Andy Carter’s Blog

This story has been emailed to me by a former colleague at the BBC.

The Government could save billions of pounds by scrapping a flagship programme to assess and publicise the performance of local services, a
think-tank report said today.

The Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA), launched last year, brings together reports from six inspectorates to provide an overview of local
services on the Oneplace website.

But the Localis think-tank said the system has induced a "culture of compliance" among councils and failed to improve the performance of
local government.

Councils should be allowed to opt out of the CAA system and set their own performance measures, assisted by more local accountability and peer
support, said the report.

In return, councils should be required to release more data, making public details of all spending over GBP500 as well as information about
councillors - including their attendance and voting records and declared interests.

The report called for the scrapping of 25 indicators currently measured by the CAA process, along with a "rigorous check" on the remaining
measures.

Any increase in local accountability must be tempered by an increase in power from central to local government, it said.

Localis said that the cost of CAA compliance alone is currently GBP2 billion, but suggested that savings could be far higher when the costs
of distortions created by the system are taken into account.

The think-tank's chief executive, James Morris, said: "Local authorities are more accountable to central government than to their residents.
Without doubt this has been a contributing factor in the disengagement of local people.

"The new system we propose can turn this underwhelming system of performance and assessment on its head."

The report's author, Tom Shakespeare, added: "The need for local government to be freed from central targets has never been greater. Now
is the perfect time to re-think how to radically improve the public sector, improving performance and saving significant sums of money in
the process."

Hmm, sounds reasonable to me ...

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This is a copy of my weekly blog which I write for work and is published on the council's intranet.  The views I express in this log are my own, professional, views as the Head of Communications but do not necessarily reflect those of the authority itself.

Firstly this week – a ‘shout out’ to my new found councillor friends on the central and corporate scrutiny board, which I had to go and speak in front of yesterday.

I was ‘appearing’ to give an update on where we are with the plain English campaign we’re running.  You know, I’ve talked about it before in my Log.

The councillors were pleased with the progress we’ve made and very supportive of what we’re doing, which is fantastic.  They were particularly impressed that 400 odd members of staff are now on the list to join the workshops.

I’ve invited every single member of the board to join in too and within a few minutes of the meeting finishing, one had already put their name down.

Yet again, Yorkshire Evening Post reporter Dave Marsh was in the room to listen to the discussions.  I used the opportunity to publically thank him for the article he ran last year about our plain English aspirations.

He tells me he’s going to run something new about how we’re getting on.

Thanks also to you – there was only one person in the public seating area of the committee room and no rotten fruit was thrown which made the whole ‘going before the committee’ experience so much better.

Next – we’re being asked for help by a student from Leeds Met University.

Last year I did a guest lecture at the Rose Bowl to students from the uni’s PR and business school and since then we’d had loads of requests for us to assist with dissertations and various studies that they are doing.

One of the students is Jenny Singh.  Here’s what she’s sent me:

I am currently studying Public Relations in my final year at Leeds Metropolitan University. As part of my final year I am required to complete a dissertation, which includes conducting research. The link below will direct you to an online survey, this survey is designed for the purpose of my dissertation only and I would really appreciate it if you, and your colleagues, would take a few minutes to complete it. The survey is completely anonymous and all information collated will remain confidential.  The survey is here:

http://FreeOnlineSurveys.com/rendersurvey.asp?sid=tt7qfuprxx1865i699778

If you were able to find time to help her out, I know she would be very grateful.

Finally, I’m handing over the Log for a ‘guest editor’ to finish off this week.  Mark Travis my colleague who is in charge of the About Leeds newspaper, so it’s fitting that he’s here to talk about a new report from the Audit Commission which finds that council publications aren’t killing off the local newspaper industry after all.

There was quite a hoo-ha in the press last week about council newspapers.

Yes, again.  But, please, don’t stop reading. There’s a twist.

To recap, paid-for newspapers hate council publications, like our very own About Leeds.

