SUMMARY/PURPOSE

1 This report recommends the purchase of a gazetteer system and commitment to five year development programme

BACKGROUND

2 The Department of the Environment has introduced a national initiative; the National Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG). The NLPG is a national dataset containing address information based on every property and land parcel throughout the England and Wales. All local authorities are required to submit and maintain a Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG) for inclusion into the national dataset. The dataset will conform to the British Standard BS7666 and once complete will be sold for commercial purposes on behalf of the participating local authorities.

3 The majority of the Authority’s back end systems will be linked to the local gazetteer initially focusing on Planning, Land Charges, Electoral Registrations and Revenues. Then linking all other major systems that use or store address based information.

4 It is essential that the Gazetteer project progresses as it is a key enabler for the development of;

· National Land Information Service (NLIS) electronic local land charge searches

· Local Authorities Secure Electoral Register (LASER)

· GAGS

· Electronic Service Delivery & e-government

· System Integration

5 The progression of the project is essential to enable the Authority to;

· Use a common address reference throughout the Authority.

· To own a single point Change of Address facility.

· Eliminate duplication and inconsistencies from the Authority’s address and street data.

· Re-engineer the procedures and systems to enable data sharing between a central gazetteer and the Authority’s major data sets.

6 The NLPG Custodian is responsible for accrediting software so that Authorities can safely purchase systems with the knowledge that the data stored within the system fully conforms to the required British Standards. Currently 14 supplier’s software has gained full accreditation.

7 The procurement exercise to date has investigated all of the potential 14 accredited software suppliers. A preferred supplier has been identified from which the costs have been drawn. The Authority has no commitment to purchase this software.

STRATEGIC CONTEXT

8 The progression of the project will allow the community to take advantage of the information age, technology and innovation as stated within Community Strategy by enabling better access to information. The project specifically is one of the key enablers for the processing of online planning applications (identified as action 2.45 in the Community Strategy) due to the fact that each planning application is based on a valid property or land parcel.

9 The progression of the gazetteer project will significantly move the Authority forward in delivering 2005 e-government objective and Electronic Service Delivery as stated as a specific target within IEG Statement II. This will be achieved by integrating back end systems through a common address reference.

10 The project will meet a key e-government target which will enable the Authority to improve organisational development as stated within the Isle of Wight Council CPA Improvement Plan.

CONSULTATION

11 National and External requirements have been identified through consultation with;

· Improvement & Development Agency

· Local Government Information House

· NLPG Custodian

· Ordnance Survey

· Office of the Deputy Prime Minister

The outcome of these consultations is instruction to Authority to commence the gazetteer project.

12 Internal requirements have been identified through consultation with;

· IWC Chief Executive Officer

· Portfolio Holder

· Head of Operational Development

· NLPG Project Board

o David Price

o John Lawson

o Mike Toney

o Richard Williams

· All Authority Services

The outcome of these consultations was the creation of the Detailed Statement of Need.

13 Restructuring requirements have been established through consultation with

· NLPG Project Board

· Head of Highways

· Head of Operational Development

· Head of Legal & Democratic Services

The outcome of these consultations was the identification of staffing issues.

FINANCIAL/BUDGET IMPLICATIONS

14 The gross cost of the Gazetteer project over 5 years is £596,509. Of this, £200,082 is already paid for with existing staff costs and cost reductions leaving a funding requirement of £396,427 over the five year life of the project as shown in column 2 below.

15 The majority of these costs can be funded from within the strategic ICT funding that the council has already made available but other calls are also being made on these funds (call centre, CRM infrastructure etc). The overall position of the project within the context of the overall GAGS programme as costed to date is therefore as follows:

	Current balance	NLPG	Balance	Other known projects	Current funding shortfall
2003/04	397	181	216	413	(197)
2004/05	141	52	89	479	(390)
2005/06	(13)	49	(62)	312	(374)
2006/07	61	91	(30)	357	(387)
2007/08	122	24	98	278	(180)
Total	708	397	311	1,839	(1,528)

16 It is important to note that the above figures show the funding required to enable the GAGS project to progress and take no account of the cash releasing and non cash releasing efficiency savings that will be generated as a result of the proposed investments.

17 The net cost to the council will therefore be significantly less than the figures shown above and it is expected that the overall GAGS programme will generate sufficient savings over the life of the programme to effectively pay for itself. In support of this, the Directors Group has committed to finance the development over the five year life of the project within approved budgets if the proposed programme goes ahead as planned.

LEGAL IMPLICATIONS

17 The recommendation supports the improvement of delivery of a range of statutory functions in a manor consistent with the duty to deliver continuous improvement.

18 The power to incur expenditure is contained within section III of the Local Government Act 1972 and part 1 Local Government Act 2000.

OPTIONS / EVALUATION

19 Option 1 - Do nothing.

The option to do nothing is not a realistic option as all Local Authorities are required to provide a gazetteer, therefore, this is not recommended as without the progression of the gazetteer project it will be impossible for the Authority to conform to the NLPG initiative. In addition the e-government agenda will be significantly compromised. Without the NLPG the Authority will not be able to sign up to NLIS and LASER

20 Option 2 - Develop an in-house solution.

In addition to the intranet/internet work the ICT Software Development Team undertake they are currently designing and writing a Contact Management System, therefore, resources required to design and create a solution of this complexity would have a significant impact in terms of the time and cost of being able to deliver a comprehensive and stable system, therefore, this option is not recommended.

21 Option 3 - Buy in an accredited solution.

Buying in an accredited solution would enable the Authority to create and maintain a gazetteer for use with both the NLPG and internal systems within a relatively short timescale. In addition as the software is accredited by the NLPG this provides a guarantee that information will be stored in a BS7666 format, therefore this is the recommended option.

RISK MANAGEMENT

22 Risks will be managed through the standard PRINCE2 risk management methodology.

RECOMMENDATIONS

23 (i) The Head of Organisational Development , in consultation with the Portfolio

Holder for Resources is given a specific delegation to purchase, implement

and operate an accredited Gazetteer System

24 (ii) The costs of the project, based on the projections set out in this report, be

met from budgets made available to the Head of Organisational

Development for the purpose of implementing an accredited Gazetteer as

part of the overall GAGS programme.

SCRUTINY

25 The Resources Select Committee scrutinised the proposals contained in this paper at a meeting held on the 15th September, 2003 and endorsed the recommendations as shown above without change.

BACKGROUND PAPERS

26 This report has been created using information found in the following documents;

· Community Strategy

· CPA Improvement Plan

· IEG Statement

· IEG2

· Address Use Report

· LLPG Maintenance Report

· NLPG Business Case

· NLPG Project Initiation Document

· NLPG Start-up Documents

Contact:

Andy Fahey - NLPG Project Manager

82 3492 [email protected]

David Price - Head of Organisational Development

82-3502 [email protected]

MIKE FISHER

Chief Executive Officer

PETER HARRIS

Deputy Leader