Exemption form for advertising, marketing and communications
activities
This form needs to be completed and submitted to comms_expenses@dh.gsi.gov.uk . Usually,
submissions dealt with within 10 days.
Section 1 – Essential Information
All fields should be completed. If any fields do not apply to your request, please enter ‘n/a’.
Department/Directorate
DH Communications
Title of communications activity
An awareness survey of NHS Staff
SCS1 or other appropriate delegate
endorsing the activity
Steven Pollock
Minister / Chief Executive endorsing
this activity (if appropriate)
Person completing this
request/contact details
Nafis Kibriya 0207 210 5819
Total proposed expenditure (£)
Up to £83,200 excluding VAT
Dates the proposed activity will run
(dd/mm/yy – dd/mm/yy)
Survey fieldwork to be completed by the end March
2015
Section 2 – Exemption Category
There are three exemption categories under which government communication can be
approved. Please indicate which category your request fits under, and briefly explain why.
2.1. Statutory communication – Government has a legal duty to provide people
with information, such as changes to legislation or public services
No
If ‘Yes’, why is that the case?
2.2. Operationally critical – Marketing and advertising is critical to the effective
running of government
No
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DH - Advertising, Marketing and Communications Request Form
If ‘Yes’, why do you think this is the case?
2.3. Evidence of effectiveness – There is robust evidence that marketing and
advertising deliver measurable outcomes that meet government objectives
Yes
If ‘Yes’, briefly explain how this activity delivers outcomes that meet government objectives.
This is a quantitative survey of a nationally representative sample of NHS staff which will show their
awareness and understanding of a number of policy communications programmes such as
Genomics, Compassionate Care, the Better Care Fund, Technology, Public Health and Mental
Health. The results of this survey will shape how these programmes communicate with their key
audiences within the NHS for example by demonstrating the effectiveness of certain messaging
and channels. This may also inform future programmes who would also want to target these
specific audiences.
Evaluation is a top priority for Government Communications Service given the vital role it plays in
ensuring continuous improvement as well as demonstrating the benefit of communications to
senior leadership.
Section 3 – Rationale
3.1. About the proposed activity
Please explain briefly the proposed activity and outline – where appropriate – if that activity is
part of a bigger communications or marketing campaign and if so why this request is submitted
separately.
What are you proposing to do and how you want to do it, including details of:
 the target audience(s)
 messages / proposition
 the channels you plan to use for that activity; and
 detail any plans to pilot innovative approaches.
Why you have chosen the particular type or types of activity/ies (eg channels) to achieve your
objectives, providing details of audience insight, analysis or evaluation results used.
This survey will be conducted by a research partner of a nationally representative sample of a
number of key NHS staff including commissioners, GPs, practice Nurses, practice staff/managers,
Chief Executives, hospital doctors, hospital nurses, NHS finance and clinical managers, allied health
professionals, health visitors, mental health nurses, Health and Well Being members and CCG staff.
Below is a table with the size of each sample in previous NHS staff surveys which will form the basis
of the sample size for this survey:
Occupation
Spring
08
Autumn
08
No. Interviews
Summer Spring Winter
09
10
10
Winter
11
Winter
12
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DH - Advertising, Marketing and Communications Request Form
GPs
Practice Nurses
Hospital Doctors
Nurses in
Secondary
Care
NHS Managers
Practice
Managers
Clinical Leaders
CCGs
Community
Workforce
Midwives
booster
Health Visitor
Booster
Total
185
104
206
105
204
104
206
107
202
102
200
103
200
102
200
100
200
100
150
100
200
101
150
103
201
101
153
99
200
n/a
207
n/a
203
n/a
212
n/a
201
50
202
51
200
51
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
50
n/a
100
50
n/a
100
50
50
101
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
51
50
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
75
85
908
934
1,113
1,124
1,001
1,130
1,141
. We intend to run one wave of the survey before the end of March 2015 in order to establish a
baseline of NHS staff awareness and understanding of a number of policy communications
programmes such as Genomics, Compassionate Care, the Better Care Fund, Technology, Public
Health and Mental Health. Question areas have already been identified with the Account Managers
and Account Directors for each policy communications programme. The two overarching themes are
organisational change and how/why individuals within the NHS work differently as a result of the
changes made. The questions will look into awareness, confidence and recall of policy
communications messaging as well as if individuals know what actions they should be taking as a
result of the changes made by the programmes above.
