Timely Information to Citizens - Ipsos

�� Identifying and evaluating best practice 26 March 2009

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Summary ........................................................................................ 3

The project..................................................................................................3

Animations..................................................................................................5

The findings ................................................................................................5

1. Introduction; what is timely information?.............................. 11

1.1 What this project covers .....................................................................11

1.2 The drive for empowerment ................................................................12

1.3 Some current challenges ....................................................................15

1.4 A discussion point before we start: Are we talking about providing

information – or communicating?..............................................................18

2. Research objectives ................................................................ 20

3. Our approach ........................................................................... 21

3.1 Preparing for the main stage...............................................................21

3.2 Developing the regional workshops ....................................................21

3.3 Structure of the workshops .................................................................21

3.4 Framing communications with citizens ...............................................22

3.5 Brainstorming criteria for best practice ...............................................23

3.6 Developing solutions to communication problems..............................24

3.7 Animations – using non-verbal methods to stimulate debate..............25

3.8 Getting the right mix of participants ....................................................25

4. Criteria for success and case studies .................................... 27

4.1 How innovative were the examples we found?...................................27

4.2 How did we come to these criteria? ....................................................28

4.3: One: A coherent vision for information provision ...............................30

4.4 Two: Coherent branding on information provision ..............................35

4.5: Three: Put the communications mindset at the heart.........................40

4.6: Four: Working smarter, not harder.....................................................45

4.7: Five: Feedback loops within consultation ..........................................51

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4.8: Six: Segmentation wherever possible................................................59

4.9: Seven: Inclusive and appropriate content and delivery.....................66

4.10: Eight: Evaluate success and welcome public feedback...................70

5. Next steps: towards innovation pilots.................................... 73

5.1 Innovations .........................................................................................73

Criteria for Success ..................................................................................73

Innovations ...............................................................................................73

“Got a problem?”.......................................................................................73

The Amazon of services ...........................................................................73

Mentoring schemes ..................................................................................73

Geotagging ...............................................................................................73

Hyper-local websites.................................................................................73

Staff advocacy and training ......................................................................73

Youth democracy engagement.................................................................73

Communicating with young professionals.................................................73

Low vs. high tech ......................................................................................73

Build responsibility by removing redundant information............................73

5.2 Continuing and widening the debate...................................................74

5.3 Developing ideas towards pilots .........................................................75

Appendices .................................................................................. 77

1. Participating organisations ..............................................................77

2. Structure of the workshops..............................................................78

3. Best practice case studies...............................................................82

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The project

This project draws on the experiences of a range of local public service providers, and

community groups to assess how information is provided to citizens to enable them to

use and access services effectively, and crucially, to increase their involvement in

government and their empowerment to influence government.

There are three kinds of information provision which are relevant to this project and which

are discussed in this report.

1) Operational information, which helps people to access services and to understand what

outcome they can expect;

2) Performance information, which helps people to judge the standard of the service they

have received, and the services which their council provides to all citizens; and

3) Engagement information; which helps citizens to challenge poor performance, seek

redress and ultimately get involved in running the service themselves.

Information provision is a vital part of the government’s empowerment agenda; this third

form of information is particularly important for local government going forward.

However local government faces several challenges in providing effective information to

citizens:

• The ‘place’ agenda means an increasing need for collaboration. Local authorities

are no longer the only people communicating with and informing citizens, so the

messages received by citizens may be unclear or contradictory. There is also a

challenge of communicating to citizens how they can be empowered to get involved

with a complex system of service delivery.

• Different local circumstances means that lessons from one place can’t always

be carried over into another. Varied levels of resource across councils mean that

some authorities have stronger partnerships and a better-resourced communications

and empowerment function than others.

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• Some authorities have more resource to tailor information appropriately.

Sometimes, while local bodies appreciate the critical need to segment audiences in

detail and work with them in depth to meet their needs, they don’t have the resources

or internal structures to do this.

• Success can be hard to measure; sometimes it can be unclear what success looks

like; which measures a particular information provision is intended to shift, making it

hard for local stakeholders to see what works and what doesn’t.

Are we talking about informing, or communicating with?

A crucial finding emerging from the workshops was that information provision is just one

part of good communications.

Of course, communications can sometimes be taken to mean a very one-way process –

some think of local authorities and their PR departments, simply promoting the organisation

or showing it in a good light.

However, we found in this research that those who expressed the most sophisticated

understanding of the information needs of citizens, and the responsibilities of local

government and its stakeholders, tended to talk in terms of a communications mindset

infusing information provision.

This communications mindset signalled a two-way, meaningful dialogue, where

information is given in ways which attract and engage citizens, making it more likely that they

will retain information and get involved with services, thus leading to good outcomes for the

citizen. This report therefore contends that talking in terms of communicating about

services might lead us to conceptualise a broader world of citizen engagement than the

term information provision.

In this report we have not used informing and communicating interchangeably – instead

we have tried to highlight where a communications mindset is a better way of thinking

about engaging with citizens, suggesting a wider range of things that local government, and

other bodies can do for and with citizens.

What we did

Our research objectives were to look at what works well now; what principles could be

carried forward by providers in future information provision; and how collaboration across the

sector and between local authorities, partners, and CLG could be leveraged to contribute to

successful information provision locally.

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We conducted desk research, then a mini-workshop with CLG’s project board. This was

followed by three workshops with local government professionals, local stakeholders, and

local voluntary groups.

During our workshops, community organisations were very much in the minority, while

communications and PR teams in local government were in the majority. Voluntary groups

had been recruited just as assiduously at the other groups, but found it hard to participate,

citing pressures of time and resources; and some of those who did come along expressed a

view that their contribution might not be listened to. We suggest that this, in itself, is one of

the challenges of involving all stakeholders in information provision.

Animations

A cartoonist was present at 2 of the 3 workshops and was asked to draw as participants

deliberated ideas which emerged. Cartoons are included throughout

The findings

The table below sums up the 8 criteria for best practice which emerged from the workshops,

and some case studies and new ideas which illustrate them.

The case studies are examples of communications best practice – in the widest sense. This

does not mean communications in the sense of one-directional, message provision from a

council or other body, rather all the different ways that information can be provided to

citizens.

They are not the only, or even, necessarily the most successful, activities in the sector which

demonstrate best practice in delivering empowering or engaging information to citizens. In

many cases they are examples of practices which are replicated across a number of regions

in the UK.

Some examples are innovations. However, other approaches to information delivery are

good standard examples of best practice which, nevertheless, are not being followed

universally at the moment in local government; so it is worth rehearsing them here as, if

these more basic principles are not put into practice, more complex innovations are unlikely

to succeed.

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Principle What problem does this

solve?

Any relevant case study Practical steps

1. An overall vision for the whole engagement process

Providers should join together and be proactive in telling a clear

and motivating story about the project. There is a need for

leadership in seeing information provision as part of a wider,

two-way communications programme.

It is important for information providers to clarify when

achieving the aim of citizen empowerment requires giving more

information; and when other ways of promoting empowerment

may be more successful.

Solves one of the problems of a

place based agenda; the public

tend to believe that that services

are joined up when perhaps they

are not; allows confidence to

increase as all bodies seem

connected and efficient. Telling a

clear story about the project helps

citizens get a coherent set of

touchpoints with the issue,

making it easier for them to draw

out useful information.

Coventry City Centre redevelopment.

Simple and confident leadership by

Coventry; media management and

information management within the

context of a confident overall plan.

Council managed internal worries well,

presenting a united front to the public.

Staff advocacy and

training

Removing redundant

information from all

customer touchpoints

Projects begun with

vision and councils

planning to take the

lead

2. Coherent branding on information provision across

providers. Develop partnerships with shared budgets, where

each partner benefits from economies of scale and the value-

add of the whole project. Graphics, symbols and pictures can

help create branding across a range of initiatives. Avoid ‘logo

wars’.

Avoids incoherent information

provision which can waste public

resources, e.g. providers

duplicating campaigns, telling

different stories and missing the

chance to support each other.

South Tyneside partnership

communications campaign. The same

communications livery is used on all

comms, which catch attention because

they are part of the same campaign.

One touchpoint portal

for services; e.g. Got a

Problem? Helpline.

Sharing budgets on

national campaigns

e.g. firework safety.

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solve?


3. Put the communications mindset at the heart of local

government

Structure the organisation or partnership so that empowerment and

communications are not divided

Build information provision on a clear, ethical need, backed up by

evidence, and use this to generate buy-in among stakeholders

internally in a rigorous way

Avoids silos

Ensures we know why

information is being provided,

making it easier to measure

desired outcomes.

Avoids some internal

stakeholders undermining the

process because they do not

understand it, or disagree with it.

Staffordshire County Council

gave the comms team a more

strategic role, which led to a new

initiative introducing councillors to

the public

Stockport Council places

responsibility for communications

in all teams / departments.

If the

communications

mindset is at the

heart of the whole

organisation,

mentors can be

used to make

personal links with

citizens.

4. Work smarter and repurpose information

Work with a wide range of bodies from the voluntary sector,

councillors and front line staff to learn about your audiences; and

ensure they have the right information.

Use existing community networks, especially those online; however:

this can create challenges for hierarchical local government

structures. The sector has not yet come up with a solution.

Ensures that the front line

workers, who are giving

information every day, have the

right information and the skills to

communicate it.

Allow genuine empowerment by

letting the public critique and

challenge the council.

Fire and Rescue service in

Stockport was used to deliver

additional training to care workers

Harringay online website gives

local citizens a voice to critique

and challenge the council

Train and

empower front line

staff – and invest

in technology to

make it easier and

quicker for them to

feed back.

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Principle What problem does

this solve?


5. Genuine consultation, participation

and feedback loops

In empowerment and engagement work,

ensure relevance of any communication

about information to residents’ lives, while

reminding residents of their responsibilities

as citizens and the benefits to them; and

demonstrate the link between policy

decisions and their own lives.

The public don’t always

know which information

they need, in order either

to use services more

effectively, or to affect

service provision.

Oldham NDC balanced citizens’ rights and responsibilities

with Neighbourhood agreements.

Nottingham Grab a Grand communications campaign

encouraged perceptions of involvement. Using only a low

budget it was able to create a public sense of motivation to

get involved with government further.

Coventry City is also relevant here.

Youth democracy

programmes (this idea is

less fully formed than

some others)

6. Segmentation

A real need to segment audiences in

detail, and enable them to access and

tailor information to their own needs;

communications should be created by the

communities who are to benefit from the

information.

Citizens receive tailored

information from many

sources and may miss

vital local information

unless it is equally well

tailored and presented.

Also a more genuine

London Libraries Development Agency worked closely

with refugee individuals and organisations in developing

audio visual materials, to be used for both for staff training,

and directly with refugee audiences to explain library

services in an easy to understand format.

Redbridge:i; an online personally tailored information source

and an engagement tool, with a variety of applications

Content aggregator be

used to map preferences

and service use to offer

more information, tailored

to the individual and their

needs.

Bluetooth-based

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voice in communications

helps citizens to

understand that the

empowerment offered is

genuine.

including property-referenced data, interactive mapping,

online consultation, blogs, discussion forums.

BeatCrime, a website mapping crime onto very local

information to inform about crime but also reduce fear of

crime.

geographical application,

using geotagging,

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solve?


7. Inclusive, appropriate content and delivery

Empowerment is about more than information

provision; communications thinking should be

applied to the delivery of all messages. Focus on

what citizens need to know, going beyond the

council’s statutory obligation to inform.

Comms should include very simple, clear

messages; use graphics and colours where

possible; and use appropriate and creative

distribution channels.

Inappropriate or unengaging

content

Redbridge:i; includes blogging and live

chats with councillors

Surrey PCSO very local newsletters were

delivered to every house, by the officer

whose picture was on the leaflet.

Pilots which compare the same

information provided through

different channels to create

some hard evidence of what

works for different audiences.

Low vs high tech trials and use

of online channels.

8.Evaluate throughout the life cycle and

welcome public feedback

Ideally should be built in from the start; and include

measures which citizens have been involved in

setting.

A key aspect of

empowerment is to involve

citizens in setting success

metrics.

South Tyneside’s campaign will use the

place survey results as a way of measuring

the success of this campaign

A portal of service information

online could also collect

feedback both openly and

covertly to be used to improve

the information provided to the

citizen.

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1.1 What this project covers

There are three kinds of information provision which are discussed in this report.

1) Operational information, which helps people to access services and to understand

what outcome they can expect;

2) Performance information, which helps people to judge the standard of the service

they have received, and the services which their council provides to all citizens; and

3) Engagement information; which helps citizens to challenge poor performance, seek

redress and ultimately get involved in running the service themselves.

This last is particularly important. The effective delivery of ‘timely information to

citizens’ forms a key component of the government’s empowerment agenda. Good

information and communication is essential if we are to encourage greater levels of

participation in the local decision-making process. Linked to this, reliable, impartial and

honest information about how local public services are performing is essential if the

public and service users are to use services effectively and get best value from them.

But, in practice delivering effective information and communication at the local level

can prove challenging.

CLG’s initial research into this has found that current practice varies between

authorities on the types and extent of information provided, the dissemination methods

used, and the aim of information provision. CLG also perceive a lack of knowledge

both centrally and in the sector on what different local authorities are doing. There is

an opportunity for peer learning.

CLG intend to facilitate the development of a comprehensive directory of good practice

information, advice and case studies about what works, in which situations, and for

which types of information. CLG is also intending to support the developments of pilots

of new ways of providing information to citizens, in local areas.

This project begins this process by drawing on the experiences of a range of local

public service providers across the country to assess: what works well; what principles

could be carried forward by providers in future information provision; and how

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collaboration across the sector and between local authorities, partners, and CLG could

be leveraged to contribute to successful information provision across the board.

1.2 The drive for empowerment

For a number of years Communities and Local Government (CLG) has been charged

with the delivery of the government’s community engagement and empowerment

agenda.

The Governance of Britain Green Paper and the Local Government White Paper,

Strong and Prosperous Communities (and the supporting Local Government and

Public Involvement in Health Act), promote the value and importance of devolving

power to communities; ensuring local people are given the opportunities - and the

support – to shape the direction of their local area. More recently the Communities

Secretary launched her flagship Empowerment White Paper, Communities in control,

to further enhance the involvement of local communities and promote local democracy

through improved participation. Local authorities and their partners will be measured as

to how effectively they engage with their community - the new national indicator 4

measures the proportion of people who feel they can influence decisions in their

locality, and will be used by government to directly assess local area performance.

Information is essential to all of this. According to the Empowerment White Paper,

‘information is power’ – people need to know what opportunities are available to them if

they are to engage. As citizens become more involved it follows too that they must

have access to the information which tells them what their council and other agencies

are doing to address local priorities – information which they can and should use to call

local agencies to account if they fail to deliver as promised.

People want information so that they can understand what services and facilities are

available in their local area, how they can get more involved in their local area, how

their local services compare with those in other areas [and] how a complaint they

have made is being addressed.

Communities in control: real people, real power, CLG, July 2008

The role of better information and communication is also important in building the

reputation of local government. Ipsos MORI’s extensive analysis of the drivers of

reputation shows that better you are at communication, the more satisfied local people

are with you as an organisation.

