HOUSE OF LORDS Select Committee on Communications 1st Report of Session 2008–09 Government Communications Report with Evidence Ordered to be printed 10 December 2008 and published 26 January 2009 Published by the Authority of the House of Lords London : The Stationery Office Limited £price HL Paper 7 The Select Committee on Communications The Select Committee on Communications was appointed by the House of Lords with the orders of reference “to consider communications”. Current Membership Baroness Bonham Carter of Yarnbury Lord Corbett of Castle Vale Baroness Eccles of Moulton Lord Fowler (Chairman) Lord Hastings of Scarisbrick Baroness Howe of Idlicote Lord Inglewood Lord King of Bridgwater Lord Macdonald of Tradeston Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall Bishop of Manchester Lord Maxton Baroness Scott of Needham Market Publications The report and evidence of the Committee are published by The Stationery Office by Order of the House. All publications of the Committee are available on the intranet at: http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/communications.cfm General Information General information about the House of Lords and its Committees, including guidance to witnesses, details of current inquiries and forthcoming meetings is on the internet at: http://www.parliament.uk/about_lords/about_lords.cfm Contact details All correspondence should be addressed to the Clerk of the Select Committee on Communications, Committee Office, House of Lords, London SW1A 0PW The telephone number for general enquiries is 020 7219 8662. The Committee’s email address is [email protected] CONTENTS Paragraph Page Chapter 1: Introduction 1 7 Chapter 2: The Phillis Review 7 8 Events that led to the Phillis Review 7 8 The Phillis Review’s terms of reference and principles 12 8 What the Phillis Review found 15 9 A breakdown in trust 15 9 The communications structure 17 10 Special advisers 22 10 The Lobby 28 12 The focus of Government communications 31 12 Government communications and the regions 33 13 Chapter 3: Changes to Government Communications 35 14 The Mountfield Report 35 14 Government innovation in communication 36 14 From GICS to GCN 37 14 Number 10 39 14 Regional Government communications 41 15 Government statistics 43 15 Freedom of Information 44 16 Training and support for Government communicators 45 16 Online communication 46 16 Conclusion 48 16 Chapter 4: What still needs to be done 49 18 Openness not secrecy 49 18 Making announcements 51 18 The Lobby 67 21 Open access to press conferences 79 23 The roles of civil servants and special advisers 83 24 Civil Service neutrality 83 24 Special advisers 85 24 Table 1: Number of special advisers employed by the Government 25 Structure of departmental communications 89 26 Greater emphasis on the regional and local media 102 28 Online communication 115 30 Working with the voluntary sector 122 32 Chapter 5: Trends in Government Communications 126 33 Table 2: The number of communications staff employed by each Government department 34 Table 3: The number of press officers in central Whitehall departments 35 Chapter 6: Summary of Recommendations 139 37 Appendix 1: Select Committee on Communications 39 Appendix 2: List of Witnesses 44 Appendix 3: Call for Evidence 45 Appendix 4: List of News Organisations with Lobby membership as at November 2008 48 Appendix 5: Morning press briefing from 20 November 2008 51 Appendix 6: Summary of Phillis recommendations 53 Appendix 7: Number of special advisers employed by Department 54 Appendix 8: Cost of Government Communications 55 Oral Evidence Sir Robert Phillis Oral evidence, 9 July 2008 1 Mr Howell James CBE and the Central Office of Information Oral evidence, 9 July 2008 11 Mr Adam Boulton, Sky News, Mr Tom Bradby, ITV, and Mr Nick Robinson, BBC Oral evidence, 16 July 2008 23 Mr Tony Collins, Computer Weekly, Mr Frank Gardner, BBC, Mr Nigel Hawkes, The Times, and Mr Tim Marshall, Sky News Oral evidence 16 July 2008 35 Ms Jackie Ashley, The Guardian, Mr Benedict Brogan, the Daily Mail, and Mr Steve Richards, The Independent Oral evidence, 8 October 2008 46 Mr Bob Ledwidge, BBC, Mr David Ottewell, Manchester Evening News, and Mr Chris Fisher, Eastern Daily Press Oral evidence, 8 October 2008 58 Supplementary written evidence, Mr Bob Ledwidge, BBC 68 Ministry of Defence, Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department of Health Oral evidence, 15 October 2008 69 Supplementary written evidence, Department of Health 86 Supplementary written evidence, Foreign and Commonwealth Office 91 Supplementary written evidence, Ministry of Defence 91 Citizens’ Advice Written evidence 95 Oral evidence, 22 October 2008 111 Cabinet Office Written evidence 120 Supplementary written evidence 130 Oral evidence, 22 October 2008 134 Supplementary written evidence 144 Oral evidence, 5 November 2008 146 Supplementary written evidence 159 Written Evidence Chartered Institute of Public Relations 160 Professor Anne Gregory 164 Mr William Horsley 166 Mr Nicholas Jones 170 Rt Hon Francis Maude MP 172 Sir Christopher Meyer 176 Newspaper Society 178 PPA 179 Prospect 182 Public Relations Consultants Association 185 Society of Editors 187 NOTE: References in the text of the report are as follows: (Q) refers to a question in oral evidence (p) refers to a page of written evidence Government Communications CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1. One of the most important tasks of government is to provide clear, truthful and factual information to citizens. The accurate and impartial communication of information about government polices, activities and services is critical to the democratic process. Government communications embrace two separate but complementary areas of activity—Government communication with the media, and Government communication directly with the public. 