South Cambridgeshire District Council
Communications Service Plan
SERVICE PLAN
2014/15
Approved by:
Portfolio Holder
Corporate & Customer Services
Name: Cllr David WhitemanDownes
Executive Director
Corporate Services
Signed:
Signed:
Date:
Date:
Name: Jean Hunter
1.
About Our Service
The Communications department is a small and responsive team which supports the
organisation in meeting its statutory duties to inform, consult and engage with residents,
businesses and communities.
The Team takes a lead on planning, managing and delivering timely communications, both
externally and internally with staff and members, which utilise a range of existing and
established channels. Our overall aim is to improve and upholding the Council’s reputation by
supporting the Council’s objectives.
The Team works hand-in-hand with service areas on projects to ensure communications are
embedded and opportunities are maximised to promote our work and engage with communities.
2.
Our Performance and Plans to Improve
Our Mission
“We will act as ambassadors for our communities and maximise the opportunities for them to
shape their area by being involved in the work we do. We will lead by example by delivering
exceptional customer service and strive to uphold and improve the Council’s reputation” –
Communications Team
The Communications Team is responsible for the following activities:
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Supporting the Council in meeting its duty to inform, consult and engage residents
and communities
Ensuring that Council communications comply with legislation and is written in a
simple and targeted way
Play an active role in emergency planning situations
strategies and reputation management – develop, manage and deliver
communications strategies to ensure timely, targeted and inclusive plans are
carried out for key Council projects and initiatives
media relations – press office, media releases, media briefings / conferences,
coordinating broadcast and print interviews, working with reporters / editors,
promoting and pursuing positive opportunities
publications – including residents’ quarterly South Cambs Magazine and the
Council’s annual tax booklet
brand ambassadors – reviewing and monitoring use of the corporate brand and
guidelines for its use
promotional work – posters, displays, leaflets to support services and corporate
initiatives
internal communication – including staff magazine, Corporate Brief and Insite
Social media – including monitoring and encouraging two-way communication
Performance
The communications team is a small service area, but has been very successful in achieving a
high outturn.
By providing a quick and response service we have built up a positive relationship with media
contacts. This has helped the Council achieve well in excess of 1,000 pieces of media coverage
last year, 90% of which is positive and neutral in tone.
Team members have taken on additional responsibilities last year with the launch of a bimonthly parish e-bulletin and provided support and advice on a number of business efficiency
projects, most importantly within waste and recycling.
We have also seen a shift in some service areas to a more customer focussed approach. This
has seen areas become much more proactive in planning communications and speaking to the
team early to embed it within projects. There is still work to be done to see this increase across
the organisation.
The team has also built a close working relationship with the executive management team to
ensure we support the communication of corporate messages to colleagues. Jean’s blog,
alongside the EMT blog, has helped ensure messages can be communicated in a more
responsive and timely manner. This feature and Insite offer more opportunities for development.
Our Priorities 2014-15
Overarching
To plan, manage and deliver timely communications across a range of channels which will
celebrate success, increase engagement and protect and enhance the reputation of the
Council.
Specific Work
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Plan and deliver a media training programme to help councillors and officers to
deliver their message during broadcast interviews
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Plan and agree communications strategies for key projects to ensure they are
delivered smoothly. To include Local Plan, shared services, waste and recycling
service changes and commercial activities
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Take part in LGA training programme to develop the way the Council engages
two-way communication through social media. This will include work with
members and officers
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Celebrate success internally and externally to increase staff engagement and
enhance the reputation of the Council
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Plan and produce a high quality residents’ magazine, staff newsletter and parish
e-bulletin within agreed deadlines
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Coordinate annual Council Tax leaflet and ensure printing is complete within
deadline
The context for our plan
The Communications Team works closely with all service areas to support the delivery of the
agreed objectives within the Council’s corporate plan.
Through forward planning and development of key messages, the Communications Team help
the Council make sure our communities understand the decisions we take, and give them
opportunities to have a say.
A key part of the Council’s work over the coming years will see us shift towards a more
commercial approach. The communications team will need to support this shift by managing the
messaging and helping to explain the reasons for the approach to our people.
The media can help communicate vital information to residents and businesses, and through
well-planned strategies the Council can use all opportunities to be proactive and help increase
our reach. Poorly planned communications can have a damaging impact on the delivery of
Council projects as information in the press is not balanced and can, in some cases, be
misleading.
a) Our Drivers
External
Internal
- Demands from media outlets
- Government agenda and policies
- Reduced national funding
- Changing communication
technology
- Increasing reliance of online media
- Declining print audience
- Campaign groups and changing
demands
- Performance of neighbouring
councils
- Increasing social media use
- Demographics and internet access
- Corporate plan objectives
- Members
Open, honest and transparent
dialogue
- Savings targets
- Customer Service Excellence
- Equalities
- Value for money
- Opportunities for engagement
b) Our Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths
Weaknesses
- High energy responsive team
- Track record for delivering
results
- Good knowledge across
department and will to develop
- Enthusiasm
- Ability to influence at all levels
- Trust and respect
- Customer focus
- Good relationship with members
- Links with County Council
colleagues and media are strong
- Planned work sometimes hard to
deliver due to need to change
focus immediately and work on
higher priority with short deadline
- Team size can make it difficult to
resource all elements of projects
to desired levels.
Opportunities
Threats
- Further partnership working
- Changing and new technology
- Better engagement internally
- Make better use of proactive
opportunities
- Social media development
- New ways of working to improve
reach to customers or reduce
costs
- Reduced funding and cuts
- Capacity and motivation of
colleagues
- New priorities from politicians
c) Our customers and their needs
The rural nature of the district, demographics of the population and lack of good quality
broadband access creates communications challenges.
In urban areas a number of councils have established a ‘digital by default’ stance where printed
communication has been removed to reduce costs. Residents’ surveys in the district have
shown South Cambs Magazine is highly valued and a move away from the quarterly publication
would lead to less engagement and would add costs when teams have vital information.
Although printed materials are still of high value to our customers, changing technologies are
improving access to information. This is an area which will continue to offer opportunities, and
may help to reduce costs.
d) Our Resources
The Communications Team consists of a communications manager and communications
officer. Both posts are full time and the communications officer is currently a job share.