"We need to work harder than ever to prove our worth..."

The Government's hardline approach to Council publications signifies more than just a crackdown on what our new Secretary of State, Eric Pickles describes as ‘mini-Pravdas' coming from Town Halls.   It represents a philosophical shift at the heart of government which will have major implications for communications across the sector. 

This is not so much about the Government supporting the newspaper industry, but about telling councils what it thinks they should and should not be doing. Councils, says Eric Pickles, should turn their attention and resources from publications to improving core services such as more regular refuse collection.   This is pure political rhetoric of course.

The average cost of a council publication would be a drop in the ocean of a waste management budget, and would hardly make a dent in the resource increase needed to move a service from fortnightly to weekly collection.   However, it is rhetoric with a purpose and a clear message; councils should concentrate on the delivery of core universal services.   

Thirteen years is a long time and, and whatever the political stamp of our own authorities, many people in public service communications have become used to a certain way of thinking coming from Westminster about the role of local authorities.   The last government made it very clear that it believed councils had a much wider role to play than just picking up the bins.  Local leadership was charged with a clear mission around place-shaping, community engagement and involvement, social inclusion and promoting cohesion.  

One of the Government's first moves was to freeze Whitehall spending on marketing in most areas, and it would appear that many in the new Government are highly sceptical about the value of all but the most basic public service communications.   

So how should we as public service communicators respond to this new agenda? Should local government communications be reduced to a list of services advertised in the back of the local paper?   Is this really the end for place-shaping, reputation building, community engagement and all the other values on which public service communications have been based over the past decade?   Or will the new emphasis on localism and the promised freedom from Whitehall control provide new opportunities?    

Firstly, we need to accept that things are changing fast, and we need to work harder than ever to prove our worth, to show how what we do has a very real impact on the things that seem to matter most to this new administration.  If the Government is concerned about refuse collection and clean streets, we need to be able to show them how excellent communications can help improve and add value to these vital services.  This means a renewed focus on evaluation, always linking comms to service outcomes.    

Secondly, whilst we must rise to the challenges set for us by the new Government and respond to its agenda, we must also avoid throwing the baby out with the bathwater.  It is up to us to show Government how what we do supports their wider agenda, how effective communications are necessary to promote the local leadership models to which they are committed, such as elected Mayors and police commissioners. 

We must show them how shaping a positive story of place supports their localism agenda and is vital for attracting inward investment and building the prosperity of the areas we serve.  We must show them how using communications to reach our most vulnerable and isolated communities can save money by ensuring they know how to access services and play an active role in civic society.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, we need to respond to the cuts agenda and do so quickly.  We all need to find new and more cost effective ways of working.  All public service bodies should start to review their communications spend as a matter of urgency, setting ourselves challenging savings targets. 

Shared service models across partnerships will become the norm so we must start to break down the organisational barriers now and find ways we can share resources across local areas.  The new Government has made its expectations very clear and it is up to us as communicators to meet those challenges head on, whilst always making the case for the work we do and the value it brings to local public services.

Polly Rance, MCIPR Vice-chair CIPR Local Public Services Group

Head of Media and External Relations, London Borough of Hackney