communications plan 2012-13

Lambeth Communications Plan

2012/13

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1: Summary The team know that the focus of our work is around reputation management, service promotion and behaviour change. The Corporate Plan acts as our driver – and we seek to promote the vision to all our audiences. The council will be known for safer neighbourhoods, cleaner streets and more jobs: Lambeth – a cooperative council. Using the key campaign themes it is our intention to support the journey to being a cooperative council and to ensure that we are known for value for money and excellent customer care. The key messages are determined by the vision of the council and the priorities of our residents as demonstrated through the residents’ surveys over the last few years:

• Lambeth is working with you to deliver safer neighbourhoods

• We want you to love where you live and know that we are working for cleaner streets

• Lambeth will be a place that wants to develop a successful local economy that is about better opportunities and more jobs

• Working together we can enable our residents to decide what matters to them and to move us forward in our journey to be a cooperative borough

• We want to be known for providing real value for money and excellent customer care

Our messaging must be simple and relevant We will run 3 main campaigns that have coop and VFM messages running through them; Safer neighbourhoods: we will work closely with partners to address and tackle safety issues that are relevant to specific neighbourhoods and communities. The focus will be on an intelligence led approach to safety issues and to work closely with residents and businesses to tackle safety concerns. The aim is to address perceptions of safety and to enable people to take responsibility for the places they live. Cleaner streets: the emphasis will be on the area that you live and the work that we can do to improve the environment. This will include issues around responsibility, signposting to local opportunities and focusing on successful activity that meets the concerns of residents around the quality of their neighbourhoods. More jobs: the strategic partnership issue is worklessness and this campaign will look at the ways in which we are engaging business, promoting training and developing apprenticeships. There will be a focus on the facilitation of good practice in the community and highlighting successful initiatives. Through all three campaigns we will promote responsibility, engagement and cooperative principles. In each of these areas we will look to gain a reputation with our residents and with key influencers (our peers, Government officials, journalists). A major aspect will be the need to create conversations with our audiences so there is an increasing move towards residents’ ownership of messages, actions and service delivery. Wrapped around this will be further cooperative communications relevant to specific audiences and services and a range of information to keep promoting understanding and awareness.

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2. Key issues and audiences There are significant issues for all audiences (see below). The emphasis and detail within each one will vary by individual, community, geography but as a key set of areas they are appropriate to all. Within these 8 areas there are 3 that are more significant than others for Lambeth and they are highlighted in yellow and underlined. You can apply these 8 areas to a range of significant issues and key audiences. Only by considering all of them can you start to create sustainable solutions. The service model of the council is very linear and often struggles to consider how solutions are dependent on service areas working together. The cooperative council is about delivering outcomes and this requires room for lateral thinking – improving safety may be more about making an area look good than introducing more CCTV but the budgets are too closely aligned to services rather than outcomes. This will change with cooperative council and with it will come greater power for audiences in determining the means of achieving outcomes. Therefore communications has to move to an audience led approach in order to ensure the success of the cooperative council. In terms of communications it is important that key messages are put out that have the most significance. Using resident feedback over the last few years we can see that the top 3 in Lambeth are where you live, safety and jobs. These messages are important for residents but the challenge is to segment the audience so we can get into a more detailed conversation with them. Likewise we need to use the other 5 headings in the diagram above to define other relevant issues within a specific area or community. In one neighbourhood there may be issues around a certain school or in another the issue may be about investment in the housing estate. However the main three must be applied to all audiences so that you become associated repeatedly with them.

Where you live

Health

Interests

Education

Money

Housing

Jobs

Safety

Audience

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The table below shows audience segmentation across 9 areas - the borough lends itself to geographical segmentation and this fits with much of the cooperative agenda.

Using the premise that we can communicate now to ‘all’ and that we agree a priority area of segmentation is neighbourhood (geography), we can then segment further within geographical areas. Therefore we should look at business, housing, young people but segment them first by Streatham, Brixton, Clapham etc. Many messages may be the same across all areas but this provides a framework for improving the targeting and personalisation of the message.