The survey will be up to 40 questions and conducted via telephone. This method has been deemed
the most appropriate and effective as not all NHS staff regularly use their email and ensures that the
participants may ask further questions to the interviewer to clarify any issues they may have
regarding the survey. Previous surveys have also been conducted via telephone.
Similar questions to NHS staff about their awareness and understanding of DH policy used to be
included in the annual NHS Staff Survey. However, this survey was last conducted in 2012 and since
then this information is not been captured. This Should the Department not be able to conduct
survey, we will not be able to ensure that communications to NHS staff are effective. This would
impact both the Government’s reputation, value for money of the communications work conducted
and the ability of NHS staff to do their job. This will also provide a retrospective indicator of how well
these programmes performed. Lessons will be learnt from the results of the survey which will impact
on how DH communicates with NHS staff in the future with different programmes but similar
audiences.
3.2. Communication objectives
What do you aim to achieve with the activity proposed? What are your communication
objectives? Specifically, explain the change in behaviour you may seek to achieve. Explain how
these relate to your department’s strategic communications objective where appropriate. (100
words approx)
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DH - Advertising, Marketing and Communications Request Form
This will enable us to explore and benchmark the attitudes of NHS staff on several key policy
communications programmes including Compassionate Care, Public Health, the Better Care
Fund, Technology, Mental Health and Genomics. The evidence collated will be used in the
quarterly evaluation reports for the Communications Performance Centre to ensure that these
programmes have achieved their communications objectives. Communication plans and
objectives will be adapted to reflect in line with what the results of the survey suggest.
3.3. Expenditure
Provide a detailed breakdown of the proposed expenditure by activity. Separate any
procurement (agency fees / production) or evaluation costs.
The overall cost will be £83,200. This is in line with the previous surveys conducted. The activity paid
for through this budget will be;




Questionnaire development
Sample recruitment
Fieldwork
Reporting on findings
As the tendering process is yet to begin, there are no specific figures for each area of expenditure.
3.4. Value for Money
Explain how your proposed activity represents good value for money. Highlight how any of the
following have been used to maximise value for money. (150 words approx)








No and low cost channels
Partnerships / sponsorship
Negotiated discounts
Collaboration with other government departments
Re-use of existing materials
Benchmarking of costs
Year-on-year savings
Return on marketing investment
There is no existing capability to conduct large scale staff polling in-house through our digital
channels. A two stage full tendering process will appoint a contract to the most successful agency in
terms of both value for money and technical skill. The results of the survey will be internally
published and shared with relevant policy teams via the Account Managers and Account Directors.
An alternative of this survey would be a focus group however the sample would be very small
compared to the survey and therefore the information provided in this scale would be negate the
smaller cost.
3.5. Limitations of Approach
What are the known limitations or weaknesses of your proposed approach/ what are the risks of
it not being approved? (100 words approx)
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DH - Advertising, Marketing and Communications Request Form
As with any evaluation of media by government, there is the potential for this to be perceived as
spending money to find out how effective government “spin” is. We would rebut this strongly. There
are risks involved due to the timing of the survey; however this survey will be used for a
retrospective check on how well the policy communications programmes performed in terms of
their audiences of NHS staff. This will assist different and future policy communications programmes
in how to engage with specific NHS staff such as tone and phrasing of key messages, channels used
to communicate and how organisational change is being perceived.
3.6. Evaluation
It is important to demonstrate the effectiveness of marketing and comms activities undertaken.
Evaluation provides you also with valuable insights that will help you to improve and better target
activities.
Please briefly outline how you will evaluate your communication activity:
 How will you use the findings?
 When will you begin and finalise the evaluation?
The results of the survey will be used to ensure that policy communications programmes objectives
are being met and to understand NHS staff understanding and attitudes to these programmes. They
will be further used in the Compassionate Care, Public Health, the Better Care Fund, Technology,
Mental Health and Genomics Quarterly Evaluation Reports (QER). The QERs are an integral part of
the Communications Performance Centre (CPC). The CPC is the quarterly evaluation for all
communications activity. All policy and corporate programmes are evaluated against the objectives
set out for the quarter and recommendations are made as to how to improve the effectiveness of
the programme.
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