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If you're new to the selling to local
government and want to get started in it,
we're sure you'll find the guide below very
useful. It looks at the departments which
occurs most in the local government and how
different titles can sometimes mean very
different responsibilities.
You can buy all the information individually
as you please - just let us know exactly
what it is you're looking for and we'll come
back with the best suggestions and advice
for you. Your data purchase is also backed
up by Meridian Delta's support and the
support of our suppliers - in the unlikely
event we don't know something, we'll phone
our suppliers to get the best information
for you ASAP.
Call us on freephone 0800 652 6627 if you'd
like to talk about your company and what you
want to do, or alternatively,
click here for a
response form on our website. |
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Category |
Further
Information |
| Best Value |
Develops the
authority's approach to the
implementation of the
Government's "Best Value"
requirements. This approach is
the evaluation of 'services'
based on all merits, not just
cost. |
| Cleaning Buildings |
Management of
the internal day-to-day cleaning
of the authority's own
buildings. |
| Electoral Registration |
Managing the
register of electors. |
| Freedom of Information |
Responsible for
Councils 'publication scheme'
and facilitating public access
to all types of information held
by the council. |
| Members Services |
Managing and
running Councillors' rooms, bars
and restaurants. |
Property Enquiries and Local
Land Charges |
Dealing with
enquiries about physical
proposals (road improvements,
new schools, etc.) which would
affect a specific curtilage
(area of land). This is part of
all house sales processes. |
| Quality Assurance |
Monitoring the
services provided by the
authority/department against
predefined standards. |
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Further
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| Architectural Services |
This department
undertakes in-house
architectural work and
project-manages work outsourced
to private practices and
consultants. |
| Direct Service Operations |
This is the
contractor side to local
authorities, providing various
maintenance and building
functions. This department is
often based within council
depots. Regularly referred to as
'Neighbourhood Services' |
| Technical Services |
Provides
engineering and building
maintenance services for local
authority buildings, heating,
ventilation, electrical and
plumbing services. |
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Further
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| Economic Planning |
Charged with
the development of economic
policies and related action
programmes whose goal is to
create employment, attract new
businesses into the
borough/district and provide
training. |
| Industrial Development |
Oversees
industrial estates and property
owned by the authority |
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| Emergency Planning |
Responsible for
co-ordination of emergency
services and related services to
deal with disasters and major
problems. Plans for such
emergencies are often
re-considered and re-codified by
Emergency Planning |
| Industrial Development |
A few county
councils still operate the local
fire service however a Fire
Authority will often cover an
area larger than a county
operates the service. |
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Category |
Further
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| Contaminated Land |
Charged with
classification and management of
contaminated land and its
associated issues |
| Environmental Health |
Responsible for
ensuring that all environmental
health laws are enforced |
Environmental Health -
Food Safety |
Responsible for
inspecting businesses and
premises which prepare,
manufacture, cater, or retail
food. In some authorities, this
department may also provide some
licenses. |
Environmental Services -
Overall Responsibility |
The contact
within the department with
overall responsibility for
everything carried out. |
| Green, Conservation and
Sustainability |
This department
develops environmental policies
and programmes for in-house
action. It may also go in and
assist other departments to this
end within the same authority. |
| Licensing |
In charge of
issuing licences for the sale of
alcohol, places of
entertainment, takeaways,
restaurants, off-street taxis,
private hire taxis, animal
boarding, zoos, caravan parks,
camping sites and so on |
| Refuse Collection |
Domestic and
industrial collection. With most
councils now outsourcing this
service, responsibility is
usually limited to managing
contractors and dealing with
customers. |
| Refuse Disposal |
Manages and
operates incinerators, tipping
sites and offshore disposal. |
| Sewerage |
Mainly dealt
with now by organisations
outside local government however
some authorities still have
decision-makers in charge of
this. |
| Street Cleaning |
Legally this
public health function is
separate from the highways
function, but the two may be
integrated "on the ground". |
| Street Scene |
Develops and
improves the 'pedestrian
environment' bus
shelters/signage/planting etc.