So when the government’s Lord Carter called in the Audit Commission to review the town hall freesheets, Her Majesty’s hacks started sharpening their knives.

What they got left ‘em livid.

The Audit Commission not only likes council newspapers, it encourages them.  The commission finds council newspapers ‘important to inform the public of services … and explain policies and priorities’.  And, according to the government body, the money being spent ‘is not unreasonable’, while ‘few publications are published sufficiently to be viable media for most local advertising’.

Looking at their  findings and recommendations, About Leeds seemingly comes out of this pretty well.  For frequency, we are pretty common as 38 per cent publish four times per year.  About Leeds is also among the 26 per cent that does not feature councillors in any form.

In fact, out of the 120 councils the Audit Commission reviewed, only one council newspaper was overseen by a cross-party editorial board. Presumably, About Leeds.

One Audit Commission criticism did, however, centre on claims about value for money being ‘not well supported generally’.

I think we can contest this.  In 2009, About Leeds went under the public microscope for both the readers and residents surveys, which quizzed around 2,700 Leeds residents in total.

In response to the Audit Commission’s findings, the press and the industry’s commentators were apoplectic.

Again, they cried foul over taxpayer cost saying councils should instead plough money into their newspapers’ advertising to plug their plummeting income.

That’s a pretty unique mix of free market policy matched with a healthy dose of protectionism.

In general, it doesn’t really wash.

About Leeds isn’t perfect. But it isn’t Pravda either.

If it was, it wouldn’t be dubbed the best newspaper in the north, as it is currently.

Who says so? Commercial newspaper editors, who made up a panel of judges at the last Communicators in Business North Awards.

And who finished runners-up to About Leeds? A pretty major newspaper publishing company’s staff newspaper, produced by journos for journos.

Gotcha!

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This is a copy of my weekly blog which I write for work and is published on the council's intranet.  The views I express in this log are my own, professional, views as the Head of Communications but do not necessarily reflect those of the authority itself.

Another week and another ‘thank you’ from me.

Thanks for all the information about colleagues who did the council proud during the bad weather.  There’s some pretty good material in what you’ve sent and I suspect lots of it will make it into print in the coming weeks.

This weeks Log is going to be short as I’ve been away from the communications coal face for the last few days.  I could write hundreds of words and make it seem like I’ve been working away like made, churning out dozens of news releases, comms plans and reports.

But if I did, I’d be telling a whopping porkie.

That’s because my colleagues and I have been discussing the challenges that lie ahead in the coming months and working out how we’re going to tackle them.

For us, that has meant deciding our priorities and who’s going to do what.

We realise that we’re going to have to do more with less and help you in your service teams and directorates manage some difficult issues, like potential service reductions.  At the same time we’ll have to continue to promote what the council does and how we – as members of staff – are trying to improve the lives of the people who live in our great city.

Clearly, we’ve got a lot to work out (like you have as well I’m sure) so if you don’t have any objections we’ll concentrate on getting things sorted here before normal ‘Log service’ returns next week.

Good luck with your service plans!

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This is a copy of my weekly blog which I write for work and is published on the council's intranet.  The views I express in this log are my own, professional, views as the Head of Communications but do not necessarily reflect those of the authority itself.

First this week – an appeal for your help.

I’ve been tasked with compiling some stories of people who worked over and above their normal duties during the recent bad weather and snow.

We’re putting together a news release to talk about some of the positives of the last fortnight and to prove there’s more to the council during snow than just gritting.

We already know that many of our colleagues battled the conditions to get in, but others went even further to keep services running.

Clearly, the gritting teams deserve praise for working many hours to keep main roads clear, but perhaps you know of someone else who we could give a pat on the back.

I’d be really grateful if you could tip me off about them please.

Senior managers from each directorate are already doing some digging for me, but your help would be most appreciated.

Second this week – some thanks.

More than 400 of you have put your name down for our plain English workshops which is a response we couldn’t even have dreamed of – it’s amazing!

If your name is on the list, thank you for taking such an interest in trying to rid the council of complicated language and jargon.

