UK government body lists banned buzz-words

London: Bureaucrats have been warned: no more synergies, stakeholders or sustainable communities.

The body that represents the country's local authorities has told its members to stop using management buzz-words, saying they confuse people and prevent residents from understanding what local governments do.

The Local Government Association, whose members include hundreds of district, town and county councils in England and Wales, has sent out a list of 100 "non-words" that it said officials should avoid if they want to be understood.

The list includes the popular but vague term "empowerment"; "co-terminosity," a situation in which two organisations oversee the same geographical area; and "synergies", combinations in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Officials were told to ditch the term "revenue stream" for income, as well as the imprecise "sustainable communities". The association also said councils should stop referring to local residents as "customers" or "stakeholders".

Association's chair Simon Milton said officials should not "hide behind impenetrable jargon and phrases".

"Why do we have to have 'coterminous, stakeholder engagement' when we could just 'talk to people" instead?" he said.

Brainstorming session

The association sent its letter after reports that one town council had told staff to use the term "thought showers" instead of "brainstorming".

Officials at Tunbridge Wells council in southern England felt brainstorming might offend people with epilepsy. However, the National Society for Epilepsy said it had surveyed its members and they did not find the term offensive. "Brainstorming" is not on the Local Government Association's list.