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Analysis of the 2006/07 BVPI surveys, for example, shows a strong correlation between

residents who say they are satisfied with their local authority and those who say the

council keeps them well informed. Thus, the degree to which a local authority

communicates effectively with local people can have a powerful effect on how

successfully they think it performs:

Source: Ipsos MORI

30

40

50

60

70

80

20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Satisfaction with council (%) Correlation = 0.75

Feel informed by Council about Services and Benefits it provides (%)

Satisfaction and Feeling Informed

Kensington & Chelsea

Haringey

Oldham Bedfordshire

Bury

Westminster

City of London

Bromley

Northampton

South Bucks

Base: BVPI 2006 (130 Single, Upper Tier and District Ipsos MORI client authorities)

Frontiers of Performance in Local Government IV: Place Shapers or Shaped by Place; Ipsos MORI (2007)

Councils which communicate most effectively with residents are also shown to be the

most successful when it comes to Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA)

scores. When unitary authorities are ranked by the percentage of residents that feel

informed, eight of the top 10 received a ‘four star’ rating from the Audit Commission in

2007, and all were considered to be improving either ‘well’ or ‘strongly’:

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Source: Ipsos MORI

56%55%

53%53%

51%50%

49%48%

47%47%

45%45%45%

43%43%43%43%

42%42%42%

41%41%41%41%

40%40%

39%39%39%

38%38%38%38%

37%37%37%37%

36%36%36%36%

35%33%

31%27%

43%

Base: All 46 Unitary Authorities in England, 2006/07 BVPIs

Unitary Authorities vs. Feeling informed

Rated 4 Star by Audit Commission

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1.3 Some current challenges

Whilst it is clear to see the value of good communications and information,

understanding how it can best be delivered must be seen within the wider context.

Ultimately, local authorities and their partners face a number of challenges in meeting

the government’s challenging agenda; some of these are common across the board,

but a number relate very much to local circumstances and the environment in which

public services operate (be it political, financial, etc.).

The impact of ‘place’

The new ‘place’ agenda will have a big impact. Local agencies must increasingly work

together as they tackle the important local issues affecting there areas, as set out in

new Local Area Agreements. Government will be focusing on how well local public

services work in partnership through the new Comprehensive Area Assessment – and

citizens will be able to see how their local area is performing in relation to others

through improved provision of performance information. Whether it’s addressing

teenage pregnancy, obesity, or anti-social behaviour, no one institution can work in

isolation - public service providers must work together if they want to improve

outcomes for local people.

Thus, consulting and communicating about the issues that matter to local people is

something that must increasingly take place in partnership - but that is not without its

challenges. This project demonstrates where partnership working in this regard has

been successful, but also highlights some of the problems faced in bringing key players

round the table to address the bigger picture.

The potential to build on other projects such as the outputs from the Power of

Information Review

In January 2007, the Government commissioned a review from Tom Steinberg and Ed

Mayo to “explore new developments in the use and communication of citizen and State

generated public information in the UK, and to present an analysis and

recommendations to the Cabinet Office Minister as part of the Policy Review.” 1

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The review has now taken place and published its recommendations, and government

(including COI and other bodies) are implementing these. Local information providers

will need to ensure that they make information available to others who wish to use and

share it, as far as possible. There are opportunities for local authorities to share other

data, for example the Ordnance Survey’s upcoming Open Space project to allow non-

commercial experimentation with mapping data.

However, the review made it clear that sharing information, particularly geotagged

information, can be technically demanding.

Understanding local circumstances

Another issue is the local circumstances in which local government must operate – and

the exogenous factors that come into play. This will mean every area faces different

issues and challenges in communicating effectively with their citizens -communication

and information that works for one group, may not work for others. For example, local

areas with diverse populations and higher concentrations of ‘hard to reach’

communities, such as Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) groups, face particular

challenges – these groups are less likely to engage for reasons such as language or

cultural barriers.

Similarly, different budgets and levels of resources within an organisation will affect the

focus and level of communication and consultation that can take place. Ipsos MORI

internal research has shown that, within certain limits, there is a clear link between the

size of the central communications function within an authority and how well local

residents feel informed by that authority – particularly within districts.

Tailoring information appropriately

The findings of this project show is that there is often no blanket one size fits all

approach to information provision. The types and levels of information local public

services deliver must reflect the outcomes they are trying to achieve. The case studies

collected highlight the range of circumstances in which information can be used –

whether it’s to improve local public perceptions about a service, or to encourage a

behavioural change (such as reducing speeding amongst drivers), or information to

promote greater participation in local life. All of these elements require different styles

and approaches, and will require different measures for assessing how successful they

have been.

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Ensuring the right communication and information channels are used is essential. For

example, we know from much of our qualitative work, in particular our 2008 study of

young people (18-352), that the content and relevance of messages from local

government are judged according to how skilfully government deploys channels of

communication; and that young groups in particular are waiting to be surprised and

impressed by novel, simple and effective communications mechanisms from

government.

But choosing the right mechanism to use is a subtle task. Channels might vary in

effectiveness depending on which of the various different demographic and attitudinal

groups within the population are receiving communications. In advertising, for example,

segmentation is used in a very detailed and nuanced way to allow communications to

“come close” to different groups and speak to them in the way that they require. We

know from our previous work in this area that different segments of the public are

motivated to engage with government in different ways3. Of course, such an intensive

approach is not always feasible for those working in local government.

Measuring success

Part of the challenge is picking apart what success looks like – and knowing when an

information and communication strategy has worked. For example, how do we

measure the impact of improved community engagement? Should we simply measure

whether people say they feel more informed? Or feel able to influence decisions? Is a

more accurate indicator, whether people actually do more in their local communities?

This is an interesting point when we consider recent evidence. Looking at the chart

overleaf, we consistently see that around 80% of citizens will support the idea of more

community involvement when asked, around one-quarter will say they personally want

to get more involved, but only a small proportion ever do – only 2%. What is important

to local people is that the opportunities for engagement exist – and that they can get

involved if they want to.

2 A new reality: IPODs relationship with government, available here http://www.ipsos-mori.com/_assets/pdfs/ipod%20generation%20report%20a4%20v.1.pdf

3 See Local Government Association project on drivers of opinions of local areas and feelings of

influence, and The Rules of Engagement paper on behalf of the Hansard Society and Electoral

Commission (2004).

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Within this wider context then, the research project sought to support local authorities

and other bodies with practical, workable ideas and examples which will genuinely help

to improve local engagement and information provision.

It aimed to investigate the best of current practice and generate ideas for new

approaches, which will help communities become more ‘empowered’, engage more

fruitfully in the local decisions that affect them, and better hold local public service

providers to account.

1.4 A discussion point before we start: Are we talking about

providing information – or communicating?

One key finding emerging from the workshops should be mentioned in advance of

more detailed findings.

Information provision is just one part of good communications between all local

stakeholders.

Communications can sometimes be taken to mean a very one-way process – local

authorities and their PR departments, promoting the organisation and showing it in a

good light. However, we found in this research that those who expressed the most

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sophisticated understanding of the information needs of citizens, and the

responsibilities of local government and its stakeholders, tended to talk in terms of a

communications mindset.

This communications mindset is imagined to be a two-way, meaningful dialogue, where

information is given in ways which lead to good outcomes for the citizen.

If local government is serious about generating a genuinely two-way dialogue with

citizens, we can see that communicating about services is a broader concept than

informing. Giving someone information implies simply handing them a chunk of

objective facts which they are to digest; it does not imply that the informer should

concern himself with the way that the receiver processes that information. Some

pieces of operational information are indeed objective facts about services, and so the

first step in communicating is providing accurate information. However, a there is a

world of difference between a citizen knowing that a service exists, and taking up that

service, trusting that the service will be delivered in a genuinely helpful and relevant

way. For this, the skills of good communication are required. Therefore, local

government and its partner bodies need to communicate.

When communications are good, citizens know what services exist (getting important

operational information); how well these services are doing their job (getting important

performance information) and how the citizen can get involved and improve things

(getting important empowerment information).

During this report we have tried to highlight where a communications mentality can

help generate a positive outcome for citizens, and where local government needs to go

beyond providing information. We have not used the terms interchangeably and

perhaps our usage could be the start point for further discussions about particular

examples on a local level.

We will talk about this further in section 4.1 when we address findings in detail.

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The overarching aim of the consultation was to work with local authorities and other

key stakeholders through a series of workshops to identify and evaluate current

examples of, and plans or ideas for, the provision of performance information to

citizens by UK local authorities.

Specific objectives in conducting this research were:

1) To identify best practice in delivering performance information on local authorities to

citizens; identifying existing examples of dissemination and information services,

across a range of different situations, including informing harder to reach groups such

as the socially excluded.

Investigating this from a range of different perspectives:

- Why does it work? Describing the ideas; understanding the interplay of different

purposes, contexts, and actors;

- How did it come to be? Why they were chosen, how developed, how pitfalls

were avoided;

- How successful is it? Evidence of what citizens did as a result, how they felt

about it and how it helped them either feel involved or get involved; and how

important these different measures are in different circumstances.

2) From this, to identify the principles of good information provision:

- Across different kinds of information;

- In different circumstances;

- For different audiences, including for audiences with special needs and citizen

campaign groups in particular.

3) Then, to come up with new ideas for innovative measures to make information more

accessible and empowering to citizens, which could be piloted; based on these

principles, and the aspirations of the workshop participants; and exploring how new

technologies could be used.

4) To deliver a report which can be use to evidence the choice of pilots; plus potentially

work as an ongoing resource for those involved in the project.

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3.1 Preparing for the main stage

Before progressing to the main stage of the research, desk research into best practice

case studies in communications was conducted, to help the research team develop

their ideas for a structured workshop. This included a review of the recent report

produced by Leeds University’s Policy Research Institute which contained a breadth of

case study material.

Ipsos-MORI also facilitated a “mini-workshop” with participants from CLG’s Project

Board. During this workshop, participants and researchers sifted through case studies

which currently exist in order to identify the best examples which represent different

methods and different audiences, and which could act as a springboard for discussion.

This pilot was also used to test the feasibility of different activities for participants.

3.2 Developing the regional workshops

Three full day workshops were conducted with participants from local authorities, local

strategic partnership organisations (e.g. police authorities, PCTs, NDC), and local

community group representatives, across 3 regions: The South East (London), The

Midlands (Birmingham), and the North (Manchester). Numbers of attendees varied

between 10 and 20. A list of participating organisations can be found in Appendix 1.

A regional structure for the workshops was chosen in order to minimise travel time for

participants, but at the same time to be large enough to bring together stakeholders

from different LAs and LSPs, to meet each other and share knowledge.

3.3 Structure of the workshops

The core objectives for the day were to:

� Consider best practice in providing information to citizens by evaluating what

works in current communications initiatives

� Come up with criteria/framework for best practice in providing information to

be applied at a national level

� Come up with ideas for new or different ways of providing information, and the

thinking behind these, to inspire potential pilots

##


A variety of different activities and presentations were introduced throughout the day, to

encourage critical thinking about communications with citizens from a range of different

perspectives. A full agenda is included in Appendix 2, but a brief explanation of the

content and rationale for each activity is provided here.

3.4 Framing communications with citizens

To start the day, representatives from CLG and Ipsos-MORI gave presentations to

frame the context for the research, and introduce the results of national research into

information provision to citizens extracted from in-depth statistical analysis of BVPI and

other local government survey data.

James Weeks, executive producer at Sky News also gave presentations at 2 of the 3

workshops to provide a private sector perspective on how an organisation uses

consumer feedback to improve the content and style of communications. The news

channel was chosen as the journalists at Sky News have to make speedy decisions on

how to communicate complex information in a simple way, while at the same time

maintaining their brand identity.

Following this, representatives of local authorities and other public sector and

community organisations considered to have demonstrated best practice in

communicating with citizens also gave presentations, to provide food for thought from a

practitioner’s perspective. Case studies were selected initially by discussion with

CLG’s project team and then by discussion among those invited to the workshops.

Presenters on the three days included:

- Staffordshire County Council (on corporate restructuring of

communications, and incorporating local councillors into comms strategies)

- Surrey Police Authority (on neighbourhood policing and the impact of

information on public perceptions of safety)

- Harringay online (community web forum)

- London Libraries Development Agency/Paul Hamlyn Foundation (on the

‘Welcome to your library’ project with hard to reach groups)

- South Tyneside Council (on the Tyne and Wear joint communications

partnership campaign ‘We asked, You said, We Did’)

- West Yorkshire Police Authority (on the ‘Beat Crime’ crime information

portal)

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Further detail on the content of these case study presentations can be found in Section

3 of this report.

All description, throughout the report, of all case studies and their content has been

provided by the case study owners.

After a Q&A session exploring methodology, results and evaluation of the case studies

presented, participants were asked to put forward suggestions of communications

problems or issues they were currently wrestling with in their own areas, in order to

inform the discussion of innovative ideas to be developed later in the day.

3.5 Brainstorming criteria for best practice

For the next activity, participants were divided into smaller groups to facilitate more in-

depth discussion. In this session, the problems and ideas participants had brought

along to the day were discussed in the c ontext of developing criteria for best practice

in communications with citizens. These criteria were then tested in reference to the

case studies and problems they had brought along with them and those given by the

presenters earlier in the day. Aspects considered in the development of criteria

included:

� Aims and objectives of the initiative

� How the information was selected, presented, packaged and

disseminated

� What role internal and external factors playing in ensuring/preventing

success

� What metrics were used to measure success

� What feedback loops were used to improve things / to see if things were

working

� What the benefits were to service users and other citizen groups

After the criteria for success were gathered using post-its, the groups reconvened and

engaged in a clustering exercise, to draw out parallels and themes in the broad range

of criteria they had identified by placing them in appropriate locations on a large board.

Section 3 of this report is based initially upon these criteria.

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3.6 Developing solutions to communication problems

The afternoon sessions focused more strongly on citizen information needs and

developing practical ideas to address these needs and associated communications

issues.

In order to focus their thinking on the recipients of information, participants were first

shown a short video montage of interviews with citizens with a variety of different

information needs and perspectives on local authority/partner services. Filmed in-depth

interviews were conducted with citizens in their own homes and were conducted with

an ethnographic intention in order to show ordinary people going about their lives and

look at the touch-points they have with government information. These included

discussions with hard to reach groups. These interviews were not intended to be a

comprehensive look at all kinds of citizens, but instead to act as stimulus in the

workshops, to remind participants of the focus of the task - to develop information

which really meets the needs of actual citizens. The interviewees were selected in

order to provide a broad cross-section of age and social groups, and to include users of

a wide variety of council and partner services in order to stimulate the broadest

possible debate and to provide material relevant to all participants.

Citizen groups included:

� Older resident: user of care services

� Young parent: potential user of children’s services

� Community group representative, potential recipient of performance

information and secondary provider of information to citizen groups

� Middle-aged house owner: user of parks and leisure services,

concerned about crime reporting

� Young person: user of educational and leisure services

� Council tenant: User of housing services, concerned about anti-social

behaviour and local arbitration

After viewing the montage, the participants brainstormed the information needs of

these citizens, and how these related to local authority and partner communications

issues discussed in previous sessions. The group were also asked to consider how the

needs of these groups may change given likely future societal, economic and

technological changes.

