The DWP have appointed the Local e-Government Standards Body (LeGSB) to facilitate the definition of XML schemas and vocabularies necessary to support the transfer of Benefits case data from Job Centre Plus, and the Pensions, Disability and Carers Service, to Local Authorities.
The “e-Transfer Project”, is a part of the DWP’s Information Flows program, and intends to start rolling out this XML based communication from October 2009, to Local Authorities in the UK ( excludes Channel Islands and Isle of Man ).
The project will use the Government Connect Secure Extranet (GCSx) in England and Wales and the Government Secure Extranet (GSX) in Scotland as it’s transportation route to ensure that data transfers between the organisations are secure. Government Connect are developing a Bulk File Transfer capability to enable the exchange of data from the DWP’s GFTS (Generic File Transfer System) and local authorities. Pilots will commence in November 2008 initially using PDF transfers.
Anticipated benefits of the electronic data flow include:
- Reduced average end-to-end processing times for HB/CTB claims administered by Local Authorities and consequently less financial and social hardship caused by delays to essential benefits.
- Reduced Admin and Postage costs at the Job Centre Plus, and the Pensions, Disability and Carers Service.
- Reduced Opening and Scanning costs at Local Authorities.
- Reduced re-Keying of data into Local Authority computer systems.
- Reduced errors and earlier fraud detection.
During the project, LeGSB will
- Alert Local Authorities to the activity and invite those that are interested to come forward and contribute to a Community of Practice.
- Survey Local Authorities to gauge enthusiasm and expectation of achieving the desired benefits, and report back to the DWP.
- Engage with Suppliers to determine the right approach to delivery, check a set of assumptions, and determine the ‘Governance’ of the resulting assets.
- Facilitate Suppliers and Local Authorities to develop new schemas and controlled vocabularies where required to support the proposed data flows, using existing definitions from the Government Data Standards Catalogue (GDSC), esd-toolkit, and the National Benefits project where appropriate.
- Provide an Independent Quality Assurance of proposed Schemas and Controlled Vocabularies.
- Arrange for appropriate repository facilities.
- Work up a protocol for ‘Change Control’ so that suppliers can be confident that their products will remain interoperable with the DWP.
- Advise the DWP on appropriate Test facilities / support forums that will be required by suppliers and Local Authorities.
- Establish the data sharing framework
This engagement is a part of a sponsorship arrangement with the DWP in which LeGSB will be able to make general contributions to a number of DWP initiatives that touch Local Government.
LeGSB will shortly be contacting interested parties to come forward and take part in this exercise. Members will be able to subscribe to a regular news bulletin, and documents will be placed on the LeGSB Web Site www.legsb.gov.uk, as they become publicly available.