Agenda item

Report of the Director – Finance and Corporate Services

The Communications and Customer Services Manager presented the Council’s External Communications Strategy to the Group.

The Communications and Customer Services Manager explained that the Council would usually develop five to ten year strategies but that this was a three year strategy to allow for further adaptation in line with resident and Councillor behaviour and expectation. He explained that this was in some part due to adaptation to a post covid-19 era and also due to the rapid nature of change in the communications and customer services arena, impacted by the wider financial landscape.

The Communications and Customer Services Manager explained that there were a variety of channels through which residents could feed back to the Council, one of which being the Residents’ Survey which would take place in 2025, before the Strategy expired which meant that it could be taken into account.

The Communications and Customer Services Manager said that external communications needed to be timely and engaging, clear, accurate, inclusive and informative, and to utilise a variety of channels and mediums to ensure that as many residents as possible were informed. The Group was informed that whilst there was an ever growing digital audience who were engaged with the Council, there was also a large percentage of residents who didn’t engage, perhaps who were digitally active but chose not to, or perhaps who were not digitally engaged at all.

The Communications and Customer Services Manager said that external communications were critical to strengthening the Council’s relationship with residents and communities in delivering the Council’s vision for the Borough and in communicating the Council’s priorities and activities which had been designed to meet the needs of the community.

The Communications and Customer Services Manager said that the internal communications strategy focussed on internal stakeholders such as Councillors and staff and was particularly important during and post covid-19. He explained that it required continual review to ensure that the methods remained effective in keeping internal parties feeling integrated and connected to the Council’s internal objectives.

In relation to the Action Plan, the Communications and Customer Services Manager said that education about Council services was important, including the ways in which this could be done. The Group was informed that social media development, adapting to new channels and new trends in channels and advocacy and behaviour change would be important. The Group was informed that the Council’s email subscription service which was sent out on Sunday mornings had circa four thousand subscribers and the Council was committed to developing this as a means of reaching residents in a convenient way. The Group was also informed of the importance of aligning both digital and non-digital communications, with Rushcliffe Reports circulated three times a year to every household in the Borough, as potentially the main direct communication that the non-digitally engaged had with the Council.

The Communications and Customer Services Manager added that the team would look at conducting a skills survey to assess who read what survey to ensure communications were reaching the desired audience and having the desired effect. Activity would also include looking at external partner development and working with partners to relay messages, notably a renewed partnership with health colleagues.

The Group was informed that an annual Communications Planner would be developed to provide an outline of activities, including the anticipated launch of a new website next year.

In relation to the Internal Action Plan, the Communications and Customer Services Manager explained that this would include surveys, annual assessment of content, identification of new ways of engagement, reflection and recognition of achievement, Smarter Ways of Working, addressing health and wellbeing and ongoing engagement with staff groups and Councillors.

Councillor Jeffreys suggested holding a yearly conference for older pupils aged sixteen and above, similar to the Town and Parish Forum, as she thought it important for teenagers to be able to ask questions and receive answers in a non-political format, to prepare them with information before they left school and took up jobs.

The Communications and Customer Services Manager highlighted the Council’s existing partnership working with education for annual learning about the election process and also with the YouNG scheme and said that he would explore the possibility of holding a youth conference event. The Service Manager Neighbourhoods added that a report on potential establishment of a Youth Council was on the agenda for the January meeting of this Group.

Councillor Jones echoed Councillor Jeffreys’ suggestion and added that it could be widened to include Duke of Edinburgh participants and their parents. Regarding the Strategy, Councillor Jones said that he had been looking for it to be higher profile and include information about benefits, personal finance, energy saving and scam warning type information. The Communications and Customer Services Manager explained that the reason the Strategy did not cover such details was because information and environments would likely change over the three year lifespan of the document, that what would be relevant now may not be in two years’ time, and that more timely content would instead be included in Rushcliffe Reports.

Councillor Jones said that whilst he thought that the Council was good at acknowledging praise, there was benefit in equally reflecting complaints to give balance and credence, as not everyone would be happy with everything. In relation to the videos and guides about the Council’s services, he noted that the Council’s communications were inevitably geared towards White, English speaking residents and asked about reaching minorities and people who were deaf, blind and disabled and whether there was option to interpret the information into other languages.

In relation to complaints, the Communications and Customer Services Manager said that this was perhaps not so prevalent on social media channels as the Council recognised that people were very busy and only had limited time to engage and so the Council wanted to focus on putting out helpful and useful information and hoped that complaints could be addressed via other means.

In relation to minorities, the Communications and Customer Services Manager said that information was included on the inside cover of Rushcliffe Reports about options to receive it in CD format and that it may be possible to extend this to offering to provide it in other languages. The Communications and Customer Services Manager explained that most Council videos were subtitled and it was hoped that in the future there would be facility for someone to choose the language of their subtitles.

Councillor Jeffreys referred to religious turmoil in the world and suggested holding an annual event bringing together representatives from different religions.

Councillor R Walker referred to previously expressed concern about some relatively poor scores in the last residents’ survey in relation to residents not feeling that their views were taken into account or that they felt unable to influence decisions. He asked whether the Action Plan addressed those two points strongly enough and thought that it was a question of balance between highlighting what the Council was doing well against having broad enough shoulders to demonstrate recognition of areas where it could improve. Councillor R Walker asked whether the Council’s social media content was balanced between showing and telling versus asking. He also noted that the most popular post of Rushcliffe’s Facebook recently had been about helping to find a lost dog.