#&


The final activity of the day was to develop pilot project ideas responding to a citizen

needs or communications dilemma discussed earlier in the day. Participants were

asked to develop ideas which met the following criteria:

� Must be cross sector – involving more than just the local authority

� Must be a new way of getting information across, which is not the norm

(new channel, new tone, new feedback mechanism, etc)

� Must be based on an insight about citizens and provide a way to meet their

needs

Participants split into breakout groups to allow more in depth discussion, and then

brought their ideas back to the plenary. One participant from each group was asked to

‘pitch’ their ideas to the ‘panel’ of other participants. After all the ideas had been

pitched, the group voted on which ideas they would give funding to if they were in

control of a national communications budget.

3.7 Animations – using non-verbal methods to stimulate debate

A professional cartoonist was present at 2 of the 3 workshops, and was asked to draw

as the participants deliberated ideas which were emerging from the discussion. This is

a fun technique which sparks creativity and helps participants track the main stages of

the discussion through the day as pictures are drawn and stuck on the wall. Examples

of the cartoons are included throughout this report.

3.8 Getting the right mix of participants

We invited a range of community organisations to participate in the workshops. This

was to ensure we understand what works best from the perspective of the ‘receivers’ of

information, and to context to the message, and the channels used, contribute to the

overall takeout.

In practice, however, the community organisations were very much in the minority and

the conversation tended to refer most often to best practice in the context of local

authorities, and their strategic partners, delivering information and services. This was

despite a recruitment and moderation process which sought to give equal weight to

each group.

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We have reflected this focus in the report; and would suggest that the fact that

voluntary groups found it hard to participate, in terms of time and contribution, in itself

one of the challenges facing the sector.

In analysis, therefore, we have not split out the different voices of local authorities, local

community groups and others but simply offered verbatim comments from the

workshops overall.

#�


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4.1 How innovative were the examples we found?

This section of the report is structured around the criteria for success as defined by

workshop participants at the three events.

It is worth pointing out that the most radical ideas for citizen empowerment through

information and communications may not, at the moment, come from within the local

government sector. This is because the implications of devolving power to citizens are

extensive, and affect a range of functions in local government beyond any one team;

either the communications team, the engagement team, or the policy team; which in

turn affects these teams’ ability to get the kind of reflexive, sensitive two-way dialogue

going which is essential for empowerment.

Despite asking for measurable case studies of how empowerment has been

proved to have a link with information provision, this project was not inundated

with examples.

Individual authorities are looking for guidance on a future place-marketing way of

understanding how best to communicate information to citizens. In recent years,

participants explained that councils have turned their resources to corporate

communications in order to enhance council reputation, working to the assumption that

enhanced corporate reputation helps build satisfaction with the council, and that

increased satisfaction is the best measure of whether the council is doing a good job.

Workshop participants identified a growing need to plan the kind of information

provision, and communications approach, for citizens which will help deliver place-

based satisfaction with the area. But the sector is only at the start of the process of

evolving these, and building the partnerships with local stakeholders which will enable

this to happen. Participants were keen to begin but saw a number of barriers in the

way.

Therefore we identified eight criteria for success in informing citizens, which could

be drawn out from the examples we were given.

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4.2 How did we come to these criteria?

The eight criteria for success in informing citizens are based on the whole range of

exercises completed at the workshops.

Initially, best practice was discussed in the context of case study presentations, then in

the abstract, then other ideas and innovations were brought in to bolster the best

practice concepts. This means that a wide variety of case studies were discussed on

the days as well as smaller examples of ‘when things work well’.

The case studies which were identified were not the only, or even, necessarily the most

successful, activities in the sector (or outside the sector) which demonstrate best

practice in delivering empowering or engaging information to citizens. This report does

not give a comprehensive list of all innovative or unusual local communication; but

seeks to exemplify some elements of best practice which are useful to consider as

practitioners think about innovation in future.

In many cases they are examples of practices which are replicated across a number of

regions in the UK. In other cases, these are good standard examples of best practice

- but which are not being followed universally in the sector. It is worth including these

latter here, because if these more basic principles are not put into practice, more

complex innovations are unlikely to succeed.

This piece of research sits alongside the PRI literature review, which takes a broader

look at current practice and gives a more comprehensive set of examples.

Clustering exercise at the Birmingham workshop

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Completed clustering exercise.

The eight criteria now follow.

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4.3: One: A coherent vision for information provision

Leadership is about displaying confidence

How an organisation begins any communication, or informing, project can be crucial to

how successful it is. Our workshop participants identified being bold, proactive,

confident and providing leadership as principles of both how to commence any

information provision and how to ensure that information is well communicated. They

highlighted that having the right mentality is fundamental to ensuring the success of

any project. Local authority employees told us that this leadership often has to come

from the very top of the organisation to get traction on new projects; community

workers spoke of the fact that a confident organisation is more likely to gather support

and credibility among other partners; especially when it comes to building and leading

consortia of different stakeholders.

Effective leadership in organisations is about not always believing the best ideas come

from the centre. Innovation can come from, for example, frontline staff who really want

to push forward an idea. Part of being bold is about organisations allowing colleagues

the freedom to express these ideas, and then providing the support to them to do so.

There is obviously an element of risk-taking involved in this and leadership is partly

about helping organisations and their partners manage that risk without losing

confidence in the project.

Within local authorities, especially, the credibility of communications departments can

result in more confidence in their abilities and therefore they may have greater capacity

to influence delivery – vital for creating effective feedback loops for the general public.

Our participants said a key aspect of leadership was to act decisively.

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Ideas for providing information should be simple and confident, so that the council or

partners should be able to stick to their guns when challenged:

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Sometimes information provision can create a positive reputation for the information

provider. However, within local authorities, if there is an emerging issue around

information, by the time it reaches the press office it can be too late to handle the issue

effectively. By this point an information issue may have become a reputation issue,

and damage to perceptions can already have been done.

Those who are communications professionals have a role to play, in helping colleagues

understand how certain initiatives will ‘play’ in the public eye and how they can be

adapted to maximise the positive public impression.

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This may be interpreted as more useful for local authorities and partners in their

management of public perceptions and potential criticism; the benefits to the citizen in

terms of empowerment are perhaps not so obvious. However, participants told us that

in their view, citizens benefit from proactive and confident local information, by

receiving information that is relevant, coherent and has not been given an unduly

negative emphasis in the media before the public are able to digest it and form their

opinions.

Similarly, sometimes local information providers must battle with public

misconceptions; the public can expect services to be joined up when in fact they are

separate services locally (e.g. libraries service), and therefore have heightened

expectations of services. Providers must manage expectations and a clear and

proactive communication can help citizens see what the service provision actually

involves so that they can better engage with it.

Some issues of empowerment are about information provision; but some are not

Some participants identified the fact that in local government, it can be easy to see

many issues as information provision issues; and that the empowerment agenda

overall may suffer from this perception. Talking about ‘providing information’ in itself

potentially limits the thinking of practitioners to more traditional communications

channels.

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An example of this was discussed by the participants when thinking about how to apply

our Leadership criterion to a hypothetical situation – that of trying to diversify the

recruitment pool for local councillors, empowering harder-to-reach groups to get

involved with democracy. Participants, especially those from outside local government,

pointed out that simply providing information, at the expense of other ways of

addressing the issue, might not be enough. In this case the speaker uses the word

comms to mean giving information – showing the blur between the concepts as

understood by our participants.

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So in our example of recruiting more BME councillors, the question was raised of

whether the solution is providing more information to the public – or is the solution to

tackle social mobility or perceived institutional racism, through other forms of

government action? This discussion reflected the fact that for our workshop

participants, the remit of empowerment and its relationship with communication is still

very much to be discussed.

Proactivity in Coventry

In the case of the Coventry City Centre redevelopment, which was a multi-billion pound

regeneration programme to develop a masterplan for a new coherent, cohesive city

centre, the communications department at the city council identified a number of

potential stumbling blocs from the outset. One of these was the use of the American

architects Jerde to design the redevelopment:

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They were proactive in their approach to this problem by acting to remove elements of

Jerde’s website that might be used by some, in particular the media, to put a negative

‘spin’ on the issue.

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These measures involved a level of confidence in knowing what actions they would

need to take to head off the issue, and seeing these through. This confidence was also

a part of the way in which Coventry City Council led the partners in this project (Jerde

and city centre shopping centre owners/developers) and managed the media.

We see the control Coventry City Council exerted in the effective media management,

which is demonstrated by positive media headlines, such as this from the BBC website:

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This media management came in the form of a tie-in with the Coventry Telegraph

newspaper and local BBC for Coventry and Warwickshire. Debate was encouraged

following the announcement of the appointment of the master-planners, which again

was a sign of the confidence of the organisation to accept possible criticism. This

debate showed the council was listening to citizens and engaging them in the project.

As part of the media management the council gave intensive briefings of the media

pre-launch and timings of the launch were agreed with them. The media were supplied

with all assets and information they would need, and a part of this was providing people

to talk to under embargo ahead of the public launch.

Coventry City Council has a confident and effective communications department that

took a lead and was proactive in managing its city centre redevelopment media

coverage.

Innovation ideas: remove redundant information

When looking at ideas for addressing some of the challenges discussed at our

workshop, participants identified redundant information in local authorities as a key

challenge and the right mentality towards this as the solution. They advocated placing

individuals in charge of ensuring redundant or erroneous information is withdrawn.

They suggested leadership from key individuals on addressing this problem is required,

as is being proactive in planning systems and timescales for removal of information

that would serve to misinform rather than inform citizens. We can see the principles of

adopting the right mentality (leadership, being proactive etc.) in this practical solution to

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a problem faced by all public sector organisations, which impacts directly on the quality

of the information received by citizens.

However, while this was seen as best practice, it was not considered to be a

particularly innovative idea; rather a restructuring of internal systems which would

inevitably take place if good leadership is brought to bear.

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4.4 Two: Coherent branding on information provision

Develop partnership solutions

Partnerships are an increasingly important part of providing timely information and

improving outcomes for local people.

Whilst the benefits of joint campaigns can often be clear (increased budgets, pooled

knowledge and expertise etc.) our workshop participants told us that the difficulties of

and barriers to working in partnership can mean joint campaigns are still either

avoided, or do not provide better results than working alone.

At the heart of working in partnership are a number of principles. These include,

amongst others, getting buy-in from all members, pooling budgets, equal commitment

and key individuals/organisations taking a lead (see criterion 1, above).

Take a lead and bring partners with you

Leadership is our first criterion for best practice, and our workshop participants also

highlighted this as one of the key elements of another principle - working in partnership.

South Tyneside Council's “We asked, you said, we did” campaign is a clear example of

this.

“We asked, you said, we did” was a campaign promoting how public services in Tyne

and Wear work together to make improvements in local areas. This was linked to the

place agenda and an advertisement campaign was seen as a way of getting high

profile recognition in a shared and cost effective way.

South Tyneside Council took the lead in developing this idea and in bringing the

partner organisations together. It was identified that in itself this campaign would

demonstrate the shared working they were seeking to highlight.

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Above are two of the advertisements used as part of the campaign, one for Tyne and

Wear Fire and Rescue Service and Northumbria Police, the other for South Tyneside

PCT. We can see that South Tyneside Council’s logo is present on both, reinforcing the

sense of place as well as the achievements of the organisation in meeting the citizens’

needs.

The campaign involved the five Tyne and Wear local authorities (Gateshead,

Newcastle upon Tyne, North Tyneside, South Tyneside and Sunderland along with

Northumbria Police, Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service, North and South

Tyneside Primary Care Trusts and Nexus, the transport authority for the area.

Through the Tyne and Wear Public Service Board, made up of senior public servants

including the Chief Constable and Chef Executives from the local authorities, clear

aims were developed and reinforced further through meetings with communication

leads from the ten partners.

A central budget of £104,000, split evenly between the ten partners is also testament to

why this case study embodies the partnership criteria. South Tyneside Council say the

partners ensured fairness of spend and came up with a formula to allow each to feel

they had fair billing in the case studies.

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Focus on place based messages and avoid ‘logo wars’

Brokering these partnerships will be increasingly important in developing place brands.

Individual authorities spoke of how they are looking for guidance on a place agenda

marketing strategy and a way of understanding how best to communicate information

to citizens.

In recent years, participants explained that councils have turned their resources to

corporate communications in order to enhance council reputation, working to the

assumption that enhanced corporate reputation helps build satisfaction with the

council:

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Workshop participants identified a growing need to plan the kind of information

provision for citizens which will help deliver place-based satisfaction with the area.

South Tyneside’s campaign demonstrates this new place agenda approach to

marketing – informing citizens of the successes achieved in the area (through

individual organisations working in partnership) in relation to their needs and

expectations. A similar approach was adopted in Salford where a city brand has been

developed and is being used to deliver a cross-organisation stop smoking social

marketing campaign.

In place branding it is important to create consistent messages and avoid ‘logo wars’

over which organisation gets ‘credit’ for a particular initiative. South Tyneside Council

identified branding as a key issue to the success of the partnership and the campaign.

Below we see the billboard for Sunderland City Council.

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Part of the success of this campaign involved balancing agreed messages and style

with the need for local flexibility. South Tyneside Council identified the following

elements as key to the consistent brand:

� shared artwork style;

� using the same photographer and pose for all the case studies;

� developing and agreeing case studies with all the key people; and

� using the brand colours from the local authorities in each area.

Using a simple but clear graphical and brand identity contributed to the sense that this

was one campaign; and South Tyneside believe that this contributes to the standout of

the campaign, therefore creating better value for money in the campaign spend.

The campaign also used a consistent tag line of “Passionate about working for you”,

along with a standard telephone number and Internet address for public access to

information and to provide feedback.

Partnership working in future can provide the key to more innovative ideas though

there is a need to overcome boundaries e.g. some organisations share citizens, but

boundaries are not necessarily shared exactly. In addition, citizens’ needs often span

more than one organisation, as shown by the middle aged house owner in our

citizens’ videos. She was a user of parks and leisure services who was concerned

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about crime experienced whilst using these services and how to report it; and did not

want to have to speak separately to police and to the local council parks’ service.

Innovation ideas: Got a problem? helpline and sharing national comms budget

Our ideas generating session within the workshops provided a possibility for

addressing the needs of citizens through partnerships. One idea focused on a helpline

for citizens providing advice on how they can solve their problems. :The ‘Got a

problem?” helpline would be a postcode specific service provided by a partnership of

organisations in the mode of a ‘one-stop shop’. This idea took advantage of a national

helpline phone number already in existence. The principle behind this was to provide

the information that citizens actually want, i.e. how to solve the problems they face and

who can help them, rather than a list of services divided up by provider (an A-Z). It was

postcode specific and acted as a one-stop shop due to its cross-organisation support

and coverage. This idea could be provided on a range of platforms such as local TV or

a web-based portal approach.

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Participants also suggested that the sector as a whole could benefit from sharing

budget for communications on issues affecting all local authorities. CLG’s pilots could

include brokering national communications.

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Cartoon which emerged as group in Birmingham discussed the value of communications

4.5: Three: Put the communications mindset at the heart

A need to revise internal structures?