The first of the workshops is tomorrow and we’ll be running them as regularly as people and resources allow.

I am very pleased that I can give such a positive update to councillors when I report to the central and corporate scrutiny board in a fortnight.

In other news, I attended a special public sector communications event in Westminster last week.  We were the biggest local authority to be represented and it was a gathering of senior communicators from across the sector.

The director of communications for the Met Police was there, so was the man in charge of communications at the department for communities and local government along with colleagues from the NHS, other police forces and the fire and rescue service.  The event was organised to talk about how we all could and should be working to improve the reputation of the public sector.

There was an interesting presentation covering the ‘mood of the nation’, which made predictions about what might happen at the general election.  It included evidence that suggested many people don’t understand (or care) who delivers the public services where they live – so long as they are delivered.

We spent time reflecting on what we could do quickly to build reputation.

One idea – from the man from the Met – was that councils should ‘get back to basics’.  ‘If you could just empty my bin and keep the streets clean, I’d be happy’ he said.  His idea was having a sweeper on every street corner.

OK, that sounds like a reasonable idea, but is it?

Perhaps not.

The point I made to the event was that if councils were expected to get back to basics, then perhaps the police should too, by putting a uniformed officer on each street corner.  That would surely conquer the problem of the fear of crime?

But, if you’ve got a road sweeper and a police officer on each street corner who’s reputation is likely to be boosted the most?  The police of course.

I think this shows how complicated the issue is – we’re not all ‘equal’.

Overall, the event was good and there was a clear acknowledgement that all public sector organisations need to work even more closely in future to co-ordinate activities, jointly deliver great services and boost our reputation.

I’m pleased to say that – in Leeds – we are already off the starting blocks on this, with new working relationships formed with the police and NHS.

Finally – it’s amazing what little facts you discover when you’re doing this job.

I now know that Leeds has 77 bowling greens which one journalist thinks is the highest figure in the country.  Edinburgh only has five apparently.

We were so excited about having discovered this fact, we forgot to ask the reporter why they wanted to know!

Oh, and yes, 77 sounded high to us, so had the figure double checked.

Until next week, goodbye!

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This is a copy of my weekly blog which I write for work and is published on the council's intranet.  The views I express in this log are my own, professional, views as the Head of Communications but do not necessarily reflect those of the authority itself.

Phew!  What a first week and a bit of the new year!  It’s been hectic.

I feel I need a holiday already.

You won’t be surprised that your colleagues in communications – like most of you – have been rather busy since we returned from the Christmas break.

Another ‘non-surprise’ will be that it is all down to the weather.

Snow is very pretty and as a former eye-in-the-sky helicopter traffic reporter I can tell you that it makes everywhere look very peaceful – but it is a real pain.

Mainly because lots of people can’t cope with the conditions and insist on blaming us for when – for instance – they drive too fast and then wonder why they skid out of control and hit the kerb.

All of a sudden their lack of driving ability becomes our fault.

The social media channels have been buzzing with people chattering about how ‘bad’ (and no, that’s not the word they’ve used) Leeds City Council is, because we haven’t gritted – among others - tiny cul-de-sacs in places in the far reaches of Leeds.

One ‘Twitterer’ even commented that ‘we don’t need an Ice Cube in Leeds this year because the council has turned the entire city into an ice rink.’

[I’ve deliberately missed out the expletives which punctuated that tweet.]

Umm, hold on mate: that’s unfair.  We’ve hardly arranged for billions of tonnes of snow to be dumped on the city, have it chilled and then compacted into ice.

The truth of the matter is that we’ve coped rather well actually.  Colleagues have made every possible effort to get into work and carry on as normal and where there have been problems we’ve adapted.

Refuse collectors and street cleaning staff have been diverted to snow and ice clearing duties, mobile libraries have been out on their rounds like they would on every other day and people from our highways team have been doing an amazing job working round the clock to keep the main roads open.

