ITEM NO 9 Appendix 4 Members Room Document Delivering best in class communications for Southampton City Council A report and proposals for improving the promotion of Southampton City Council and resident engagement with the council REPORT BY WESTMINSTER CITY COUNCIL May 2009 By Alex Aiken, Lindsay Coulson and Neil Wholey DRAFT Objective The objective of this review is to provide a robust plan to develop Southampton’s communications to effectively promote the city. Methodology This report was compiled using a review of major papers, publications and plans, surveys and interviews with managers, members and residents, interviews with journalists and stakeholders, analysis of BVPI and Place survey data and comparison of performance against I&DeA and LGA criteria. Conclusion The council’s overall communications performance is currently at the bronze standard of best practice. The corporate communications team could be substantially improved by working to a coherent story and clear communications plan, developing pro-active campaigns and by the better use of existing resources across the council. DRAFT Table of contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4 1. CURRENT SITUATION 6 2. CURRENT OUTPUTS 10 3. CURRENT IMPACT AND ASSESSMENT OF COMMUNICATIONS ACTIVITY 14 4. DELIVERING THE STORY 31 5. PROPOSED APPROACH AND STRUCTURE 33 6. PROPOSED OUTPUT 37 7. RECOMMENDATIONS 38 8. APPENDICES 41 DRAFT Delivering best in class communications for Southampton City Council - DRAFT Executive Summary The council’s overall communications performance is currently weak and is operating at a level below that of council services. However, our findings show that the corporate communications team can be substantially improved by working to a clear communications plan, developing pro-active campaigns and by better use of existing resources across the council. It is also critical that the council develops a story for Southampton. To do so will take a different approach to that currently in operation with a restructured team. The main conclusion of this review is that the overall communications of the council is operating at 40% of its possible effectiveness and meets the bronze standard, based on our assessment against the I&DeA criteria, the LGA reputation campaign, manager and member surveys, resident survey and discussions with staff. The key areas which need significantly improving are: • Strategic communications and planning • Running of marketing campaigns • Pro-active local and national media relations • Crisis communications handling and pre-empting negative media coverage Crucially, the council has shown it is prepared to take the steps required to create a professional communications service with the expertise to advise the council. Effective communications depend on clear goals, a precise remit and the capacity and skill to deliver. At present there is a clear focus on being reactive to coverage in the Southern Daily Echo. This is important but only a small part of what a well performing communications team should be delivering. The team should be developed to not only ensure that coverage improves in the paper, but also that the council is well placed to react quickly and in an informed manner (a snapshot of coverage in the Echo over a four week period shows 53% is positive/neutral and 47% negative, Westminster City Council’s coverage is 89% positive/neutral, Harrow Council’s is 90% positive/neutral). This will involve senior managers and members advising the media team of activities, in order that communications can be planned, and not just looking for them to issue a press release once decisions are made. The team needs to target its releases better because at present more than 40% are not used. A more acceptable figure would be 10%. This report provides the first hard evidence of the impact of the council’s magazine CityView and while it is liked by residents it could be improved. Local media has more impact and key value for money stories are not getting through to residents. CityView is the council’s most effective tool for getting its message across but our research shows the local newspaper is currently the top source of information for residents (61%) with City View second (57%). It is critical to the main existing channels right before we can then focus on e-communications. There is generally a lack of meaningful evaluation of communications activities. There is a reluctance to carry out research prior to a campaign or evaluation afterwards. Encouragingly 77% of managers and members see the value of using public opinion research to measure the impact of communications. This indicates that communications should not just be measured by the number of positive media stories, but rather how well informed the audiences are and whether real changes in 4 Delivering best in class communications for Southampton City Council - DRAFT attitudes and behaviours have been delivered. At present, residents seem uninformed about the work of the council and the value of its work (47%). In such a vacuum it is clear that some negative national newspaper stories about councils are being read as being reflective of the council. In particular the council needs to focus on proving to residents it provides them with value for money and is improving the city for the better. Southampton City Council needs to deliver a compelling story for the authority, with which to champion the interests of the area. It needs to communicate how it is leading the city through the recession and build its brand as a major city with much to offer. There is an urgent need for quite radical change in order to unify council communications on grounds of efficiency and effectiveness. Posts that are currently spread throughout the organisation do not appear to be adding measurable value to the goals of the authority, rather they are causing duplication of work and friction. The authority and resources for communications should be unified around a corporate plan, with clear targets from April 2009. This report identifies a potential saving on current spending of up to £100,000 immediately and more later when further investigation has been carried out. The benefit of this unification will be seen in terms of better communications across the council. This will mean a campaign-based approach to champion the objectives of the organisation and its partners. The new and significantly different team structure would deliver 15 campaigns with clear objectives and timescales. A key priority will be a sustained value for money campaign over the next 12 months. In conclusion, we believe Southampton City Council has the ambition to deliver Gold Standard communications and operate at closer to 70-80% of potential effectiveness rather than our assessed 40%. There is clear evidence that the political and officer leadership of the authority are prepared to unite behind a compelling shared ambition for the area and articulate that consistently over time through a strong central communications team. To summarize, the key recommendations are as follows; Strategic • Head of Communications to maintain critical oversight of council communications spending. • A clear remit for corporate communications to enhance the reputation of the council using an annual communications plan to track success • The unification of the communications service across the authority. • Adoption of the proposed new structure. • To use research and evaluation as the basis of decision-making and campaign implementation Operational • To deliver tasks set out in the annual communications plan • To adopt a campaign-based approach with delivery taking place everyday • To improve City View • To set more demanding media targets Development • To create a city communications group to build the Southampton brand • Strengthen the professional development for staff • Continue programme of communications training for leading members and officers 5 Delivering best in class communications for Southampton City Council - DRAFT 1. Current situation 1.1 Southampton Southampton is the largest city in Hampshire, on the south coast of England. It is one of the biggest commercial ports in Europe and has a population of 231,200. It boasts a rich maritime history; the Mayflower set sail from Southampton for the New World in 1620 while today its docks are integral to the cruise industry. During the Second World War, large parts of the city were destroyed by the Luftwaffe and have since been rebuilt, mainly around the civic centre hub of Southampton City Council. Seven percent of Southampton’s population comes from ethnic minorities. Major employers include Southampton City Council, the University of Southampton, the Ford Transit factory and the NHS. Residents identify the top priorities for improvement as road and pavement repairs, the level of crime and activities for teenagers. There are circumstances in Southampton which make taking the step to first class communications ambitious; there was no overall control of the council between May 2001 and May 2008 and in every three out of four years the council must hold an election, meaning political leadership can change on a regular basis. The council became a unitary authority in 1997 and it should be considered that average satisfaction levels, amongst residents, are generally lower for unitaries than for other types of authorities. For this report comparisons are made with similar unitary authorities and against IDeA and LGA benchmarking standards. 1.2 Southampton media The council operates in a challenging local media