Our workshop participants identified the internal organisational approach and structure

as important to good communication, especially within local authorities. Many local

authorities are starting to deliver empowering communications from a situation where

there are not necessarily clear links between policy, delivery, communications and

those responsible for empowerment. Participants spoke of the need to place

communications in its widest sense at the heart of everything a local authority does,

so that when providing information, alone or with partners, the authority can create and

deliver policy and services with empowerment in mind, rather than as a separate issue.

For many, especially in smaller county councils, the communications department is still

closer to press and PR management than it is to empowerment.

During the workshops it became clear

that the authorities and organisations

that are performing well in information

provision, and can be held up as

examples of best practice in some way,

are those that have placed the

communications function at the heart of

the organisation.

Of course, some organisations have

greater internal capacity than others, a

greater level of organisational maturity,

more resources than others or

individuals with a strong talent for

communications. The key challenge is

to identify how to build this internal

capacity everywhere.

Current organisational modes of practice

mean departments, including

communications, can work as silos and not together. Addressing this makes it easier

for local government to provide the right information and also be responsive to public

feedback (vital in empowerment).

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�Local authorities putting communications first

Staffordshire County Council had previously paid for inserts/ pages within the district

council magazines but identified that it wanted its own direct marketing approach. The

purpose of this was to have a positive impact on the council’s profile and the method

chosen was a magazine delivered to every household and business.

Alongside this, however, was the need to address the organisational issues that would

affect the success of the initiative. A change in political leadership heralded this, with a

fresh clarity of vision and priorities, innovation encouraged and success celebrated.

Communications became more valued and the communications department was given

a seat at the decision-making table. The communications department was also given a

strategic role providing advice on key projects and decisions. It adopted a new focus on

the use of campaigns, and was given decisive resource allocation and control over the

content of publications.

Within this the communication staff were given specific roles, but were not limited to

these alone:

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The London Borough of Camden has also taken the step of taking publication funds

from service managers and putting these funds into a central pot. This allows central

control over publications to ensure a consistency and clarity of message, and that all

elements of the organisation are working towards the same goals with their

communications.

Stockport Council have also put into practice the principle of strengthening

communications within the organisational culture by cascading messages down

through managers to front line staff and placing responsibility for communications in all

teams and departments.

The communications mindset requires real insight, backed up by substantial evidence, rigorously questioned internally

Each of the workshop groups were clear that

within any information provision partnership,

there is a need for clarity as to why the

information is being provided. Part of this is to

ask the right questions internally at the start,

and go through a good standard process to

ensure rigour. .

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Is the information provision a statutory requirement? Or is it information which is

intended to change behaviour? Or shift perceptions?

Even when there is a statutory requirement to provide information there should still be

internal debate on how this information will benefit citizens, and on how to balance

giving information on the council itself, and on services.

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This discussion and internal questioning stage is seen to be key to credibility; it allows

the local authority and partners to communicate from a defined and clear position; and

also to feel confident that a good ethical standpoint underlies communications.

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It is essential to have substance behind claims made in communications but this is an

internal challenge for information providers requiring, for instance, financial

departments to react quickly to requests for substantiation.

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Use the story of ‘why we are doing this’ to generate internal support

Our participants told us that the

next step is to sell the benefits of

a simple, joined up approach

internally, and among partner

organisations. As at criteria 1,

leadership is required. The

cartoon on the right shows how

participants in Birmingham

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Sometimes political divisions within a council can impact on successful information

provision. Participants told us that a crucial part of achieving a strong organisational

culture is involving councillors effectively. However this should avoid communications

being used as -�� *��1. Addressing political difficulties

requires achieving the buy-in we have already discussed, as well as providing the

support politicians need.

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Staffordshire County Council dealt with this issue by providing the support their

councillors had traditionally lacked. As a derivative of the ‘My county council’ campaign

Staffordshire County Council introduced the ‘My county councillor’ brand which was

used on all activities involving members. This campaign raised awareness of

councillors and made them feel supported and at the heart of the positive initiatives and

stories.

This support was provided through dedicated communications officers who helped deal

with media relations and a range of initiatives such as a mobile unit to take councillors

out into the community to interact directly with citizens. Staffordshire Council now says

senior councillors, the Chief Executive and the communications team are working more

effectively with one another.

Innovation ideas: mentoring schemes

When looking at how to solve the problems faced by citizens through information

provision, the workshop participants discussed the idea of mentoring schemes. Whilst

this included digital mentors to help local people in internet cafes, it also included the

idea of politicians talking to local people, especially young and ethnic minority citizens

about careers in local government. This embodied the idea of getting the organisational

culture within the authority right, using assets such as councillors to communicate to

citizens, (a point explored more in the next criterion).

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4.6: Four: Working smarter, not harder

Finding ways to make use of existing information

Local Authorities and partner organisations have a wealth of experience, knowledge

and talent at their disposal, in terms of both materials and people. Our workshop

participants emphasised taking more advantage of these resources, summing up this

approach as working smarter not harder. They saw that there is a wealth of information

already produced by local authorities, private companies, and community groups, and

part of working smarter is repurposing this information to meet the needs of the citizen.

Sharing results was also seen as important as this increases the pool of knowledge

upon which local authorities can call and ensures that all organisations know what

success looks like.

This re-use of information, perhaps in more creative and user-friendly ways, was also

seen to include learning from private sector on how to understand the needs of the

consumer (in this case consumers of services and information) and how to meet these.

The community group representative featured in our citizens’ videos is an example of

the type of resources that local authorities could access to improve their

communication with the public. This person has a role in taking the information

provided by the council and using this to inform citizens groups. However, she had

concerns that the types of information she receives are not those that she can use, and

therefore the council lose her as an intermediary to the public. It is therefore important

to provide front line staff and the voluntary sector with the types of information they

need, for the people they represent; by keeping in close contact with them and

reflecting their concerns in information provided.

Using the full range of voluntary groups to access hard-to-reach sections of the community; and change local council structures to ensure they are included

Workshop participants from voluntary sector organisations pointed out in our

Manchester session that some councils use voluntary resources well to craft messages

for particular target groups. An example was given of Oldham’s ‘Feeding the 5000’

campaign. However, the point was also raised (by a community activist) that in certain

circumstances only some voluntary organisations with close links to the council are

included in any initiatives. This was seen as detrimental to any efforts to engage with

citizens through the voluntary sector. For local authorities to fully utilise the existing

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assets available to them they need to be open to working with a variety of voluntary

groups. These groups will not only have access to sections of the community others do

not, but they will also provide insight as to the information needs of that community and

how best to serve these.

Front line staff

Of the existing assets available to local authorities and partner organisations, our

participants at the workshops identified frontline staff as one of the most crucial to

utilise. We have learnt from research in this area that staff are often the most powerful

advocates and, as we have discussed with the voluntary sector, they can have insights

into the information needs of the public not available to policy makers and

communicators.

One of our earlier criteria was to obtain buy-in to any initiative internally. This buy-in

must not only include officers and councillors at the highest levels. In order to fully

utilise the potential of front line staff to communicate with citizens, they must also be

aligned with the empowerment and information aims of the process.

It is important to engage them early in the process, ideally at the project development

stage, and making them feel a part of it. This also aids the potential for success of the

project (in terms of evaluation from a local authority, as well as the outcome for

citizens) as front line staff can troubleshoot issues around implementation, which

others perhaps cannot.

An example was given of the efforts in Stockport between the local authority and Fire

and Rescue Service to work in partnership (another of our criterion, demonstrating the

point that often best practice encompasses more than one key principle of good

communication) to access the potential of front line staff.

Fire and Rescue staff have given additional training to care workers in Stockport on

what signs to look for in unsafe home equipment. These care workers are often dealing

with the most vulnerable members of the community who are unable to identify these

signs and often do not know who to contact if they do. Identifying the needs of the

citizens, even where they do not know them themselves, is at the heart of why front line

staff can be such a valuable channel of communication. This principle of using front line

staff has also been applied to tackling fuel poverty.

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Also a part of this is using the skills of policy or delivery staff in specific information

delivery, for example getting more staff involved in web content management as

greater content and functionality is added to local authority websites.

Existing community channels

As well as voluntary sector organisations and front line staff, existing assets can be

seen in the community channels that have often been set up independently of the local

authority. Our workshop participants gave examples of how these existing channels

can be used to communicate with the public.

For example, in Warrington the local authority has a practice of attending community

events that have been organised independently. These events are opportunities to

engage with the public. The trust built through these existing community channels is

not done so overnight and would be hard for a local authority to generate. Therefore, in

order to ensure all sections of the community are reached Warrington council has

stepped back from taking control of events and learns from the channels of

communication which already exist.

Local websites – the challenge of giving up control of information

A further case study was the Harringay Online website, a community based online

portal for the Harringay community to share information and to allow people to get

involved in their local area.

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The motivation of the website was to empower people to come together to shape the

place in which they live. The website was created independently of the local authority

and participants discussed whether its success at engaging and involving citizens

meant that the local authority should embrace it and use it as a channel to create

involvement and empowerment, even though the authority has no control over content.

This issue was strongly debated amongst our participants in the London workshop. On

the one hand information provision which is owned by a ‘community’ is potentially seen

in a different way from information provision which is owned and branded by the

council. This therefore has the potential to engage people who would not have got

involved previously, and perceived legitimacy can give rise to greater trust in

government and potentially a higher propensity for citizens to get involved. It is also a

genuine way for the council to devolve power; by relinquishing control of an element of

its public image.

However, the group recognised some challenges in engaging with citizens in a forum

where government is not controlling the interaction. Chiefly these were the issue of

censorship and how much criticism a council would be likely to allow in practice.

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Participants pointed out that even if an executive decision was taken not to control

content, (in order to promote transparency and engagement), the council could be

criticised if it allowed negative perceptions of the council to spread, as this would in its

own way be failing the public. However, most ultimately agreed that the free publishing

of information made it even more important for local authorities to ensure their voice

was amongst those commenting about local services.

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The Power of Information Review findings highlight a particular challenge when local

authorities engage with social media and online resources, such as the Harringay

Online example. “In social media, moderators and leaders tend to emerge as a result of

building reputations by social networking rather than being appointed. This is a

challenge to hierarchical government organisations.” 4

The debate at our workshops reflected the tensions of this challenge. The debate

underlined the fact that, so far, a practical solution to the issue of government giving up

command and control of information has not been found by practitioners. The rise of

new online methods of communicating with citizens make these tensions particularly

apparent.

A further question around using online methods was raised. Local government

participants highlighted the possibility that those posting on a community website are

not a fair representation of the community. Are community sites, and by extension all

online communications channels, with citizens, truly representative? Can local

authorities accept feedback through these channels, or is there a legitimacy gap as

only certain sections of the public use these?

Harringay Online was used as a positive example; the website has accessed sections

of the community that previously did not get involved, but who now do so. It was then

pointed out that this legitimacy gap already exists as an issue in the decision-making

process at the local level, in particular as there is over-representation of certain socio-

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demographics at most local meetings on low-profile local issues. Participants

concluded that, again, leadership and organisational restructuring would be necessary

to allow local government to relinquish control online.

Innovation ideas: Staff advocacy and training Workshop participants were particularly keen on ways to empower and involve front

line staff and therefore get closer to the needs of citizens. They produced a range of

staff advocacy ideas, from training frontline staff, to giving them more high-tech ways to

feed back and share info, such as Blackberries, to recruiting councillors as advocates

for specific initiatives. These initiatives all included the central principle that there are

assets available to local authorities and partner organisations whose potential is

currently not accessed.

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4.7: Five: Feedback loops within consultation

We see from our citizens’ videos that there are wide ranging information needs

across the public, and sometimes, as is the case with the older resident, the actual

information they require is not always known to them. In the interview the older

resident explains that he felt let down, when he realised that he would have to pay for

some services he thought he would receive for free. This was a lack of information

which he knew about, in terms of information about service provision, but also a lack

which he did not recognise, in terms of how he might get involved to improve or change

services.

Many workshop participants noted that it is difficult to get large numbers of residents

engaged with empowerment itself, apart from those who are engaged due their

personal interest in local politics. These latter groups are often white, older, and male

rather than representing the wider spectrum of the population.

The communications professionals in our workshops also sometimes found it hard to

explain the benefits of getting involved, to the citizen.

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Best practice highlighted by workshop participants suggested that there are two key

elements which help maximise participation in engagement and consultation work –

The first is ensuring relevance of the issue to residents’ lives while reminding residents

of their own responsibilities as citizens. The second is closing the loop between policy

decisions and the consultation process.

Participants, especially those from community organisations, felt that residents were

naturally reluctant to participate in consultations where they were sceptical that their

voices would be listened to. There are challenges for local communicators in how best

to handle the empowerment and engagement process, especially when it comes to

feeding back on consultation; there can be a risk that engaging the public too early

results in vague and unprofitable discussions, while engaging them too late in the

process can create a feeling that the key decisions have already been made. Some

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local government participants felt they would like more help on how best to strike the

balance and to choose the right questions to ask at consultation.

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In order to address these concerns, workshop participants stressed the importance of

retaining the engagement function as part of the specialist communications team, in

order to ensure that engagement and consultation processes are targeted, actionable

and unbiased, and act as a true ‘call to action’.

Relevance and responsibility – Oldham NDC Neighbourhood Agreements

Oldham NDC recently completed a local engagement exercise pilot which culminated

in the production of ‘Neighbourhood Agreements’. The motivation behind these

agreements was a clear consideration of residents’ needs. Many residents had

reported to staff that they did not know where to access services such as housing

support, or where to report a problem, for example, children spraying graffiti on the wall

outside their house.

To ensure that the Agreements dealt with a range of residents’ information needs,

residents were contacted by the NDC staff to a workshop to establish where the

significant gaps in information lay. It was decided at this workshop that the most

important issues to focus upon in the agreements were environment, housing, and

safety.

The process did not stop here; NDC recruited a ‘Neighbourhood Team’ of willing

residents who were involved at the design and proofing stages of the agreements,

ensuring that terminology and language used was understandable by all residents. This

was especially important in Oldham, an area of multiple deprivation and with many

residents who have English as a second language. Residents also suggested that the

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documents could be made to feel more relevant by making sure that the pictures used

in them were not just anonymous faces, but were actually of local residents and

partnership staff, such that the documents felt connected to the community even before

they were read in detail. The Neighbourhood team were also instrumental in the

distribution and promotion of the agreements.

Three agreements have been produced so far: the first entitled “Clean and Green”

about the environment of the area, the second about crime and safety, and a third

called “Home Sweet Home” which is related to housing and financial concerns. The

NDC are planning to introduce two more, covering health & social care, and

involvement in community decision making (role of councillors, volunteering etc.).

The Neighbourhood Agreements lay out not only the duties of the local authority and

their partners, but they also address the tasks which can be expected of residents,

encouraging them to participate not just in consultation, but in actively improving their

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local area by reporting problems to the right people in a timely manner, or by helping

their neighbours to deal with difficult issues, keeping their own ‘patch’ tidy etc. These

‘calls to action’ are what NDC staff consider as the most effective element of this

engagement exercise, because they are empowering; they remind citizens of the

potential role they can play in improving their local area.