Responsible for the fixtures and
fittings vital in delivering
this service. |
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Category |
Further
Information |
| Central Audit Services |
The financial
audit and fraud investigation of
all services. |
| Central Financial Services -
Accounting |
This section
manages departmental and service
accounts. |
Central Financial Services -
Payroll |
Deals with
payroll functions |
| Central Financial Services -
Pensions |
Deals with
staff pensions |
| Central Financial Services -
Revenues |
The billing,
collection and recovery of local
taxes and other income expected |
| Tax, Rating & Valuation |
The management
and operation of council taxes. |
| Departmental Finance |
Responsible for
day-to-day operation of
departmental accounts. Usually
in accordance with budgets and
processes laid down by central
finance departments. |
| Housing - Benefits |
Administration
of housing benefit payments. |
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Further
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Catering |
Manages and
runs authority restaurants,
cafes, bars and so on and
contracts outside caterers. |
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Category |
Further
Information |
| Cemeteries and Crematoria |
Manages and
maintains all authority-owned
cemeteries and crematoria. |
| Cleansing |
Generally looks
after the cleaning of public
facilities, like toilets. |
| Community Safety |
Public safety
in public places - can include
neighbourhood warden schemes |
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Further
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Museums and Art Galleries |
In charge of
the day to day running of these
facilities. |
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Further
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| Housing - Care and Support |
Customer-experienced focused for
existing social housing tenants |
| Housing - Development |
Attempts to
plan and develop new local
authority housing |
| Housing - Maintenance |
Charged with
the maintenance and upkeep of
existing local authority housing |
| Housing - Management and Tenant
Services |
Deals with
letting, tenant management,
dispute resolution, noise
problems and so on |
| Housing - Other |
Officers with
responsibility for dealing with
areas not covered by the other
classifications |
Housing - Overall
Responsibility |
The director or
head of housing (or equivalent)
- the main decision-maker and
top contact within the Housing
Department |
| Housing - Regeneration |
In charge of
improving the quality of
existing social housing |
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Category |
Further
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| Central Computing - Internet |
Designs, run,
updates and maintains the
authority's internet site |
| Central IT Departmental Support |
Provision of IT
support to other council
departments. May include some
limited purchasing although this
is mainly handled by
'Departmental Computing.' |
| Departmental Computing |
Charged with
the planning and development of
in-department computing. This
includes management of LANs,
purchase of hardware and
software and (occasionally)
staff support. |
| Education - Schools IT and
Computing |
Advices on the
use of IT within schools |
| eGovernment |
Central
Government is trying to move all
public services to a
public-facing internet approach
to dealing with citizens. This
department is responsible for
implementing these new ways of
providing public services. |
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Category |
Further
Information |
| CCTV |
Maintenance and
surveillance of council-owned
CCTV systems. |
| Education - Estates Management |
In charge of
the estate and facilities
management for
authority-controlled schools |
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Further
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| Archives |
Holds and
stores archive material relating
to the geographical area covered
by the authority (sometimes
wider if previous boundary
changes had made the area
smaller). |
| Library Services -
Business/Reference |
Manages
council-run business and
reference libraries or sections
within libraries. |
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Further
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| Community Services Development |
Street-level
work from authorities to help
local communities develop
socially and economically. |
| Economic and Community
Regeneration |
Very active
attempts to promote community
growth and cohesion in blighted
areas - most often seen in
run-down inner-city areas. |
| European Liaison |
As a large
number of laws are made in
Europe now as well as granting
of regional development funds,
some authorities now have an
office in Brussels. |
| Local Strategic Partnership |
Teams looking
for ways to bring together the
strengths of the public sector,
private sector, communities and
non-profits for the benefit of
the wider community. |
| Service Co-ordination &
Partnerships |
Part of a
growing trend towards setting up
partnerships with other public
and private organisations and
generally seeking "joined-up"
approaches to how public
services are delivered |
| Tourism Promotion |
All aspects of
promoting local tourism and
associated services. |
| Town Centre Management |
Some
authorities undertake
coordinating functions in town
centres in co-operation with
traders. |
| Voluntary Sector Liaison |
Consultation
with voluntary organisations,
dealing with grant applications,
etc. |
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Category |
Further
Information |
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Departmental Personnel Services |
This section
deals with day-to-day staff
matters. Some authorities tend
to concentrate this in each
department as well as having an
overall HR section - often the
overall HR section can affect
limited powers in everyday
issues. |
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Category |
Further
Information |
| Central Contract Management |
This department
handles major contracts
(although not always highway
contracts). More of than not, it
will include some capital
expenditure and type of
contracts issued on an annual
basis to suppliers. |
| Departmental Purchasing
Contracts |
Management of
some or all departmental
purchasing. |
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Category |
Further
Information |
| Arts
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Manages arts
services outside any art
galleries (which tends to be the
responsibility of Heritage and
Museums). Can also award grants
to outside organisations. |
| Public Parks and Grounds
Maintenance |
In charge of
the management and maintenance
of parkland/woodland. Also looks
after public open space, some
highway verges, some sports
grounds and floral displays |
Recreation/Leisure -
Leisure Centres |
Manages and
runs authority leisure centres.