If you’re one of the people who’s been helping maintain ‘business as usual’, then thanks as you’ve given us some positive things to talk about.

The trouble is, the blogger who lives in that tiny cul-de-sac in Yeadon probably doesn’t care.  They are only interested in what is happening on their doorstep and aren’t seeing the bigger picture.

Like the one who sent me pictures of his road covered in snow.  In fact, it looked just like my street which also hadn’t been treated.

But this lack of ‘seeing the bigger picture’ worries me.

‘Uber local’ news is developing fast, mainly via social media channels and the internet and this year I think it’s going to make even more headway.  But here’s the issue as I see it.  At what point do we class these bloggers as bona-fide news gatherers/reporters and work with them like we do Dave Marsh or Christa Ackroyd?  And, when we do (as I think we inevitably will) what impact will they have on us and the demands they place on the council?

A lot I suspect.

My colleague Sara Hyman and I met with a reporter from the Guardian newspaper yesterday who has been hired for a new project involving blogging.

Leeds, Cardiff and Edinburgh have all been chosen as pilot areas for a web based news service, which will feature on the paper’s site.

The new reporter has been tasked with covering every possible council meeting, community group gathering and discussions that are taking place across the city.

His ‘office’ will be a laptop and a mobile phone and he’ll be writing stories from wherever he happens to be.  For instance, he’ll be filing ‘live’ reports from full council, executive board, scrutiny committees and anywhere else he can find a seat.  ‘Viewers/readers’ will be able to follow every word of the meeting and find out what elected members are doing and saying on their behalf.

The idea is to make local democracy more open and transparent.  Eventually, there are plans to include audio and video feeds as well on his blog.

I think this is a fantastic idea and hopefully it will prove that a lot of important stuff actually happens in this organisation - and that we want more residents in Leeds to be involved in the decision making process here.

Right now, they could be forgiven for thinking councillors just sit around drinking tea and eating Mexican chicken wraps, but let’s hope they don’t believe everything they read in the Yorkshire Evening Post.

On that note, the man from the Guardian let slip that our city was chosen for this new project because the paper’s editor, Alan Rusbridger ‘didn’t think much of the YEP’s coverage of the council’ and that Leeds is ‘politically interesting’.

I won’t comment on either point.

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This is a copy of my weekly blog which I write for work and is published on the council's intranet.  The views I express in this log are my own, professional, views as the Head of Communications but do not necessarily reflect those of the authority itself.

I’m making a new years resolution today.

There’s going to be no more ‘overarching strategic governance’ in my life.

No more ‘holistic collaboration frameworks’.

And an end to ‘annual letter box contact’.

I’ll send a letter instead.

I say this because my team and I have set ourselves the task this year of trying to rid the council of gobbledegook and ridiculously complicated language.

People, it’s time to think, speak and use plain English in our communications, whether that’s something we’re publishing or a report you are writing.

Last year, a colleague and I were called to the corporate and central scrutiny board to be told by the assembled councillors that there were becoming increasingly confused by some of the reports they were being asked to read.

They said that if they couldn’t clearly understand the content of the report how could they be expected to make an informed decision on it?

Well, the answer is: ‘you can’t’.  More than likely anyway.

That’s why this year my team and I are going to have a big push on using plain English and we want to encourage you and all of our colleagues to do the same.

But, we’re not expecting you to do that unsupported.

We’ve developed a plain English workshop to help you improve your skills, better understand why some people get confused about the language we use and have a chuckle at some of the most impregnable ‘bad’ English we could find.

Sorry, I mean the ‘worst examples of …’

There’ll be more about our plain English offerings on the intranet, in Staffnews and via In Brief over the coming weeks and months.

Oh, and if you fancy an hour away from your desk, then feel free to come along to the next corporate and central scrutiny board on February 1st.

I’ll be there to give an update to councillors on how our plain English plans are progressing.  If, during my ‘appearance’ you hear me use an acronym or abbreviation, or a word that doesn’t make sense, feel free to lob rotten fruit.