Closing the loop between engagement and decision making – Coventry City

Centre Redevelopment Planning

Finding appropriate solutions to engagement questions requires not just a willingness

to involve citizens in the first place, but the ability to ensure that engagement becomes

incorporated into the decision making structure of an organisation. Engagement should

never be considered as a statutory requirement, or a tick box exercise, but as central to

delivering effective services to local residents and local authority reputation. Best

practice examples in this field create a feedback loop which works over time, a two way

process where users should be able to provide feedback and see that it is acted upon

in a tangible way.

The example of Coventry City council’s engagement on the redevelopment of the City

Centre was successful in large part because the authority succeeded in demonstrating

to the public that their inputs would feed directly into the ‘masterplan’ being developed

by Jerde, the contracted architects.

A coherent and confident communications strategy was needed to handle the public

feedback to such an enormous project, which would affect the lives of all Coventry

residents. There were initial concerns that citizens of Coventry might not support the

selection of an American architectural firm to plan the redesign of the City Centre, and

that there might be serious public and media worries that any proposed development

would not reflect the views of Coventry people or be sensitive to the city’s heritage and

history. There was also a lack of faith by local residents in the Council’s willingness to

listen to and incorporate the views of ordinary people. Therefore, from the outset it was

important to ensure that a full and comprehensive public consultation was undertaken

To do this, the consultation was divided into two phases - phase one, entitled “Our new

city centre – be part of it”, was launched in January 2008 and aimed to involve as wide

a range of residents as possible in contributing ideas to the ‘vision’ for the new city

centre. The community was engaged via ward forum presentations and debates, and

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targeted email invitations to key groups, including regional partnership groups,

businesses and city centre traders, elected officials and council staff, community

groups and other voluntary bodies. City lampposts were decorated with posters about

the consultation. The consultation itself took about 20 minutes to complete and allowed

for extensive open responses rather than using a ‘tick box’ approach.

1,000 residents were consulted in a 6 week period via direct interviewing. In addition,

750 online questionnaires were also completed, 300 through the residents magazine

and 100 through leaflets. These ideas were then compiled, and used to brief Jerde.

The link between residents suggestions and the brief were clearly outlined on the

public consultation website, as can be seen below

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The architects then developed a masterplan for the development based on these

suggestions and entered Phase two in September 2008. This phase, entitled “Our new

city centre – the adventure begins” involved the publicising of draft plans developed by

Jerde as a result of the public consultation.

Citizens were invited to view these plans in a shop in the city centre over a four week

period, which was staffed by communications and development staff. They were then

consulted on their reaction to the plans. For phase two, around 200 people completed

the online form on the website, 160 through magazines, 400 via leaflets and 300 via

Facebook. A large database of email addresses has now been developed to use to

keep people in touch with further developments. The success of the city centre shop as

a venue for face to face consultation impressed councillors and employees and is likely

to be repeated for other high profile campaigns and consultations.

When the final masterplan is launched in January 2009, key messages will focus on

how public feedback during phase two helped amend Jerde’s first designs to reinforce

the theme of Coventry people being in the driving seat throughout the work.

The challenge of consultation on a tighter budget

Engagement can be expensive when done on large and detailed scale, as in the

example above. Participants discussed also what best practice looks like where an

authority doesn’t have such a substantial budget.

A web based consultation can allow an authority or its partners to undertake relatively

large consultations without requiring huge engagement budgets. For example, South

Staffs and Shropshire Healthcare, a mental health foundation trust, has created a web

based engagement and feedback system called “Values Exchange” which allows

services to create their own consultation to which staff, service users and carers can

feed back. All responses to the consultation are published on the site, and services are

committed to demonstrating how these results are linked to changes in service

delivery.

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Some communications practitioners explained in the workshops that their strategy for

increasing empowerment was to directly communicate on the capacity for involvement.

Nottingham City council, in anticipation of the Place Survey at the end of 2008,

launched a ‘quickie’ consultation entitled “Grab a Grand” where local residents were

invited to have the chance to suggest what should be done with a £1000 budget to be

spent on a neighbourhood level project. Nottingham representatives told us that this

engagement achieved, anecdotally so far, very positive results in quite a rapid and

inexpensive way. The aim was to increase perceptions of empowerment by creating a

‘buzz’ around a small project, rather than spending more resources on getting groups

involved in specific, larger initiatives. The hypothesis is that, as people perceive

themselves to be more empowered in a small way, they will feel motivated to seek out

more ways to get involved with local government.

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This project lasted a month during October 2008 and had a budget of £11,000. There

was a two week period which allowed people to put forward their suggestions via a

suggestion form in the local newsletter, or online. This campaign was also publicised

on local radio stations, press releases and posters.

Suggestions were then short listed down to 3 by each Area Management Team and the

local Councillors for the area, after which local people were given the opportunity to

vote for their favourite. Over 200 suggestions were received in the 2 week period, and

2000 votes were cast after the initiatives were shortlisted. Press coverage was good in

local newspapers and a large number of local media attended the winners’

presentation in November. The Council will look to the Place survey this year to assess

the impact on involvement ratings.

Innovation ideas: youth democracy

Participants found it harder to imagine new ideas for consulting and engaging as they

claimed that what needs to be done is to maintain current best practice, but

implementing this more rigorously across the sector. However there was some interest

in the idea of youth engagement; projects which demonstrate the value of democracy

to young groups in the local area using a variety of methods, including Youtube and

new technologies. These would need to be evaluated carefully to ensure that young

people received some genuine benefit.

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4.8: Six: Segmentation wherever possible

Different citizen groups need information in different formats, dependant on preference,

service usage, levels of literacy and a variety of other factors.

Workshop participants noted that, as consumers get more ‘media savvy’ and there is

increasing competition for local residents’ attention from many other private sector

advertisers, there is increasingly a need for communications teams to segment their

audience more effectively so that information provided meets the needs of different

groups and encourages them to interact with information in the way which best suits

them.

Sharing data and research to gain customer insight

Whilst tailoring communications to specific segments of the population can be

expensive, it is extremely effective. The expense here is in fact related to the need for

research into the profile and needs of different consumer segments. This is something

which workshop participants felt may not be something local authorities have naturally

been good at in the past; They either did not collect such data, or it was not shared

effectively between different partnership members from service user records, customer

service centres etc.

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Participants at the Birmingham workshop mentioned that there is currently a pilot

underway in the West Midlands to evaluate the potential value of the MOSAIC data

sharing system, which will be rolled out in the near future. There are a range of ways

to incentivise authorities to share information for example accreditation to the OPSI

(Office of Public Sector Information) Information Fair Trading scheme.

Research can also be used to influence which segments of the population are the most

effective target for a campaign – this was used to great success by Cheshire County

Council, who conducted research into road accidents and the demographic groups

most likely to be involved. This also ensures that when challenged, the information

provider can demonstrate that their idea is based on a sound insight about target

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groups; thus creating confidence and credibility. The group most at risk turned out to be

young, white males, who then became the target of a safety campaign which led to a

substantial reduction in the number of accidents in particular black-spots in the ensuing

months.

Writing for a specific audience

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to move away from a situation where -�� (��

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were understood and specifically addressed in communications materials. Where this

was achieved, the results were impressive – for example, in North Dorset, a

recruitment campaign poster had been designed, in consultation with carers

themselves. The key to the success of this campaign was to gain insight from carers

themselves as to what the key ‘tipping points’ were – the ideas which had attracted

THEM to the job in the first place.

Some audiences may need a particularly innovative approach in order to be reached

effectively, for example those with English as a second language, or those with low

levels of literacy. In such cases a more personal or less writing –based form of

communications may be more appropriate.

London Libraries Development Agency – connecting libraries to new

communities

This project was initially run as a pilot in 2004 in the London Boroughs of Brent,

Camden, Enfield, Merton and Newham. It was later rolled out as a grant scheme

backed by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation which generated additional projects with a

consortium of local authorities in the North East – Newcastle, Gateshead, N & S

Tyneside and Sunderland, Leicester and Liverpool.

New communities, especially those with refugee and asylum seekers often have

difficulty accessing community services, including libraries as a result of a lack of

awareness of what is available, language barriers and many other reasons. This

project sought to redress this balance by seeing libraries as hubs at the centre of

communities from which a range of information and social activities can be provided.

The project focused on the participation of refugee individuals and organisations in

developing audio visual materials, to be used for both for staff training, and directly with

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refugee audiences to explain library services in an easy to understand format. An

additional approach based on structured taster visits and cultural workshops held at

libraries fostered the integration of refugee communities into the broader population

accessing library services.

Tailoring - local messages for local audiences

A number of workshop participants felt that in the majority of cases, residents reacted

best to information that was tailored to their local area. They were able to see the

relevance of such information to their daily lives and put it to use in their choice of and

access to services. It also made many residents feel better qualified to provide

feedback and input into decision making and consultations.

Surrey Police have put research showing the popularity of locally based information

provision into practice, developing a series of neighbourhood policing newsletters, each

of which is based on a specific ‘beat’. The main stage of the project involved the

distribution of newsletters to every household in Surrey (500,000)�. These newsletters

were personalized according to each neighbourhood– 106 different versions in total.

The newsletters contain information on local crime problems and crime fighting

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initiatives as well as contact details for local PCSOs and community meeting dates.

These have been shown in the evaluation phase to be extremely popular, and to

contribute to residents feeling not only informed about, but physically safer in, their

neighbourhood.

However, whilst effective, a paper-based initiative such as this can be prohibitively

expensive for smaller authorities and partners, and are difficult to justify the costs

compared to a lack of long-term effect on satisfaction ratings. Perhaps a more-cost

effective solution can be found by using increasing complex technology to provide

portals that can tailor information according to the request, and even profile, of the

citizen logging on.

Beat Crime – allowing residents to tailor information themselves

BeatCrime was launched in February 2005 to address a gap in perceptions of crime

compared to actual crime levels. The provision of local crime information was

advocated by the Home Office in order to address this concern. By informing people

about the extent and nature of crime in their locality it was hoped that this would

actually encourage individuals to contribute towards the reduction of crime but also to

help reduce a fear of crime. It was also hoped that the authority could present a

message of reassurance by breaking down barriers of public access to data. A web

based portal was chosen so that information could be provided in a dynamic,

accessible and locally specific manner within a small budget.

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The BeatCrime portal was developed to be easy to use. Users can log on and click

through maps to find their ‘beat’ or they can type in their postcode to do the same.

Users can sort crime information by types of crime and ‘dots’ will appear on the map to

indicate the location of crime incidents of different types. Statistics can be compared

over the last month and year, and to other areas in the WYPA region. Charts show

whether there is an upward or downward trend in the type of crime selected.

Market research with residents of the local areas showed that local information was

well received, even when it was negative; no-one in high crime areas was surprised

about the level of crime and in fact those who lived in lower crime areas were

pleasantly surprised by the lack of incidents in their area. The site received 40,000 hits

in the first 12 Months, and on average now receives around 3,500 visitors per month.

Redbridge:i. – allowing residents to tailor information themselves

The London Borough of Redbridge has used cutting edge technology to create an up to

the minute website for the local authority which fulfils a variety of different functions,

and is uniquely tailored to the user.

The site was launched at the end of June 2007 as a response to feedback from local

residents expressing their desire for locally focused, up to date information, efficient

services and choice in how services are delivered. IT functions as both an information

source and an engagement tool, with a variety of applications including property-

referenced data, interactive mapping, online consultation, blogs, discussion forums,

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events promotion, online recruitment, SMS & text alerts and the ability to do pay bills,

report problems and book services on line.

The site is also used by key strategic partners in health and policing, and the team are

developing micro-sites and applications in order to include content from local

community groups and other strategic partnership members. Users may also use the

site to promote community-organised events, and submit articles for the monthly

printed newspaper. The team are also exploring a range of options to establish closer

links between the discussion forums, blogs, online consultation applications and the

scrutiny and area committee decision-making processes.

The site has been designed to provide for: personalisation, customisation around

individual preferences, and automatic recommendations based on viewing history.

Residents can create their own personal Redbridge:i homepage, selecting the modules

and applications they most want to see or use. The webteam use detailed analytical

data of site use to monitor usage and continually update and adapt the site to meet

user needs and requirements.

The discussion forums are already beginning to have an impact on policy formulation

and service improvement, creating a valuable stream of intelligence around citizen

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priorities for their neighbourhoods that are helping to shape our approach to the work of

our area and scrutiny committees.

Innovative ideas

There was much discussion in the Birmingham workshop of using new or unusual

channels to engage with young professionals who are still working full time but not

engaged with local services. They are unlikely to be great users of council services so

participant suggested focusing on sports centres or gyms as channels for

communication.

More popular, however, was an idea of rolling out ‘the Amazon of services’ across all

local authorities - a content aggregator which could be used to map preferences and

service use to offer more information, tailored to the individual and their needs.

Participants also suggested a Bluetooth-based geographical application, using

geotagging, informing people about local services as they move through an area.

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4.9: Seven: Inclusive and appropriate content and delivery

Good communications thinking will always be valuable

Though engaging the public is about more than delivering communications campaigns,

our workshop participants highlighted the value of applying best practice

communications thinking to all engagement activity. Participants in London debated

the challenge of providing statutory information, but ultimately agreed that

communicators should not feel themselves restricted by the statutory obligations to

provide information; at best, they can see this as an opportunity to increase motivation

to become empowered, by delivering elegant, unexpected, interesting communications.

Though statutory information, such as council tax details, has to be sent, this does not

mean it has to be inaccessible, and it should always be couched in the frame of what’s

important to the citizen.

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The participants at the workshops added that there is a need for local authorities to

accept the responsibility of making the communication ultimately simple. They

highlighted the need to use simple, human mechanisms, particularly taking advantage

of the potential strength of face to face communication. Alongside this local authorities

should avoid ‘preachiness’.

Some of the external speakers were able to give

examples of basic principles of communication

which should be applied to all information

provision. For example, as shown in the cartoon

to the right, the concept of a call to action was

recommended – structuring information

provision to the public in the form of a simple

call, ‘If you want X – then do Y’.

The workshop participants identified using

captive audiences as a useful method of testing

materials before launching. These can include

residents’ groups and panels, who can evaluate

the information and how it is being delivered.

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Imagery and graphics

Imagery and pictures can be the most valuable aspects of communication because as

they can convey complex messages in a way that is accessible for the general public

including groups who are less literate.

Oldham NDC’s Community Agreements are an example of how colour and graphics

can be used. With five separate agreements, covering things such as housing and

policing, Oldham NDC took the decision to colour code them. During the workshop it

was mentioned that members of the public often referred to the individual agreements

by colour rather than the topic area. This colour coding allowed recognition of the

agreements by people who otherwise might not have been able to recall the contents.

Another example of clear, yet innovative communication was given particular mention -

Walsall PCT’s “the experiment” quit smoking campaign.

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Make sure distribution channels work

Ensuring that the method of distribution is suitable and meets the citizen’s needs is

also crucial to ensuring good communication.

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When thinking about how they were going to reach the public and increase

confidence, Surrey Police force decided on a community newsletter delivered by

Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs). The distribution channel was seen as

the most effective as it ensures the entire target audience were reached, and in doing

so the profile of the PCSO s was increased.