There are a few cases where this
has been handed over to private
sector contracts but this is
still the exception and not the
rule. |
Recreation/Leisure -
Sports |
This section
oversees and undertakes the
promotion and management of
sport-related events in the
authority. |
Recreation/Leisure -
Unspecified |
Within some
authorities, there are extra
recreation and leisure
officers/managers whose
responsibilities fall outside
the categories listed in the
section. |
| Recreation/Leisure Services |
The overseeing
part of the department with
overall responsibilities for all
activities. |
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Further
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| Building Control |
Oversees the
management and application of
building regulations within the
authority with particular
relevance to new buildings and
building improvements. |
| Markets |
Manages
authority-owned markets and the
licensing of pitches. |
T&C Planning -
Development Control |
Deals with the
processing of planning
applications, taking account of
the council policies and
environmental considerations. |
T&C Planning -
Local Plans |
The preparation
of land use plans for specific
areas within the authority |
T&C Planning -
Structure/Unitary Plans
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The preparation
of strategic land use and
transport plans, covering the
whole administrative area of a
local planning authority. |
| Town & Country Planning
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The operation
and management of the planning
application and approval system
in partnership with the other
parts of T&C. |
| Trading Standards |
Monitoring of
businesses trading within the
borough and enforcement action
to protect consumers against
unfair trading practices and
unfair trades. |
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Further
Information |
| Benefits |
Handles the
provision of benefits provided
by the authority and runs
welfare rights information
services for those citizens who
may not be getting their full
entitlement. |
| Travel Concessions |
Manages systems
and implementation for travel
concessionary schemes, whether
run by the authority themselves,
a local PTA and/or government
statute (OAPs and so on) |
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Category |
Further
Information |
| Departmental Training |
Usually a
limited role within authorities.
This training is delivered
in-house for other departments
and normally concerns catering,
cleaning work and highway &
building maintenance. |
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Category |
Further
Information |
| Car
Parks (Off-Street) |
Oversees the
management of car parks owned by
the authority whether run by the
authority or a third-party
contractor. |
| Highways - Client |
Develops policy
and planning on all areas of
highway maintenance and
construction. |
| Highways - Contractor/Consultant |
Undertakes
highways work specified the
client "side" |
| Highways - Design & Engineering |
Involves the
design of highway schemes, road
improvements and structures. |
| Highways - Maintenance |
Concerns the
daily routine of structural
maintenance of roads and
bridges. |
| Highways - Road Safety |
Develops and
implements road safety policies
and programmes. |
| Highways - Street Lighting |
Design;
implementation and maintenance
of street lighting (may include
traffic signs within some
authorities). |
| Highways - Traffic Control/ITS |
Traffic
signals, traffic vontrol
systems, Intelligent Traffic
Systems and so on - the
implementation of the
conclusions of the 'Highways -
Traffic Management' department. |
| Highways - Traffic Management |
Relates to the
design, consultation and related
work to do with onstreet parking
controls, one-way streets,
traffic signs and so on. |
| Highways - Unspecified |
Covers areas of
highway management, planning and
implementation that are not
covered in the other
classifications listed. |
| Public Transport Subsidies |
This section
decides the bus and rail
services required for social
reasons and arranges the
contracts with operators to
provide them. |
| Transport Planning |
Concerns the
preparation of overall
strategies, including plans for
highways in the authority and
public transport provision,
area-wide and more locally. |
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