2. In recent years, governments have had to re-assess how they approach the media and the public because of changes in expectations and demands from both these groups. New technology has led to an ever-larger media with a 24- hour appetite to feed, and has also made it considerably easier to communicate directly with the public, which in turn has changed public expectations about access to information. 3. One result has been that the size and cost of Government communications have grown considerably in recent years. This growth means that it is more important than ever to scrutinise this area and ensure that it is effective and delivering value for money. 4. The last external review of Government communications took place in 2003–04 and was conducted by Sir Robert Phillis, then Chief Executive of the Guardian Media Group. Since that review, there have been some significant changes to the structure and focus of Government communications. 5. At the beginning of this inquiry, we called for evidence on whether the reforms since Sir Robert’s Review have resulted in a more effective system of communications. The purpose of this report is to consider what progress has been made since the Review and to make recommendations for further improvements in specific areas. 6. The membership of the Committee is set out at Appendix 1. We received valuable written and oral evidence from the witnesses listed at Appendix 2. 8 GOVERNMENT COMMUNICATIONS CHAPTER 2: THE PHILLIS REVIEW Events that led to the Phillis Review 7. In his evidence, Sir Robert explained that “the Labour opposition before the election was very, very effective in its news management, and on taking power I think the view was that much of the old [Government Information Service] system was not well equipped in the skills of news and media management … as the Labour opposition had been before they took power” (Q 8). 8. In the two years following the 1997 election, 17 of the 19 departmental Heads of Information left office (Q 534), and a number of political special advisers (see paragraph 85 for further background) were appointed to work in communications. 9. In September 1997, the then Cabinet Secretary, Sir Robin (now Lord) Butler appointed Sir Robin Mountfield to review the Government Information Service (GIS). The Mountfield Report was published in November 1997. It identified a number of weaknesses with the existing system, including wide variation in the practice and effectiveness of press offices across departments. In some instances, there had been a breakdown in effective co-ordination between civil service press officers and special advisers briefing the media. There had also been accusations of pre-emptive briefing by one department against another, and criticism from some senior journalists of the loss of impartial and press office service providing a function of record1. Most of the report’s recommendations were adopted (see paragraph 35). 10. However, despite clearer guidance to both civil servants and special advisers on their respective functions and duties, further problems arose. Most notable were the high-profile events in 2001–02 within the then Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, which led to the resignation of both the special adviser, Jo Moore, and the Director of Communications, Martin Sixsmith. 11. In July 2002, the House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee conducted an investigation of the incident and made a number of recommendations intended to stop any such problems arising in the future. One of the main recommendations was for a “radical external review of Government communications” to “examine not only the effectiveness of the Government Information and Communication Service, but also the roles played by other civil servants and special advisers who have a responsibility for communications”.2 The Government accepted this recommendation. The Phillis Review’s terms of reference and principles 12. The Government subsequently appointed Sir Robert Phillis to chair the Review, which began work in February 2003. Its terms of reference were to: 1 Report of the Working Group on the Government Information Service, Cabinet Office (Office of Public Service), November 1997, paragraph 4. 2 Public Administration Select Committee, 8th Report (2001–02): “These Unfortunate Events”: Lessons of Recent Events at the former DTLR, (HC 303), paragraph 64, p 19.