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Frequently raised during the workshops was the potential of the internet to allow

greater and greater information provision in a more individual focused way. However, it

was also raised that there is a need to ensure best practice in the design and

functionality of websites. Users may be put off by complicated or lengthy user

registration, for example, or over-complex interfaces. There may be scope for CLG to

help councils here by revising guidelines on website production which some feel can be

constraining.

Participants stressed the importance of engaging with new and novel ways of

delivering communications, particularly those which incorporate Web 2.0 technology

such as YouTube, Facebook, community webforums etc.

New technologies can also be used to bring the activities of local authorities into the

homes of residents, if they are pitched correctly at the recipients of the information.

For example, in the London Borough of Redbridge, councillors have created their own

blogs. This is a growing trend, started by David Cameron some years ago in the hope

of shortening the perceived distance between the politicians and the people they

represent by having live chat sessions and posting messages on bulletin boards.

Workshop participants felt that young people responded particularly well to the use of

communication through different channels - new social media such as Facebook, Bebo

and YouTube. One participant mentioned a successful project where school pupils

were encouraged to deliver their feedback about council services in the form of raps

and graffiti art.

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Innovation ideas:

Participants suggested pilots which could compare web and other communications

channels to see which created the best effects; the results could then be used by a

range of different information providers. Hyper-local websites could be a way to trial

this; as well as, potentially, low verses. high tech trials; comparing low-tech

‘whispering campaigns’ with online messaging to directly compare which has the

strongest effect on young audiences.

Participants in London and Manchester also called for the establishment of a more

extensive national set of resources to help with communication; the issue here may

be to alert local information providers to the services already available.

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4.10: Eight: Evaluate success and welcome public feedback

Our final criteria, evaluation and feedback, may too easily seem like the principle to

follow when at the end of the project or initiative. The natural conclusion to any

communications project is to assess how well the objectives were achieved – it’s

success. However, our workshop participants highlighted the need for evaluation

throughout the project life cycle, as well as the need to obtain and use feedback from

the public.

We can see from the case studies already highlighted that where best practice is

identified, this usually goes hand in hand with evaluating success. In addition, when we

think about the needs of the citizen and what information they want (plus the way they

want to receive it), we can see the benefit of obtaining feedback from them. We have

already discussed the benefits of engaging with the public on what it is they want.

Carrying this principle through to the next stage, feedback is a key element of effective

communication as this allows the public to participate in the evaluation process, which

in turn gives richer results. Engagement can seek merely to make citizens feel as

though they are able to influence decisions (this is the way engagement is evaluated

for the place surveys currently being conducted). Feedback should take the input from

citizens about how well something has worked and use this in the development of the

initiative/project.

Coventry City Council’s redevelopment of the city centre has been highlighted as best

practice in communications for a number of reasons, one of which was its focus on

judging success by measuring engagement with the people of Coventry.

We can see a similar approach adopted by West Yorkshire Police Authority for the

BeatCrime website. Feedback from residents throughout the project was central to the

design and development of the site, using their feedback to inform direction. A pilot

site was developed, and following this the Police Authority undertook a series of

accompanied websurfs as well as holding focus groups with police employees. This

feedback was used to evaluate the site on:

� ease of navigating

� layout and design

� look and tone

� content and clarity

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� motivations for using the site

� impact and concerns.

The Police Authority say the feedback they gathered was instrumental in shaping the

final version of the site and was used to inform marketing activity. This use of the

feedback is the crucial point to this principle – what the public say should shape what

the public gets.

The success of a communications campaign can be difficult to evaluate, especially

when considering this evaluation from the perspective of the outcome for the citizen.

This does not, however, detract from how important this evaluation is. In terms of the

difficulties of evaluating success, BVPI/Place surveys do not distinguish between

causal factors and responses. However, local awareness surveys on campaigns can

be useful as evidence of success, though it can be hard allocating budget for this.

South Tyneside’s “We asked, you said, we did” campaign will use the place survey

results as a way of measuring the success of this campaign. This is possible because

the problem which they set out to address with this campaign was how to get

recognition from citizens for achievements in the local area, which were made possible

through service providers working together. The partners in South Tyneside have

drawn the conclusion that through being informed about how their lives have been

improved by their local service providers, the public will be more satisfied, which should

in turn be seen as an improvement in satisfaction and other measures on the place

survey. In addition to this measure they conducted 750 interviews in each of the areas

for two weeks, commencing at the end of October and information was gathered from

website statistics along with feedback from emails and telephone calls.

One of the things to come out of our workshops was the need to look at the success of

any communications from more than one perspective. Participants found it easy to

think about how they would assess how well their project had done from an internal

perspective – budgets met, reputation improved, targets met etc. It was more difficult to

provide measures of success from the perspectives of the citizen. However they were

clear that measuring the impact on the citizen is a central part of evaluating success.

We can see from the Coventry case study that this dual measure of success allows the

authority to look at the project from an internal and external perspective.

There are, however, challenges in asking for real and honest feedback – the public are

not likely to behave in predictable ways, and they can sometimes ask for success

measures which are hard to implement. Participants across our workshops agreed that

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anyone embarking on a project

would need to be ready for

feedback that might demand

flexibility and change from within

the authority or partner body itself

– and to be in a position to make

those changes should they be

required.

Some participants, as illustrated in

the cartoon to the left, mentioned

with some humour that

sometimes, public sector

communicators can

vunderestimate the public, and

envisage the public response to

information as more simplistic and

easy to ‘manage’ than it might be

in practice.

Innovative ideas: the Amazon of services

Our participants pointed out that the Amazon of services idea, where a content

aggregator would map the preferences and service used, could also provide

information about the citizen and their needs. This approach moves the principle of

feedback into the 21st century, collecting feedback both openly and covertly to be used

to improve the information provided to the citizen.

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5.1 Innovations

The ideas suggested for innovations, or potential pilots, are summarised here,

suggesting (impressionistically) the best practice criteria they could meet.

Criteria for Success

Innovations Coherent vision for the process

Coherent branding

Structure internally based on comms mindset

Work smart and repurpose info

Genuine consultation and feedback loops

Segment Inclusive, appropriate content / delivery

Build in evaluation

“Got a problem?”

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The Amazon of services

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Mentoring schemes

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Geotagging � � �

Hyper-local websites

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Staff advocacy and training

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Youth democracy engagement

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Communicating with young professionals

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Low vs. high tech

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Build responsibility by removing redundant information

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5.2 Continuing and widening the debate

A programme of activity will be developed after this project in partnership with the

RIEPs, IDeA and any other relevant partners. CLG stress that this should be sector

led, with central government’s role as one of encouragement and support. The project

is likely to include an online discussion forum, potentially shared with IDeA.

Workshop participants had some clear feelings on how they would like to continue the

debate online. In London, participants suggested that an online resource would be

very useful in keeping information providers in touch with one another.

The most useful channel was felt to be Webinars: where individuals would be invited to give webinar presentations (much like the presentations used at the workshops) and others could join. The benefits would be:

• A “pull” rather than “push” mechanism. Because the event would happen at a set time, participants would be alerted to it and invited along, rather than simply having access to a forum or set of documents which they would need to find time to look at.�

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• Real life interaction with other practitioners; opportunity to answer questions ‘live’.

• Sense of occasion, giving the impression that other authorities and CLG think that information is a priority for councils.

The group also suggested that LG Comms websites could be deployed.

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5.3 Developing ideas towards pilots

As discussed in 4.1 and throughout, this project shows that there is some ambiguity

around which practitioners should take responsibility, within local government, for the

delivery of the empowerment agenda. For some in local government and partner

bodies, the remit of communications or information professionals to empower the public

was by no means clearly defined. Some comms people explained to us in the

workshop that their role as communications professionals meant that they were simply

there to present information to drive up service use and satisfaction with the council,

leaving empowerment to policymakers. Some policymakers did not see that they had a

broader remit beyond their own silo of policy. A minority in our discussions were not,

necessarily, supportive of the empowerment agenda in itself; arguing that democracy

means councillors should take the burden of informed decision making, rather than

members of the public. This group will need more clarity over the role of providing

timely information in delivering empowerment; perhaps CLG or other bodies can make

the link between information and empowerment more clearly? Analysis of the results

of forthcoming Place Surveys and of the Information to Citizens pilots may make these

links clearer; linking empowerment and other measures.

A majority of communications professionals, however, do see their job as to provide

information which leads, even indirectly, to greater citizen empowerment. However,

the challenge for this latter group was that their ability to genuinely devolve power to

the public was often restricted, either through political constraints, or because service

delivery, feedback mechanisms and redress processes did not necessarily keep pace

with communications. They could find themselves seeking to offer an empowering

relationship, (rapid feedback on services, for example) which their authority was not yet

set up to deliver. For many, the empowerment and policy teams were also separated

out from the communications function which made a joined-up service difficult.

There are many implications of this for CLG’s project. A key learning is that, in the final

analysis, it seems that very senior leadership locally (our first criterion) is necessary to

push the empowerment agenda through at all levels of the local authority and beyond

because it demands not simply new practices but a fundamental revision of the way

organisations are internally structured. Another learning is that maybe the impetus for

creating innovative pilots for empowering communications can come from outside the

local government sector, and CLG could perhaps ask for pilots which draw on the

expertise of the private sector as well as on the expertise of local government and

partners.

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The workshops also revealed other barriers to communication which need to be

overcome by the sector. Because these empowerment initiatives are relatively new,

and exist in complex policy areas, it can be hard to evaluate the success of

communications initiatives. Also, though there is much goodwill around collaborating

on a national basis, there are often limited resources to do this within each local body.

In CLG’s pilot phase, could there be scope for pilots which trial different approaches in

different areas, to isolate the variables which make a difference, and sharing these

results with all, therefore benefiting the whole sector?

In a time of economic recession, participants in the workshops mentioned that local

government will be increasingly under pressure to join up services, communicate and

empower, but may have even fewer resources with which to do this. Though the

impetus for effective information provision needs to come from the sector, there may

also be a need for a broker like CLG to help the sector collaborate and to illustrate the

mutual benefits of such collaboration.

This is particularly relevant given the new place based emphasis, as the boundaries of

different places do not necessarily overlap, and different bodies can have different

organisational cultures. Thus, the process of creating good communication for citizens

must start with brokering good relationships between the different bodies involved at a

local level.

The voluntary sector and community group representatives who participated in the

discussions were, in general, creative about new ways to communicate with different

audience groups, usually beginning with a focus on participative methods of collecting

information about their needs, and challenged the local government participants to get

closer to their audiences. However, the relatively small numbers of voluntary sector

participants who were able to attend underlines the fact that this sector is often pushed

for time and resources and therefore may not be able to participate at the heart of

every information provision initiative in local government. There may be a need for

pilots to build in express incentives for these groups to participate.

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1. Participating organisations

Improvement partnership West Midlands Coventry City Council

West Midlands SHA Staffordshire County Council

Birmingham City Council Stoke-on-Trent City Council

Surrey Police Headquarters Camden Borough Council

Lewisham Borough Council Test Valley Borough Council

Buckinghamshire County Council London Libraries Development Agency

East London Community Foundation Tower Hamlets Borough Council

Harringay Online Adur District Council

Kent County Council London Borough of Redbridge

Stockport City Council Hambleton District Council

Harrogate Borough Council Warrington Borough Council

West Yorkshire Police Authority Carlisle City Council

Nottingham City Council Salford City Council

South Tyneside Council North Dorset District Council

Fair Share Trust CEMVO

Community Network for Manchester Oldham NDC

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2. Structure of the workshops

Activity Time

Plenary

Welcome and Introductions

� CLG presentation: Background to the project and ways in which the data will be used

� Ipsos MORI welcome: Agenda for the workshop, ground rules

� Warm up – predator and prey, if space permits, otherwise brief intros

9.45 – 10.00

Plenary

What we know already

� Ipsos MORI short presentation on research we have done on public services and the

importance of information provision in communicating with citizens

10.00 – 10.25

Plenary

Best practice communications presentations and Q&A session

We will be thinking about how to judge effectiveness: so as you hear the presentations think

about what makes these information programmes effective.

Presentations from 2-3 local authorities/public sector bodies who are considered to be very good

in terms of communications with citizens

Q & A with speakers (approx. 20 mins)

� The participants then have the opportunity to ask questions of both the

presentations/examples provided and each other, including:

o Success factors

o Methods used

o Evaluation systems

o What would you do differently if you did it again?

Problems the group is wrestling with at the moment

Brainstorm some ideas for information provision issues which are currently at the forefront of

minds: collect on flip chart to use later

10.25 – 11.30

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B R E A K 11.30 – 11.45

Breakout groups

Developing as many criteria as possible for best practice communications

� Workshops splits off into breakout groups of 4 or 5 participants

� Each group to brainstorm as many criteria for successful communication with citizens as

they can, using the case studies you have brought with you.

� Look at each and jot down key words for ‘why did this work’? e.g. – on post it notes.

Discuss with your group and share the post-it notes

� Break down all the aspects:

� What were its aims / objectives?

� How was the info selected, presented, packaged, disseminated?

� What were the internal and external factors that had a role to play?

� What were the metrics of success, i.e. how did you know if it worked?

� What other metrics could have been used?

� What feedback loops were used to improve things / to see if things were

working?

� What were the benefits to service users? To other groups?

� Think about when good communications ideas go wrong. What criteria are not met? (e.g.

incorrectly attributing comms to the council; allegations of propaganda from local press;

when communication goes under the radar despite best efforts; when the right people

don’t get involved…)

Plenary

Refining the criteria

Then we cluster the post-its on the walls, create manageable set of criteria by refining words and

agreeing what they mean. We are going for about 5-7 headings. Each breakout group makes a

note of the headings.

Breakout

Testing the criteria

� Look at other case studies to test our criteria and see if our criteria are accurate. How

effective are the criteria? What’s missing from the criteria?

� Are there any circumstances in which these criteria would not work?

11.45-1pm

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Plenary

Agreeing the criteria

� Each group presents backs on how they used the criteria, what needs to be changed /

improved

Output: a list of criteria for successful communications

Lunch 1pm – 1.45

Plenary: Citizen perspectives

� Short Ipsos MORI presentation on research done on ‘what citizens want from

communications’

� Film montage on different service use and information needs of service users (taken

from filmed in depth interviews)

Collect ideas on flip chart – what are these citizens’ needs? What do they want in terms of

information provision?

1.45 – 2.10

Breakout groups: Applying best practice criteria to real life scenarios

� In breakout groups, we look at the problems we discussed earlier – and the needs of the

citizens we’ve just seen.

� Each group will need to test the best practice framework criteria they have been

developing. Using it to develop a communication strategy to adequately meet the

requirements of the communications brief they are presented with

Choose a problem or a citizen need and think up some new ways information provision could

help solve these. Can use cartoon ideas to help.

Criteria for new ideas:

• Must be cross sector – involving more than just the local authority

• Must be a new way of getting information across, which is not the norm (new

channel, new tone, new feedback mechanism, etc)

• Must be based on an insight about citizens and provide a way to meet their

needs

Group then chooses their best solutions and writes them up into a template using the

criteria from earlier

� Aims of the project (e.g. to give info on services / performance info / empowerment info

� Methods and rationale used

� Timeframes

2.10 – 3pm

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� Likely Budget

� Evaluation framework (i.e. to determine success of the communications strategy they

have put together)

� Responsiveness of the system

B r e a k 3pm- 3.15

Plenary : Dragons Den: Would you fund these ideas?

