Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), Acronyms and Glossary

What you're asking us

It is important that the Centre of Excellence has spaces that are available to authorities only and so there are sections where access is restricted to just those working for authorities. Partner organisations and others using the Centre of Excellence virtual platform will not have access to these spaces. If you currently do not have access to a space which you should then please get in touch through the contact us elements of the site.

The sections reflect stakeholder requirements that came to light during information gathering sessions in the Centre of Excellence planning phase. Planning activities demonstrated the specific requirements for each of the sections including access and functionality. For example, the case studies, webinars, resources and qualifications & courses sections have been separated out to reflect stakeholder feedback. The search bar in the navigation pane will look for results across the site and provide access to all appropriate and relevant content.

A skills model as shown below has been developed as part of the Centre of Excellence. It has been tailored to the needs identified by local transport authorities and has three levels linked to which are different detail levels for the skills. The resources section is filtered on the secondary level of skills in the model for ease of filtering and viewing results. All resources are tagged to align with these secondary level skills. Resources may be tagged with more than one skill and will appear in multiple filters.

This means that no resources are currently tagged with that specific skill. Watch this space as more content is being added to the platform regularly. Alternatively, get in touch with us via the feedback form and let us know what kind of content you’d like to see in the resources section. You may also produce no results as no resources match the combination of filters you have selected. Try selecting fewer options in the filtering menu to see more results.

If you use the contact us form which can be accessed by either clicking on the ‘Got Feedback’ button in the navigation bar or the ‘leave us a message’ link in the site footer. In this form there is the option to send an email through which you can suggest content for you to provide. By providing your email address in this form we will be able to get back in touch with you to develop the conversation further as required.

FAQs

Acronyms

AI	Artificial Intelligence
ATE	Active Travel England
BCoE	Bus Centre of Excellence
BSIP	Bus Service Improvement Plan
CECA	The Civil Engineering Contractors Association
CIHT	The Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation
CoE	Centre of Excellence
DfT	Department for Transport
EFT	Emissions Factors Toolkit
EV	Electric Vehicle
FAST-ICNET	Formulation and Solution Techniques for Integrated Charging Network Design under Risk of Disruption
GBFM	Great Britain Freight Model
HGV	Heavy Goods Vehicle
ICE	The Institute of Civil Engineers
IPPR	Institute of Public Policy Research
Iap2	International Association for Public Participation
KTP	Knowledge Transfer Partnership
LAs	Local Authorities
LG	Local Government
LTA	Local Transport Authority
M&E	Monitoring & Evaluation
MHH	Maritime Hydrogen Highway
ONS	Office for National Statistics
SPEED	Swift, Pragmatic and Efficient Enhancement Delivery
STB	Sub-national Transport Bodies
TAG	Transport Analysis Guidance
TPS	Transport Planning Society
TRIG	Transport Research and Innovation Grant
TUBA	Transport User Benefit Appraisal
TfSE	Transport for the South East

Glossary

Capability

The degree to which the skills exist in the LTA community to perform tasks that are relevant to enable the successful delivery of the outcomes the community wishes to achieve.

Capacity

The degree to which the time exists in the LTA community to perform the tasks that are relevant to enable the successful delivery of the outcomes which the community wishes to achieve.

Centre of Excellence

The Transport for the South East Centre of Excellence which is set up to be a combination of a virtual platform and physical events to help boost transport capability within the South East region with alignment to the four DfT Key Objectives.

DfT objectives

The priorities set out by the DfT in terms of how STBs should seek to support their authorities. They include:

Developing effective business cases, as and when these are required to secure investment
Developing and maintaining a pipeline of future schemes
Reducing the environmental impact of transport in their local area
Producing updated Local Transport Plans should the Local Transport Plan Guidance go out to consultation

Focus areas

Areas through which increased awareness, knowledge and opportunities to collaborate have been highlighted as of particular benefit.

Framework

These agreements set out how various public bodies work with the DfT. The framework agreement sets out:

The main activities and responsibilities of the public body
Roles, responsibilities and accountability
The financial regime used
How audit and accounting work
How staff, pay and recruitment work
How the framework is changed

Levels of Learning

The levels applied to the skills used in the Centre of Excellence skills model. The levels highlight the learning being utilised to form the current level of aptitude of the skill. These levels indicate the learning interventions that are best placed to improve skill aptitude and lead to an overall lead increased mastery of the skill.

Mode

Refers to transport modes and seeks to represent the ways in which travel is operationalised within the region. They include active travel, bus, EV and zero emissions, freight, light rail, rail and roads and highways.

Partner Organisations

Organisations in the industry who have contributed to the development of this platform by providing access to their resource libraries, development of bespoke content and information regarding their upcoming events and existing courses and qualifications.

Skill

A factor through which an aptitude level can be associated. The increased mastery of a skill at an individual or organisation level will contribute to an increase in overall capability. A skill is not to be confused with a theme or topic area which have not been developed as areas where improved learning outcomes are sought to achieve specified aptitude developments.

Skills model

A categorisation of skills relevant to the community. The TfSE CoE skills model has been tailored to relevant skills for the community and is structured in a way that is appropriate for the level of detail that applies to these skills.

Tools

Are designed for processing and presenting information and data in a way that increases their ease of use and understanding. They aim to offer assistance to members of the community who are performing tasks relevant to their roles.

Training

Content aimed at boosting capability of LTAs by developing skill levels. Training can be delivered in different formats, such as self-led resources, knowledge sharing through case studies or in-person forums or webinars.

Training qualification/training course

Developed by external parties these are packages of materials combined in a coherent fashion to deliver a collective set of learning outcomes.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), Acronyms and Glossary

Why can’t I access everything on the platform?

What is the rationale for the different sections on the platform?

How do I engage with the chat forum?

How does the skill filtering work in the resources section?

How does the filtering work in the Case studies section?

Why are there no resources or case studies available when I click on certain filters?

How do I get in contact with the Centre of Excellence?

I have something that I would like to add to the CoE, how do I send that to you?

How will I know about developments across the Centre of Excellence?

How do I set my email preferences in the chat forum?

FAQs

Acronyms

Glossary

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