NHS, local council, police, etc. – in a ‘joined up’ way.
JVC	Joint Venture Company – a variant of a PPP whereby a company is set up with ownership and control shared between the public sector organisation(s) and a private sector organisation.
NHS LIFT	NHS Local Improvement Finance Trust – a private-sector-led JVC established under a DH-led scheme for investment in primary care. This scheme is relevant to health-related local authority services where these are delivered in partnership with the NHS e.g. via a Joint Service Centre. See http://www.communityhealthpartnerships.co.uk/ for further information.
NPIP	The National Process Improvement Project was a CLG project running during 2006/7 to develop the Local Authority Business Process Architecture (BPA), collect Case Studies, and promote Activity Based Costing. The outputs/modules from the NPIP pathfinders are published on this website. For more information, see NPIP.
NPDO	Non Profit-Distributing Organisation
OBC	Outline Business Case
OJEU (tender / procedure)	The Official Journal of the European Union where Invitations To Tender that have to comply with EU Procurement Rules are published. The terms “OJEU tender” and “OJEU procedure” are used as a short-hand term to denote this procurement process.
Outsourcing	A conventional ‘goods & services’ contract between the council(s) and a supplier.
PID	Project Initiation Document
PFI	Private Finance Initiative – A form of PPP in which the public authority becomes a client of an SPV set up by a private sector consortium which is given responsibility for designing, building, financing and operating assets from which a public service is delivered. Particularly appropriate when significant capital investment is required, but not confined to these cases. See http://www.pppforum.com/ for general information on the PFI scene.
PPP	A Public / Private Partnership. A fairly loose term which embraces JVC and PFI and other forms of public / private partnering too.
RFQ	Request For Quotation
Social Enterprise	Umbrella term for any ‘business with a social purpose’. A number of vehicles are available for social enterprise companies, including ALMO, CIC, and Trust. See http://www.socialenterprise.org.uk/ for further information.
SPV	Special Purpose Vehicle – The term originates in a private sector context where it is used to describe any company set up by a parent company or companies for a special purpose. The commonest usage of the term in local government is in a PFI scenario, whereby a private sector consortium will set up an SPV company for the special purpose of delivering the PFI contract with the public sector - e.g. to build and run a hospital. In this example the consortium setting up the SPV would typically consist of a building company, a hospital management company, and a bank. By extension the term is occasionally heard in a public sector context to denote a specially created legal entity set up by a public sector consortium. Such SPV entities (usually an Arm’s Length Company) are typically set up to provide services back to the consortium’s members and their clients (and perhaps to others customers too). An alternative purpose might be to aggregate demand so as to create a ‘super client’ with increased buying power (e.g. for broadband).
Trusts	In a local authority context, the term denotes a social enterprise with charitable status, such as a Housing Trust or Leisure Trust. Most are set up as Societies for the Benefit of the Community under the Industrial & Provident Societies Act, and are incorporated as Companies Limited by Guarantee. Note: Many Housing Trusts are long-standing charities which, whilst they may have recently accepted council housing stock transfer, were not set up by the council. An aspect of charitable status is that any profits are reinvested for the benefit of the community the Trust serves. Since the CIC vehicle became available in 2005, some Trusts have converted to CICs so as to take advantage of the extra freedoms the CIC framework provides.
TUPE	Regulations requiring protection of terms and conditions of employment and pension rights when staff are transferred to a different body. TUPE stands for Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations. The original 1981 regulations were replaced in 2006.

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