Councillor R Walker asked whether the Council was brave enough to take on some of the more contentious areas, such as issues around what the County and the Borough Councils did, why road works were timed in the way that there were, recognising that that was a County Council issue, and why the Council did not collect glass and food waste.

The Communications and Customer Services Manager appreciated the importance of listening and asking residents for their views and noted that the Council could look at ways of better showcasing results from consultations and surveys, particularly for areas that were relatable and of interest. The Group was informed that in the post covid-10 era there was much over saturation of information and it was necessary to find the right balance, that there was only so much information that residents could consume and so it needed to be prioritised.

In relation to broad shoulders, the Communications and Customer Services Manager referred to the Action Plan referencing the Environment Bill and kerbside collections. The Group was informed that transparency was important and it was important for content about issues to be positive to generate new ideas about new topics and issues for improvement rather than those already known about and which had already been responded to. A continued highlighting of known issues risked spread of misinformation and confusion. 

Councillor R Mallender thought that reviewing the Strategy in three years as opposed to five years meant that people elected at next year’s elections would review it whereas if on a five year cycle they may not.

Councillor R Mallender expressed surprise at only four thousand email subscribers and asked whether the Council received statistics on how many people had opened emails, deleted them and clicked on any links.

In relation to social media, Councillor R Mallender agreed that it was a fast moving market and noted that during covid-19 many people joined many social groups. He said also that people from other countries often used the social media platform from their country which may be different to those used in the UK. He said that there was also common information that people searched for, such as bin days and local supermarket opening times, and endorsed the message about being concise, that concise communications were more impactful and reached out to more residents. 

Councillor R Mallender referred to the language of communications and how many residents did not understand local government speak, that it was important to think about how the Council expressed itself and what it called its services so that their meaning translated to residents.

The Communications and Customer Services Manager confirmed that the Council had a campaign to increase subscriptions and thought that there would be much future exploration of different social media and communications channels. The Group was informed that the new website would look to address providing key search information.

In relation to the Council’s language the Communications and Customer Services Manager agreed that this was important and added that the Council continually looked at what other services and local authorities were doing, particularly those in more urban areas. However, it was important to recognise that Rushcliffe had the oldest demographic in the County and so some care was needed when making changes to ensure that all could engage, but that it was likely that some changes would be made over time.

Councillor Healy referred to the residents’ survey statistics and asked whether questions had been asked as to why many residents did not feel that the Council kept them well informed and the potential 45% of residents who did not trust the Council and whether the Council set itself any achievement targets.

The Communications and Customer Services Manager confirmed that when looked at in more depth the response rate potentially related to a variety of reasons, some due to perception and some not related to the Borough Council, and that this would be explored further in the future. The Group was informed that the last survey results were in line with the LGA national average markers, except for the two results highlighted by Councillor Healy. The Communications and Customer Services Manager said that the next residents survey was due to be held in 2025 and he could provide further information about review of the residents’ survey separately.

The Chairman referred to the Action Plan, namely regarding providing audio for people with sight loss and asked whether it would be possible to offer sign language and whether the new website would be able to provide audio with the text read and to sign language. The Communications and Customer Services Manager Audio said that he would review options and thought that access to this and different languages and social media would become ever more accessible over the years.

In relation to the weekly subscription email being sent on Sunday mornings, the Chaiman asked if there was research about best times to send different types of communications to maximise impact and engagement. The Communications and Customer Services Manager explained that it was always difficult to gauge but that that there was good engagement on weekend mornings as it was thought that people had more time to digest information.

The Chairman referred to different platforms being popular with different generations and asked about harnesses that potential, including to make content more accessible, visually and audibly. The Group were informed that social media channels would be explored over the coming years to review what would work best in engaging with different demographics.

In relation to the internal survey, the Chairman asked how the results were reviewed by the organisation and the Communications and Customer Services Manager said that these reviewed through all levels, from Service Managers to team leaders discussing with their staff.

Councillor Jeffreys thought it was important for Councillors to be approachable by the public, that Councillors needed to have awareness of how they may be perceived by the public. The Communications and Customer Services Manager noted that the Town and Parish Forums regularly sought to provide information about how to use social media in positive ways and whilst he recognised that what Councillor Jeffreys was referring to was slightly different, there was some overlap in terms of best communication.

Councillor Jones thanked the Communications and Customer Services Manager for the report and thought that it demonstrated how complex the communications of the Council were.  In relation to the Council having broad shoulders, Councillor Jones said that one of the most controversial aspects of the Council’s services was planning and whilst very difficult to explain in guidance was an issue important to many people. The Communications and Customer Services Manager said that the team could look at providing educational information about the Council’s services but that planning was very challenging with much complexity about decision making and so was very difficult to provide in a concise and quickly understandable way.

Councillor R Walker referred to the Action Plan points eleven and thought that they fell into the tell and sell categories, with none being ask or delegate and asked if it would be possible to review them. In relation to residents not feeling able to influence Council decisions, he noted that Full Council included a section for citizens questions and wondered how this could be increased.

The Communications and Customer Services Manager said that he would review the action plan point. The Group was informed that the Council had previously run a campaign explaining citizens questions which had received limited engagement but which could be revisited.

It is RESOLVED that the Communities Scrutiny Group reviewed the action plan contained within the External and Internal Communications Strategy 2022-2025 and made any further suggestions to officers they felt appropriate.