Case study 1: Rossendale Borough Council

Managing media coverage of Rossendale’s first standards hearing where a councillor was suspended.

Background

At the end of January 2009, a standards hearing was scheduled to determine a complaint made against one of Rossendale’s councillors. The allegations related to the circulation of an email making inappropriate and unsubstantiated comments about the probity of the council’s planning department.

Although this was not the first standards hearing in Rossendale, it was the first where there was the potential for a councillor to be suspended as a result of the standards process.

What did they do?

The council’s communications manager worked closely with the standards committee independent chair, the monitoring officer and the committee and member services manager to identify an appropriate media strategy and to discuss key messages to be used with the local media. The Standards Board Press Toolkit was used extensively as a reference guide.

The member concerned was made aware that press enquiries were being received about the hearing, what action was being taken and that a statement would be issued afterwards, if he was found to have breached the Code of Conduct.

Following the hearing the councillor was suspended for a period of three weeks.

The team drafted a media release which provided factual details about the case, including:

• the date the standards committee panel met
• who the allegations had been made against
• the nature of the breach of the Code of Conduct
• the specific paragraphs that had been breached
•  the conclusion of the hearing - that the member’s actions had failed to treat others with respect and brought the council into disrepute

The media release also included details about the panel’s decision to suspend the councillor and the training that he would be required to do when resuming his duties as a councillor. It also provided links to a full copy of the model Code of Conduct.

Putting the case into context

Having provided information about the factual outcomes of the hearing, the team felt it was important to be able to communicate some of the council’s key messages about standards and to be able to put the member’s suspension into context.

The chair of the standards committee reiterated the council’s key messages in the comments that were issued. The independence of the chair meant that journalists would perceive him as a credible source.

The key messages included:

• A reminder that all councillors should maintain the highest possible standards at all time and that this is what the council and public expect.
• Reiterating that Rossendale has a robust system for identifying and investigating the conduct of councillors and that the standards committee was willing to use the powers available to them, including suspension.
• Reassurance that a thorough investigation had taken place and that the standards hearing had been fair and had taken into account all the written and oral evidence submitted.
• Highlighting that this was the first time the standards committee had taken action to suspended a councillor.
• Putting the suspension into context and saying that standards generally in Rossendale are very high.
• Demonstrating that by suspending the councillor, the standards committee took breaches of the Code of Conduct seriously.
• Justification that the sanctions taken were consistent with the seriousness of the breach of the Code.

The outcome

The media reporting that followed the hearing was generally factual and accurate and the council felt that it had succeeded in getting across the majority of its messages about the hearing, the suspension and most importantly the overall context for standards issues in Rossendale.

Next steps – developing a media protocol

Prior to the standards committee panel hearing, work had already been underway on drawing up a media protocol for handling all future media enquiries about standards complaints, investigations and hearings. This was available in draft format when the hearing took place but had not been formally adopted by the council and the standards committee. The media protocol is expected to be agreed during summer 2009.

The council had already identified the need for close and effective working between the communications team, the monitoring officer and the chair of the standards committee to ensure that standards issues were communicated effectively internally and externally, and considerable progress had already been made.

Nevertheless, the first standards hearing which has resulted in a councillor being suspended, has acted as a catalyst to ensure that regular meetings between the communications team, the monitoring officer and the chair of the standards committee become embedded and that the media protocol is agreed as quickly as possible.

The council’s general approach with the local media is constructive and it proactively seeks opportunities to raise awareness of standards issues. The council generally handles difficult and tricky issues in an open and honest way, acknowledging fault where it is justified, and seeking to explain the actions it has taken. This approach is the starting point for the media protocol that has been developed. However, the protocol also has to recognise and respect the rights of any councillors who face a standards investigation and has to ensure that the right to a fair hearing is not compromised.

A key area of work resulting from the new media protocol will be to proactively raise awareness about standards issues and processes in general with local journalists, so that they have a greater appreciation of the process the standards committee follows from initial complaint, through to investigation, hearing and any sanctions taken. This will assist the council in handling any future media enquires relating to standards issues.

Learning from experience

The Rossendale team have learned a great deal from this experience. The media approach has proved to be robust and through effective planning the council’s key messages were communicated. The experience has shown that further work is still required to ensure that standards issues continue to be reported fairly and accurately in the local media in the future.

Further details from Nick Molyneux, Communications Manager on 01706 238604 or email nickmolyneux@rossendalebc.gov.uk.