Just make sure any object avoids the chair please.  Councillor Grahame likes her hair in its current style thanks.

PS: If you’ve spotted or know of any ‘non-plain English’ clangers, my team and I would love to get our hands on them!  Send them via email please!

In ‘other news’, there’s a birthday I need to highlight.

Your friend (and mine [ish]), the Freedom of Information Act became law on January 1st 2005.  Over the last five years the number of requests for information has steadily risen, and even in the gap between Christmas and New Year, our fantastic FOI operatives in the council were beavering away to find the latest stats and facts that the ladies and gentlemen of Her Majesty’s press were demanding.

I have made my views on the FOIA perfectly clear in this Log – while I realise it’s a fantastic tool for journalists to use, I do still worry that the system can be ‘abused’ and sometimes we get asked ridiculous questions.

On the plus side, look at the facts that ‘emerged’ when the Daily Telegraph started digging about MPs expenses, but on the negative, does it really matter where Leeds City Council buys its Christmas puddings from?  (Yes, we’ve been asked to supply that information).

Five years on then, has the act made a difference?

I think it has, and in a good way too.  It has fostered a new era of openness (even within the council I think) although I suspect the cost of meeting our obligations of the act have risen dramatically in the last five years.

That’s why I worry about it being value for money for the tax payer as there’s clearly a cost to all this openness.

There are a few more views aired in an article in the Media Guardian, which you can read here.  If you’ve got any comments or thoughts about the Freedom of Information Act, I’d love to hear them.  Please send them to me by email and I’ll mention them here.

Finally, as we begin a new year, I wanted to wish you all the best for it.

2010 is likely to be a tough year for all of us, as we have to do more with less and keep up with the expectations and demands of the people of Leeds.

If my team and I can help in anyway, please get in touch.

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This is a copy of my weekly blog which I write for work and is published on the council's intranet.  The views I express in this log are my own, professional, views as the Head of Communications but do not necessarily reflect those of the authority itself.

It seems, once again, that council newspapers are under attack from national politicians.  This time they are promising to ‘force councils’ to review their publications.

One MP says authorities need to make sure their newspapers aren’t ‘going beyond their remit’.  In an article in Friday’s PR Week,  the 
MP said that ‘local newspapers are being driven out of business because they haven’t got the resources to compete with council publications’.

Earlier this year it was the Newspaper Society which was criticising councils about their publications.

This is an issue which is close to my heart because I’m on a national working group, representing local councils from across the UK, and we are lobbying in favour of us being able to freely produce civic newspapers.

I know for a fact (because I asked them) that the Johnson Press in Yorkshire does not have an issue with us producing About Leeds.  Johnston Press doesn’t think for a moment that we are trying to put it out of business or steal ad revenue.

Unfortunately, there are some local authorities (notably one in London) that does appear determined to make life difficult for its local newspaper.  The council in question publishes a weekly tabloid, spending upwards of £1m a year doing so while also bringing in money from adverts.

My working group has actually distanced itself from this particular council because we don’t agree with what it is doing.  We’re particularly upset that it is dragging the rest of us down – and giving the impression that every other council in the land is doing the same.  The words ‘brush’ and ‘tar’ come to mind.

I’m tempted to invite these criticising MPs to Leeds to show them what we’re doing here and demonstrate that this council is no threat whatsoever to the local media.  I’d like the opportunity to explain to them that we’re actually looking at establishing a ‘partnership’ publication with the input (and resources) of the police, NHS and other organisations who have a vested interest in Leeds.

In other news … it was a very busy time for us last week as we prepared for and then handled the queries regarding the comprehensive area assessment and the inspector’s report about our children’s services.

The Audit Commission published the CAA results under the banner of ‘total place’ and explained repeatedly that it was all about what life was like in a particular area, rather than a report about the individual organisations in that particular area, which are responsible for delivering public services.

In one of the commission’s briefings about total place, I was told it would be much easier for the media to understand.

