LGA updates jargon ban

The Local Government Association has produced an updated list with 250 words that it urges Councils not to use. I would have a few quibbles. It says they shouldn't be used "when providing information to the public." They probably shouldn't be used by staff, councillors, school governors, etc, either. Often jargon is detrimental to clear thinking as well as poor communication. Then there is the easy cheap shot that the LGA uses lots of the "banned" words itself if you seach its website.

Finally, there are one or two included on their list which I do think are useful - benchmarking is one I'm rather fond of. "Have we done any benchmarking on this?" is one of my catchphrases at Hammersmith Town Hall. There is something more rigorous about the phrase than saying: "Have we compared how we are doing on this compared with other councils?"

Anyway in general it is a noble cause and the LGA are to be commended for it.

New words on their banned list include:

• Trialogue 
• Wellderly 
• Goldfish bowl facilitated conversation
• Tonality 
• Webinar 
• Under-capacitated 
• Clienting 
• Disbenefits