Increasing confidence in democracy

Good communication is essential to let the public know what you do and how you do it. Research shows that the top performing councils are effective at informing the public about the services they provide.

Notable practice from the 2009 annual returns

Informing and engaging the public

• Promoting standards Sites
  We Pledge is Waveney District Council’s brand new campaign to promote the importance of ethical standards in public life. They launched the campaign in Local Democracy Week 2009, to get a range of public bodies signed up to the Ten General Principles of Public Life. The intention was to maintain trust and make residents of Waveney aware of the standards it can expect from its representatives. The Council made its pledge and committed to the campaign at its meeting on 24 September.
  
  Waveney’s standards committee is promoting the Principles during visits to all of the Town and Parish Councils within Waveney and will ask them to publicly sign up to and promote the wider We Pledge campaign.
  
  Key partners such as those that form the Local Strategic Partnership have already signed up, and the Council is asking organisations who would like to make the pledge to join the growing list.
  
  Waveney’s standards committee contacted Lowestoft College Art and Design department to see if students could assist in producing a range of posters to raise awareness of the Ten Principles. From a number of designs, two were selected to be displayed in Council offices and public reception areas across the district and form the central part of a wider ethical governance awareness campaign.
  
  For more information about Waveney’s We Pledge campaign and to view the winning designs, please visit Waveney District Council’s We Pledge campaign webpages.
   
• Working with parishes
  Wealden District Council carried out a survey of town and parish council attitudes and understanding of the Code of Conduct.

• Independent members
  Surrey County Council has descriptions of the independent members on the standards committee on its website.

Examples from the 2010 LGC standards and ethics award shortlist

Waveney District Council launched a public perceptions survey, designed to benchmark public confidence, levels of trust in member integrity, how the public develop their views on ethical behaviour, and awareness of the standards committee. Key results from the survey have been used to inform the council’s strategic direction for 2010.

The London Borough of Bromley’s ‘Place Survey’ reveals a significant improvement in public perceptions of the council’s trustworthiness, up from 63% to 73%. This has been achieved through initiatives such as more mainstream involvement for the standards committee in corporate governance and in constitutional and decision-making arrangements, and targeted promotion of the standards committee’s work, for example in the council’s service guide.

The London Borough of Bromley and Leeds City Council’s standards committees both have clear communications plans. These aim to raise the profile and increase understanding of both ethical governance and the standards committee amongst key audiences, such as members, parish councillors and the public.

Kent County Council’s Annual Report process is the cornerstone of their approach to monitoring and demonstrating high standards. All members are required to complete an Annual Report, which assesses their conduct and performance and provides feedback on how they could improve. All Annual Reports are published on the council’s website, so that members of the public can see how elected members carry out their role. Full details of member’s expenses, allowances and registered interests are also published online.

Examples from the 2009 Standards and Ethics Award shortlist

• Waveney District Council’s standards committee are calling on budding young filmmakers to help them raise awareness of their work. The Waveney Young Filmmaker competition gives young people a great opportunity to showcase their creative talents. The winning film will bring a new perspective to the work of the standards committee giving them a fresh way to promote ethical governance to the local community. Caroline Nixon, Chairman of the standards committee, encourages young filmmakers to get involved: “The Waveney Young Filmmaker Competition offers young people from across Waveney the opportunity to submit their films and have them judged by a panel, including industry professionals. Whether you are a first-time filmmaker or developing your skills, the competition is a fantastic opportunity for budding filmmakers to garner approval for their work and add valuable material to their portfolio. Their original idea will also be shown on the Waveney District Council website”. For more information on the competition, visit the Waveney District Council website.
• Newcastle City Council made sure they promoted the changes to the complaints system with a number of articles in their residents newsletter. This newsletter also included an article written by the standards committee Chair to promote the role of the standards committee.
• Leeds City Council’s standards committee has their own communications plan covering members, parishes and the public.
• Newark and Sherwood District Council promotes the role of their standards committee to the local media and in their community newsletter.
• Colchester Borough Council held an ‘I’m a Councillor get me out of here’ event that aimed to get young people and councillors talking. This involved a number of schools in the Colchester area.
• The chairman of Ceredigion County Council’s standards committee took an active role in highlighting the role of the committee, the importance of the Code and the integral role of independent members in a local press article.
• Rossendale Borough Council host an annual Local Democracy Week, which aims to help young people understand more about their council and local democracy. Primary schools tour the Council Chamber, discuss council services and learn about the role of the Mayor and Councillors. Secondary school pupils also take part in a ‘Question Time’ event to pose challenging queries to local councillors and community leaders.
• Rossendale Borough Council  has also produced a Standards bulletin that is published on their website so that local people and partners can be assured of the correct conduct of the council.
• Lincolnshire County Council is one of the few councils providing live webcasts of council meetings with an archive on their website.

Links

• The Standards for England has developed a Press Toolkit – Guide for Authorities that is a resource to help authorities effectively handle media enquiries about complaints and investigations relating to authority members.
• The IDeA has a Connecting with Communities: communications toolkit, which is a resource to help councils improve their communication with residents, staff and stakeholders.