� Each group to present their strategy to a panel of the other 2 groups for assessment

� Full group discussion and brainstorm on how to improve the proposed strategies

� What other information do we need in order to make decisions on these?

� Each person identifies which they would choose (using 10 dots)

� Each idea plotted on local/national, original/tried and tested graph

3.15 – 3.40

Plenary : Pilots

� Next stage of pilot is to consider national ideas for pilots

� Which of the ideas best meets these needs

� Other ways of identifying pilots

� How can we use the online community to help here

3.40-4pm

Thanks and close

4pm

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3. Best practice case studies

3.1 Organisation and Initiative:

Coventry City Council - Coventry City Centre Masterplan: transforming Coventry’s city centre. A multi-billion pound regeneration programme to develop a masterplan for the development of a new coherent, cohesive city centre with double the amount of retail space and a complete transformation of the retail offer.

Timeframe and Budget:

Phase one of the communications campaign entitled “Our new city centre – be part of it”, was launched in January 2008. Phase two, entitled “Our new city centre – the adventure begins” was launched in September 2008. The final city masterplan which builds on the outputs of the public consultation is expected to be launched in January 2009 and lead to the appointment of the Council’s preferred developer. Regeneration work itself is scheduled to commence in 2011 and continue until 2020.

The communications budget for this project was £11,000 for the first phase, and £30,000 for the second phase.

Partners:

The project is being delivered in cooperation with city centre shopping centre owners and developers (such as Modus, CVOne), the architects designing the masterplan (Jerde), with the City Council taking the lead role.

Issue to be addressed

A coherent and confident communications strategy was needed to handle the public feedback to such an enormous project, which would affect the lives of all Coventry residents.

There were initial concerns that citizens of Coventry might not support the selection of an American architectural firm to plan the redesign of the City Centre, and that there might be serious public and media worries that any proposed development would not reflect the views of Coventry people or be sensitive to the city’s heritage and history. There was also a lack of faith by local residents in the Council’s willingness to listen to and incorporate the views of ordinary people.

Therefore, from the outset it was important to ensure that a full and comprehensive public consultation was undertaken, and to ensure that local media were working with, and not against, the council in managing publicity around the planned developments.

Communication Objectives

To raise awareness of the Council's role and leadership as the private and public sector work together to transform the city centre and develop confidence in the Council's ability to lead this work for the benefit of all citizens

To engage the people of Coventry and other private and public stakeholders in constructive and positive debate about the future of the city centre and the part people can play in shaping a new city centre. These stakeholders could include regional partnership groups, businesses and city centre traders, elected officials and council staff, community groups and other voluntary bodies.

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Methodology

Before the launch of the masterplan team and the planned public consultation, intensive briefings were held with local and regional media in order to get them onside, manage potential sensitivities and encourage the media to foster constructive debate. In return for their help, media representatives were offered access to information and key team players under embargo before the public launch of the plans.

Additional publicity was generated through council, partner and universities publications and websites, who were provided with a range of exclusive images, a fact sheet and editorial material including quotes from key players. Articles were also placed in staff magazines to engage council employees. Spokespeople for additional media queries were agreed, as were third party endorsements.

The community was engaged via ward forum presentations and debates, and targeted email invitations to key groups. City lampposts were decorated with posters about the consultation. The consultation itself took about 20 minutes to complete and allowed for extensive open responses rather than using a ‘tick box’ approach.

Post consultation, feedback was carefully managed to ensure the link could be made between public voices and the decisions made by the architects and town planners.

Phase two involved the publicising of draft plans developed by Jerde as a result of the public consultation. Citizens were invited to view these plans in a shop in the city centre over a four week period, which was staffed by communications and development staff. They were then consulted on their reaction the plans.

Results and Evaluation

Media strategies for this project worked particularly well, thanks to advance briefings and use of embargoes. The provision of key materials and spokespeople allowed the council to manage publicity about the project and the consultation process, avoiding negative feedback, for example by emphasising the other European precedent developments undertaken by Jerde. Phase one of the campaign generated £468,000 of positive coverage in the media for Phase One alone. This included five slots on regional television. BBC local radio was so inspired by they developed their own campaign to run hand in hand with our work. They called the campaign Covscape and dedicated three weeks of radio, with reports into all of the programmes throughout the day, to the campaign.

1,000 residents were consulted in a 6 week period via direct interviewing. In addition, 750 online questionnaires were also completed, 300 through the residents magazine and 100 through leaflets.

The campaign focuses on the importance of public feedback, and key messages of phase two included strong messages about how public feedback is shaping ideas for the new city centre. When the final masterplan is launched in January 2009, key messages will focus on how public feedback during phase two helped amend Jerde’s first designs to reinforce the theme of Coventry people being in the driving seat throughout the work.

For phase two, around 200 people completed the online form on the website, 160 through magazines, 400 via leaflets and 300 via Facebook. A large database of email addresses has now been developed to use to keep people in touch with further developments. Media coverage is still being evaluated, but is likely to be valued in the hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The success of the city centre shop as a venue for face to face consultation impressed councillors and employees and is likely to be repeated for other high profile campaigns and consultations. The principle of involving communications professionals in work from the very earliest stage, so early decisions can be made about the nature and extent of consultation and the nature of any profile-raising work and campaigns is already embedded in Coventry, but is helpful in further developing this role with other services in the Council.

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3.2 Organisation and Initiative

Oldham NDC – Neighbourhood Agreements Pilot

Oldham Borough Council, Greater Manchester Police, Fire & Rescue Services and local Registered Social Landlords supported the project and assisted in developing the information. The Neighbourhood Team (TNT) of resident representatives also assisted in the development of the materials and the consultation stage.

Dates and Budget

The third neighbourhood agreement entitled “Home Sweet Home” was launched on 24th October 2008.

The budget for this work was approximately £30,000 , jointly funded by the national NDC and the Oldham partnership

Issues to be addressed

Previous community consultation had shown that many residents didn’t understand which local organisations delivered which services, and who to go to if they had a problem.

NDC staff also felt that there was an issue of dependency amongst residents on the NDC, which needed to be reduced in anticipation of the projects finishing in 2012. The best way to do this was felt to be some form of agreement which provided information but also promoted citizen responsibility.

Communications Objectives

Create a simple document which engages residents and provides clear, concise information about what residents can expect from local services, where to contact them, and what the local authorities expect of them in terms of individual civic duty and community responsibility for itself.

The document needed to be simple, recognisable and engaging for a breadth of different residents, many of whom had low levels of literacy or English language skills.

Methodology

Service user data and community group contacts (c. 500) were used to send out questionnaires asking for initial consultation ideas on the types of issue that should be covered in the agreements. Residents were then invited to a day’s workshop developing these ideas further.

A group called The Neighbourhood Team (TNT) were set up in order to promote the agreements and local services, and to act as a liaison between residents and partners to anticipate problems in service delivery. TNT members also sit on partnership meetings and ensure materials are produced in a language the community can understand. This group actually co-wrote agreement materials.

The first phase of the agreements has been a pilot in the Medlock Vale area, comprising 6000 houses, but the NDC are looking to roll the initiative out across the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham.

Even though Neighbourhood Agreements are not new some of the areas are totally unique ; Oldham NDC were the first to develop a crime agreement and work with RSLs alongside home owners.

Results and Evaluation

Three agreements have been produced so far: the first entitled “Clean and Green” about the environment of the area, the second about crime and safety, and a third called “home Sweet Home” which is related to housing and financial concerns. These agreements can be downloaded at: http://www.oldham.gov.uk/ndc-home.htm The NDC are planning to introduce two more, covering health & social care, and involvement in

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community decision making (role of councillors, volunteering etc.).

TNT are thriving, and more and more residents are requesting to join. Such is the demand that street level representatives have been created to allow all residents to have an opportunity to be involved. These ‘street monitors’ combined with perception surveys and call logging systems from the area are used to constantly evaluate progress of the agreements.

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3.3 Organisation and initiative

Nottingham City Council – Grab a Grand Participatory Budgeting exercise

Dates and Budget

This project lasted a month during October 2008. The communications budget for publicising the initiative and distributing consultation forms was c. £11,000.

Issues to be addressed

Public perceptions and satisfaction within local neighbourhoods needed to be improved to ensure that Nottingham City Council achieves positive results in the Place Survey 2008 which was taking place in September 2008. Due to the short time scale it was necessary to devise a quick win event that would be supported by a communications and marketing strategy that would allow local people to influence local decisions and increase satisfaction. This was a new initiative for the Area Management teams.

Communications Objectives

1. To improve public perceptions and satisfaction with local neighbourhoods 2. To engage local residents with local decision making 3. To achieve results in the Place Survey 2008 which will result in reward targets 4. To engage local media

Methodology

Each area within NCC’s remit was offered £1000 to be used on a community project as suggested by the local people. There was a two week period which allowed people to put forward their suggestions via a suggestion form in the local newsletter that could be sent back by Freepost, or online. This campaign was also publicised on local radio stations, ads in the NEP and education staff newsletters, and articles around Local Democracy Week, press releases on web and intranet, posters the around city centre, and email footers. The scheme was also promoted personally by neighbourhood managers. Suggestions were then short listed down to 3 by each Area Management Team and the local Councillors for the area, after which local people were given the given the opportunity to vote for their favourite.

Evaluation & Public Feedback: How did you assess the impact and success of your initiative? What avenues for public feedback are there and are these used in your evaluation?

Over 200 suggestions were received in the 2 week period, and 2000 votes were cast after the initiatives were shortlisted, despite problems with postage meaning that some responses were not received in time. The winning suggestions for each area can be viewed at www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/grabagrand. Using local radio was successful in reaching a broad cross section of the target public , as were other poster campaigns etc., but unfortunately there was no provision made for measuring which form of publicity had been the most successful. Press coverage was good in local newspapers and a large number of local media attended the winners presentation in November. The Council will look to the Place survey this year to assess the impact on involvement ratings.

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3.4 Organisation and Initiative: London Borough of Redbridge: Redbridge :i interactive council website. The site is also used by key strategic partners in health and policing, and the team are developing micro-sites and applications in order to include content from local community groups and other strategic partnership members. Dates and Budget The new site was launched at the end of June 2007

Issues to be addressed The site’s capacity to create a bespoke experience for users arose from listening to residents and responding to their desire for locally focused, up to date information, efficient services and choice in how services are delivered. Communications Objectives Redbridge i aims to use new technologies to reach out and build closer relationships between the Council and citizens in order to improve service delivery and deliver community engagement.

Methodology The site has been designed to provide for: personalisation, customisation around individual preferences, and automatic recommendations based on viewing history. Residents can create their own personal Redbridge i homepage, selecting the modules and applications they most want to see or use. The site uses a variety of applications including property-referenced data, interactive mapping, online consultation, blogs, discussion forums, events promotion, online recruitment, SMS & text alerts and the ability to do pay bills, report problems and book services on line. Users may also use the site to promote community-organised events, and submit articles for the monthly printed newspaper. The webteam use detailed analytical data of site use to monitor usage and continually update and adapt the site to meet user needs and requirements. The team are also exploring a range of options to establish closer links between the discussion forums, blogs, online consultation applications and the scrutiny and area committee decision-making processes. Results and Evaluation

The discussion forums are already beginning to have an impact on our approach to policy formulation and service improvement. A recent discussion topic on how the council should allocate next year’s budget received 3,343 viewings and the postings have added depth and qualitative resonance to our linked online consultation exercise. In a similar vein, the forums are creating a valuable stream of intelligence around citizen priorities for their neighbourhoods that are helping to shape our approach to the work of our area and scrutiny committees.

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3.5 Organisation and Initiative: West Yorkshire Police Authority: BeatCrime local crime information portal This information portal was a joint initiative spearheaded by a working group of Police Authority and Police force representatives. Dates and Budget

BeatCrime was launched in February 2005.

Issues to be addressed Despite the fact that the British Crime Survey in 2004-5 showed a fall in crime compared to the previous year, and the risk of becoming a victim was much reduced, public opinion polls showed that 61% of the public believed that crime in the country as a whole had increased in the previous two years. It was clear that there was a need for local crime information to address the difference between the perception of crime levels and reality. This agenda was also encouraged by the Home Office and has been included in the recent Policing Green Paper.

Communications Objectives By informing people about the extent and nature of crime in their locality it was hoped that this would actually encourage individuals to contribute towards the reduction of crime but also to help reduce a fear of crime. It was also hoped that the authority could present a message of reassurance by breaking down barriers of public access to data. A web based portal was chosen so that information could be provided in a dynamic, accessible and locally specific manner within a small budget. The site needed to be interesting to the public, useful to police officers and easy to navigate for all sections of the population.

Methodology The BeatCrime portal was developed to be easy to use. Users can log on and click through maps to find their ‘beat’ or they can type in their postcode to do the same. Users can sort crime information by types of crime and ‘dots’ will appear on the map to indicate the location of crime incidents. The types of crime shown are: criminal damage, antisocial behaviour, violent crime, domestic burglary, and vehicle crime. Domestic burglaries are a recent addition to the maps as there were initial concerns raised over the safety and right to privacy of victims of crime. Statistics can be compared over the last month and year, and to other areas in the WYPA region. Charts show whether there is an upward or downward trend in the type of crime selected.

Care was taken to ensure that terminology and ‘police talk’ were kept to a minimum and the site was easy to navigate, with the help of FAQs. The site was tested by both police officers and 13 members of the general public who provided feedback and suggested alterations to the site to make it more user friendly. Definitions of crime type are also provided to ensure a common understanding of what exactly is being reported on. An additional section on prevention advice is also provided in order to ‘square the circle’ – ensuring that those worried about local crime have access to advice on how to protect themselves and contribute to a reduction in crime in their local area.

The site was promoted via a comprehensive marketing campaign, including Mail outs to stakeholders, Flyers, Public meetings, Local radio, Posters, Business cards and Bus ads.

Results and Evaluation Market research with residents of the local areas showed that no-one in high crime areas was surprised about the level of crime; however those who lived in lower crime areas were pleasantly surprised by the lack of incidents in their area. User s also appreciated the ease of access to prevention advice. The site received 40,000 hits in the first 12 Months, and on average now receives around 3,500 visitors per month. The Home Office has identified the site as best practice and incorporated this work into the policing green paper. WYPA now sit on the committee for the delivery of crime information at the Home Office.

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3.6 Organisation and Initiative: Staffordshire County Council: Raising the profile of the council and councillors with local residents

Dates and budget After a corporate restructuring of the Council in early 2007, a ‘revamp’ of communications strategy was initiated, culminating in the launch of a number of public initiatives in the summer of 2007.

Issues to be Addressed Public perceptions survey results revealed that the residents perception of the county council was less than optimum, the organisation was seen to be distant, bureaucratic and not providing value for money. This was ultimately reflected in a low score on the BVPI survey for feeling informed and general satisfaction.

County Councillors also had a low profile in the local community, their role was not well understood, and previous administrations had not been felt to give sufficient comms support to elected members.

Communications Objectives � Get recognition and profile for Staffordshire locally, regionally and nationally.

� Speak with one voice and present a consistent image externally.