Bad news I’m afraid, I don’t think it has worked.  The media, it seems, is completely confused.  I’m basing my assessment on several of the interviews I overheard and questions from reporters that I saw.

One journalist who interviewed Cllr Stewart Golton seemed completely clueless about the whole thing, judging by the questions they asked, particularly around the issues regarding our children’s services.

And there was a comment I saw from another reporter who didn’t seem to understand why ‘the council was being blamed for burglary rates … surely that’s the fault of the police and isn’t it unfair for you to take the flack?’ they said.

Maybe.

Actually, no.  We’ve all got a role to play in reducing crime in Leeds.  But it’s interesting to note that despite the best efforts of the Audit Commission there doesn’t appear to be much of an appreciation from the media about just how much joined up working there is these days.

Oh well.

Maybe I should send them a copy of the letter from Paul Rogerson, which we published on the intranet and portal on the morning that the CAA announcement was published.  It explained – in plain language – what CAA is all about and what the report actually said about us and our partners.

Well, hold on.  We did … sort of.

Paul’s letter formed a news release which we issued on the same day.  We did our best to break CAA down into digestable chunks and explain it in its simplest terms.  Think ‘Fisher Price: My First News Release About the Comprehensive Area Assessment’.

Maybe reporters thought that it was too easy to understand and that we were trying to hide something?  Or perhaps that they just weren’t interested?

Who knows.  Anyway, it was all over in flash.  The CAA report seemed to be today’s news and tomorrow’s chip paper even faster than usual.

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I was told by my boss yesterday that the budget for my communications team in the new financial year is being cut.

Actually, make that slashed.

I'm going to be six figures down next year because of the pressures that the council's finances are under.

It's no surprise really.  I could hardly argue that I didn't see it coming.  Equally, I can't argue that communications should be exempt from the cutbacks.  I thought I might try this kind of line with my boss 'well, you can't cut communications because you're going to need communications to explain why the council is reducing budgets and services may have to be stopped ...'

I didn't because I could tell from the look on his face that it wouldn't have made any difference.

My team are still the 'golden team' though because of the savings we achieved this year which means we've been able to return quite a lot back into the central coffers to support the work of other departments.

Given this news you can imagine why I felt a bit deflated on the way home last night.

Anyway, I'm pleased to note this morning that central government communications is also facing significant budget cuts.  This is being reported on the PR Week website today:

Whitehall's most senior PR professional, Matt Tee, is to lead a wide-ranging review of government communications, PRWeek can reveal.

The move comes after the Prime Minister on Tuesday announced plans for £3bn of new efficiency savings, including £650m from marketing and management consultancy spend.

Tee will work with the Central Office of Information (COI) on the review, which could see the biggest departmental press offices drastically cut down to size.

Details of the review have not been made public, but PRWeek understands the key areas of scrutiny will include the size of press offices; the role of the COI; and external marketing spend, including use of PR agencies. The review will cover all government departments and quangos.

Gordon Brown has already outlined plans to merge or abolish 123 government 'arms length bodies'. The PM also plans to halve Whitehall spending on consultancy, and reduce spending on marketing by a quarter.

A Cabinet Office spokesman confirmed that the COI could increase its monopoly of Government comms activity.

The spokesman said: 'We will rationalise marketing frameworks across Government and aggregate more activity through the COI. This will give us a better understanding of spend to produce savings while supporting improved effectiveness, planning and evaluation of government communication.'

One former government communications chief expressed concern about the prospect of PR budgets being slashed, and called for advertising to take the heat.

Luther Pendragon partner Mike Granatt said: 'It's bad news for the profession. It will give more impetus to the Government to employ less specialised staff. The big money should be taken from the advertising budget.'

There are 309 press officers in Government. The most heavily staffed departments are Health (32), Work and Pensions (49) and the Ministry of Justice (35)

The COI spent £41m on PR and news management in 2008/09, more than 50 per cent up on the previous year

Education and Health were mostly responsible for the growth in PR spend (Source: COI).

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