� Increase knowledge of what we do and how we provide value for money.

� Raise awareness of the role of local councillors.

� Encourage employees and residents to mobilize and engage in council business.

Methodology A range of initiatives were undertaken, including the launch of a new resident’s magazine, which was delivered to 300,000 households and businesses.

The magazine also includes a focus on local councilors in the majority of issues. A dedicated team was created to assist councilors with media relations and a new brand ‘my councillor’ was launched to be placed on all activities involving elected members. Councilors ‘question time’ events were launched, as well as a grant programme, allowing councilors to spend specific funds on locally desired small projects.

Comms teams also focused on getting out into the local community, with a mobile comms unit. Senior members and the chief executive were present at many communications events in the community. The comms team also encouraged council staff to take advantage of all new engagement opportunities, including a participatory budgeting pilot scheme.

Results & Evaluation

Public feedback scores from the citizens' panel are much improved, they are currently reaching 56%. A recent magazine survey showed a figure of 89% of readers feeling informed about council business, 77% about their councilor. The ‘my councillor’ pages of the website are experiencing high numbers of visits, receiving 2,500 hits in the first quarter of 2008. Local councilors have also expressed their support for recent comms initiatives, with 68% rating the support they receive as good or excellent.

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3.7 Organisation and Initiative Tyne and Wear Public Service Board – “We asked…you said…we did” listening campaign

Dates and Budget This project was heavily influenced by a similar South Tyneside council campaign run in 2006. The region –wide initiative was launched in early 2008 and is in the evaluation phase today. The first communications materials related to the campaign were launched in June by Northumbria Police about underage drinking, and the main campaign was launched in July. 10 public services agreed to deliver and fund a joint campaign: Gateshead Council, Newcastle City Council, North Tyneside Council, South Tyneside Council, Sunderland City Council, Northumbria Police, Primary Care Trusts - North and South of the Tyne, Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service, and Nexus public transport. Each partner contributed £10,000 to the campaign, with an additional £750 for evaluation in October. Issues to be Addressed The campaign was launched to address concerns that the ‘loop’ between public consultation, service delivery and communications was not yet complete, local residents do not always understand or realize how the input they give is translated into improvement in local services. Also, there are potential reputation based gains to be made in demonstrating performance improvements to local residents in a clear and tangible way.

Communications Objectives Whilst the campaign was linked to improving scores on the upcoming Place Surveys, it was also clear from the start that this campaign needed to be about demonstrable improvements in local services and partnership working and their impact on local residents. A joint campaign was seen as a cost effective and impactful means of delivering this. Clear aims were agreed through Tyne and Wear Public Service Board and developed further through meetings with communication leads from the 10 organisations. These were decided as a result of negotiation between partners, but also based on key drivers analysis showing the factors which really affected residents perceptions of local services and councils. These included themes of crime, community safety and improving health. We needed area based achievements, people and messages so the campaign had to include credible messages about achievements in different areas – 4 case studies for each of the geographical areas. There was a strong feeling that generic messages about how well we work together to make improvements were unlikely to change people’s views. Methodology A series of six posters were created around the themes of value for money, clean and tidy streets, jobs, parks, libraries and activities for young people. One method of delivering these messages was on public transport, as council staff knew that the population of the region are highly mobile. Posters were therefore placed on buses and the metro, as well as billboards at busy road intersections, residents magazines and partners’ websites.

Real council employees who work on the front line were featured on the posters to show substance behind the message, and to help connect employees with both the public and partner reputation. The posters were first launched in the staff magazine to gather feedback and boost morale.

Messages were chosen to reflect clear consultation questions, responses and tangible outcomes specific to a local area, for example, residents saying that they wanted clean and safe places to wait for buses, so we installed 48 new or replacement glass shelters. In order to deliver a consistent message which was focused on services, the core slogan of ‘we asked you said, we did, and the design format were kept the same for all campaigns in the partnership areas, with only the colour of the logos changing to match the branding for the local authority or partner.


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There were a combination of factors that enabled this campaign to get off the ground: � An enthusiasm and agreement from senior people within the 10 organisations to develop a campaign.

� Early planning to ensure agreement on key messages developed as a group, allowing time to bring everyone on board.

� Involvement of communications leads from the 10 organisations either face to face or via electronic feedback.

� Achieving balance between consistent branding and style, and allowing local flexibility. Some partners wanted to do much more and this was dealt with by allowing them to use the style and messages to do more in local areas (e.g. PCTs).

� Ensuring fairness of spend for all partners

� Leadership and negotiation skills; and an understanding of priorities and issues for each organisation was as important as creativity in generating buy in from all partners.

Evaluation will stem from place survey results in 2009, in addition to campaign level evaluation conducted in November. 750 interviews took place in each of the areas for two weeks starting at the end of October. Information was also gathered from web statistics, emails and telephone feedback. The Board are pleased with the campaign and would like to use and adapt it for the future.

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3.8 Organisation and Initiative London Libraries Development Agency: Connecting libraries to new communities

Dates and Budget This project ran from June 2003 to November 2007. A pilot phase was conducted in the London Boroughs of Brent, Camden, Enfield, Merton and Newham in 2003-4. The pilot phase cost £119,000, mostly reflecting staffing costs.

After the results of these pilots were presented at a conference in July 2004, funding was received in March 2005 from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation to extend the project nationally. A project-coordinator and national policy advisors were appointed in late 2005. the Advisory group has members representing refugee community organisations, government departments, local authority and partnerships (education, housing, health), the Museums Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) and the Society of Chief Librarians (SCL). New partner councils were selected after a competitive tender process, including London Boroughs of Hillingdon and Southwark as well as a consortium of local authorities in the North East – Newcastle, Gateshead, N & S Tyneside and Sunderland, Leicester and Liverpool. Evaluation of the national level projects ran throughout 2007, and an advocacy and dissemination phase began in 2008, including the development of a website to share information and best practice guidelines. The national phase of this project cost £250,000.

Issues to be addressed New communities, especially those with refugee and asylum seekers often have difficulty accessing community services, including libraries as a result of a lack of awareness of what is available, language barriers and many other reasons. This project sought to redress this balance by seeing libraries as hubs at the centre of communities from which a range of information and social activities can be provided.

Communications Objectives � Map needs, understand barriers to use of library services and find ways to overcome these

� Connect public libraries and refugee communities to nurture learning, well-being and sense of belonging for all

� Focus on PARTICIPATION of refugee communities as well as PARTNERSHIPS to raise awareness and increase public library use

� Encourage the training of library staff to feel confident in delivering services to new communities, and the SHARING of GOOD PRACTICE based on evidence

� Engage in ADVOCACY for public library work with refugees and asylum seekers

Methodology Project activities have included the mapping of refugee communities and support organisations, and identifying barriers to library use and ways to overcome these.

Partnerships were developed with local organisations to deliver awareness training for library staff on issues facing asylum seekers and refugees.

Projects directly aimed at increasing library participation by new communities included:

� Producing accessible materials about library services on DVD

� Structured taster visits and ICT sessions

� Simplifying joining procedures for refuges

� Providing ESOL, community language and reading support

� Acquiring new stock and service planning with input from refugee communities

� Storytelling and other events and workshops bringing together communities and cultures.

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� Library work placements and volunteering schemes for refugees

A structure for sharing good practice was also developed via an e-mail list, website and events to support shared learning. More extensive resources to train and mentor library staff to support cultural change in planning, delivering and sustaining services for refugee communities


In the pilot phase ADP nominated an advisory group to contribute to project research and comment on their findings. This group took part in a mystery shopping exercise and some also took part in further activities such as canvassing service users about their general library usage patterns and also providing general comments about the potential benefits of libraries for asylum seekers and refugees.

Both the pilot and the national phase of this project were independently evaluated. In the national phase, ADP obtained feedback from a range of stakeholders. This included: project workers, chief librarians and library staff, but also feedback from external partners. It included consultation with relatively new stakeholders and established delivery partners. They also worked with four refugee individuals who carried out an environmental testing exercise in a number of library branches. The results of the evaluation can be accessed at: http://www.welcometoyourlibrary.org.uk/content_files/files/WTYLEvaluationReportrevisedversion.pdf

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3.9 Organisation and Initiative Hugh Flouch - Harringay online community forum

Dates and Budget: This website was launched in July 2007. It received a Special Judges Commendation in the Catalyst Awards in July 2008. The site had 1,000 members by September this year.

There is no formal budget for this project, as it has been set up and maintained on a voluntary basis by the creator. IT costs a few hundred pounds a year to host. This is currently funded by unsolicited donations.

Issues to be addressed The site was set up as a result of disillusionment with current information provision about local issues and events, as well as channels to organise and understand public feelings about their local area. Other similar sites were felt to be inappropriate as they were either owned by organisations rather than the local community themselves, or they were part of bigger social network sites, not truly local.

Communications Objectives The site aims to be a portal to facilitate communication and information sharing between local government and citizens / community groups which is ‘powered by the people’. The site aims to empower citizens by connecting and informing, building community and sharing knowledge.

Methodology The site has a version of Wikipedia, photo albums, campaign platforms and a ‘what’s on’ guide, all of which can be added to by members. The creator of the site likes to think of the site as a ‘virtual street corner cum village hall’ – both a site for information publication and for debate and socialising. Some of the more entertainment related content is intended to ‘sugar the pill’, getting local residents to join in the hope that they will also become involved in debate and campaigns about their local area at a later date.


A number of local campaigns have been boosted by being involved with the site – including opposition to betting shops, planning applications, a housing action and a street cleanliness action. A survey of residents priorities administered through the site has also contributed to the development of a citizen’s charter for Haringey in collaboration with the local council. Although the Borough Council and residents associations do not appear to support the site, it is supported by many local residents and local police representatives. Information about local history and events are also creating a sense of community amongst users of the site.

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3.10 Organisation and Initiative Stoke on Trent City Council – Consultation on City Governance

Dates and Budget The consultation ran from June to August 2008. The cost of running this consultation exercise was approximately £80,000 to £120,000.

After the consultation has been completed, a legally binding referendum will be held in 2009 to finalise a decision on the change of system for appointing/electing the mayor and council executive.

Issues to be addressed A statutory requirement to consult.

Communications Objectives The aim of the consultation was ‘touch everyone in the City of Stoke-on-Trent making sure everyone is informed about our future governance and understands its implications’.

Methodology The consultation was organised by the PR and Comms department, using both traditional and original ways to get the message across. A consultation manager was hired to oversee the consultation. Emphasis was placed on creating a simple and direct message which was easy to understand but also stressed the importance of the decision to the future of everyone who lives or works in the city. Care was also taken to ensure that the consultation document was objective and impartial.

The public were able to respond by email, by letter and by phone. All communications staff were briefed to be able to assist with public queries about the consultation process and document contents. All consultation materials used the tagline “Our City Our Future”. The main document was a four page leaflet, and approx. 150,000 copies were distributed with a letter personally addressed to all 107,000 homes and businesses in the city using the Council Tax database. Leaflets were also available at council offices, libraries, neighbourhood offices, GP surgeries, schools, Chamber of Commerce etc. More detailed information was made available in the local council magazine.

Council staff also attended neighbourhood meetings and organised an exhibition to be held in town centres to publicise the consultation. Advertising was also placed on council pay slips, parking tickets, plastic mags in the market, and large billboards around the City as well as in the local press and radio. A public meeting was also held in July, with a panel debate. This event was filmed and made available on DVD; it was also broadcast on local radio. National coverage of the debate also featured on the BBC Politics Show. In the interests of balance, a telephone survey of a representative sample of the local population was also conducted by Ipsos-MORI.


The council felt that addressing the letters personally to residents encouraged a response rather than disposing of the documents before even reading them. This was felt to be worth the high price tag. The response rate to these documents being sent out was approx. 5% which the communications team were pleased with (although the response from councillors was less positive).

The council led consultation returned a decision of 65% for leader and council, and 35% for elected mayor. However the results of the Ipsos-MORI telephone survey were almost the opposite – 57% preferred an elected mayor to 30% for an appointed Leader. The Ipsos-MORI research also showed that :

� 53% of respondents claim some degree of interest in local Council matters. 36% of respondents are satisfied with the way the council governs itself at the moment : 41% are dissatisfied.

� 39% of respondents were aware of any proposal to change the way the Council governs itself. 45%

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claim to have received the Our City Our Future brochure

� 72% claim to know that the Council is currently run by an elected mayor and council Manager. 38% did not know that the Lord Mayor and the elected mayor are not the same person

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3.11 Organisation and Initiative Surrey Police Safer Neighbourhood Team Newsletters

Dates and Budget The newsletters were published in Spring 2008 at a cost of c. $100,000, including editing, production, print and distribution.

There is commitment to produce and distribute Safer Neighbourhood Policing Team newsletters for each of our 106 Safer neighbourhood areas, twice a year – spring and autumn, leaving the summer free for the distribution of the corporate local policing summary (a government requirement). The autumn 2008 issues of the newsletter are currently being distributed.

Issues to be addressed One of Surrey Police’s key 2007-08 Local Policing Plan priorities was to achieve confident communities, in support of the Government agenda. The Surrey Police newsletter campaign was created to help achieve this.

Research exists linking public sector communication with increased public confidence and satisfaction. IPSOS Mori research consistently finds links between how well informed people are and how favourable they are towards an organisation.

Communications Objectives Surrey Police wanted to utilise all that research to inform a campaign to help achieve confident communities. Additional to a strong belief that communication from local policing teams would improve community confidence, existing Local Policing Summary research findings showed that the public preferred to receive information on policing via newsletters delivered to their homes, and that the more local the information publication(s) contained the better it was likely to be received.

Methodology Before the campaign was rolled out across the entire county, a pilot was run in one neighbourhood in the North Surrey division. Some 4,500 newsletters were delivered across the neighbourhood, using Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs). The campaign was then independently evaluated by a market research company. The very positive findings from that pilot indicated that very localised newsletters with photographs relevant to the area and in colour were a sensible and effective way to proceed. However the length of time it took the PCSOs to deliver the newsletters flagged up that this method of distribution was not sustainable and alternatives were required.

The main stage of the project involved the distribution of newsletters to every household in Surrey (500,000)�. These newsletters were personalized according to each neighbourhood/SNPT – 106 different versions in total. The newsletters contained very local information on actions being taken in the area to tackle neighbourhood priority issues (as defined by local residents), as well as contact details for local officers and policing panel meeting dates and crime prevention advice.


The pilot was independently evaluated by a market research company. The wider impact of the newsletters – beyond the pilot - has been measured through an independent quarterly neighbourhood policing survey carried out for Surrey Police and which tests, amongst other things, public confidence levels in the police. Anecdotal feedback on the newsletters was also overwhelmingly positive from the public, partners and staff.

Awareness of this comms campaign is 13% higher than the previous set in summer 2006. When asked for a spontaneous response on what they liked about it 64% of public said that it was local or relevant to the local community. 51% of those not aware of the newsletter felt safer with neighborhood police, as compared to 72% of those who were aware of the newsletter. 84% of those who saw the newsletters being delivered by PCSOs felt safer. Across 3 boroughs awareness and confidence in the neighborhood

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policing system increased by up to 14% during 2007 with no other major campaigns happening.

Timely Information to Citizens - Ipsos

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