All residents

Individual residents

Family Home Issue based

Young people Older people New to borough

Community Geography Business

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3: Key feedback from resident survey The way that the council communicates has an impact on a range of indicators. Our work is to respond to the findings but also to influence the future measures. The up to date findings are set out below.

+1 +4

-1 +3

-3 -8*

0 +5*

+1 -5

+1 -6

-7* -4

-1 -4

-1 -7*

0 -3

-1 +4

+1 -2

0 -1

-3 -4

-1 +1

Crime remains the top concern of our residents. Litter and dirt

in the street is more of a concern for Lambeth residents than

other inner Londoners, but lack of jobs is less of a concern.

Q1. Which three of these are you personally most concerned about?

Wave 9 (Nov 11) Base: All respondents (758), compared to wave 5 in Nov 10, base: All respondents (770).

Inner London comparison data (Oct 11– 431 interviews) is based on a question with a split code

“Not enough being done for young people” (212) and “Rising prices/interest rates” (218)

Nb. *statistically significant difference

Change from Nov

2010

Dif toinner

London

Despite some cuts in services, adult satisfaction rates have remained

stable, however, perceptions of value for money have fallen significantly

compared to six months ago. Two-thirds of young people are satisfied.

52

43

55 5655 54

55 56 55

33 34 3439 39 38 37 33

30

48

5355

57

52

64

54

6667

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

2009 (Oct)

2010 (Jan)

2010 (Apr)

2010 (Jul)

2010 (Oct)

2011 (Jan)

2011 (Apr)

2011 (Jul)

2011 (Oct)

% o

f re

sp

on

de

nts

sa

tisfi

ed

‘Q2.Taking everything into account, how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with the way Lambeth Council runs

things?’ and ‘Q3.To what extent do you agree or disagree that Lambeth Council provides value for money?’

Council providing Value for money

NB: Residents’ survey wave 9 (Nov 11) - Base: All respondents excluding ‘don’t know ‘and ‘no response’ (Bases vary).

Satisfaction with council

YP - Satisfaction with council

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Adults feel as informed about the council as they did a year

ago, but less so than two years ago. Young people feel more

informed than they did last year.

NB: Question wording changed in Jan 2009 to the wording listed above. Previous wording was To what extent do you think these statements apply to your borough ? My council....... keeps residents informed about what they are doing

This wording continues to be used for the Inner London comparison, therefore questions are not directly comparable.

NBB: Young people sample changed from 11-17 years to 11-19 years in Oct 2009. YP sample prior to Oct 2009 was based on those who say they know about the council. Since Oct 2009 the question has been base all. Wording change from 2003-2008. Base: 2003-2009 c.1000 adults, 250 young people. Base: 2009-2011 adults 750, young people 125

Q18, YP16: How well do you think Lambeth council keeps residents informed about the services and benefits it provides?

Changed wording

Media coverage at end of 2011-2012

Positive 38.9%

Neutral 26.8%

Negative13.7%

Political 11.5%

Political-letter 7.2% N/A 1.8%

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4: Vision and Priorities The Corporate Plan sets out the council’s vision and provides a framework for the communications activity going forward.

Our aspirations for Lambeth Lambeth is one of the most diverse places in Europe, and is most diverse in the UK. In a very real sense it is “the world in one borough”. It is important that every community feels at home here, secure both in their separate identity and also as part of Lambeth as a whole. Underpinning this is the belief that Lambeth Council must work, in a co-operative fashion, with all its communities to ensure their ambitions are met because no single model of service provision can possibly meet such a complex patchwork of needs. Through this cooperative endeavour, working together with the borough's citizens, Lambeth seeks to realise its goals to create a fair and socially just borough which is:

• aspirational

• caring

• safe and secure

A caring borough Lambeth believes that the true measure of a community is the way it treats its most disadvantaged and vulnerable citizens (such as families on very low incomes, the elderly, the disabled, and those that have poor physical or mental health). Lambeth is clear that these groups cannot be left behind and must be given the chance to set and achieve their own aspirations, drawing on the resources London has to offer as a major world city. As a progressive borough, Lambeth believes that the most effective way to care for these citizens is to improve the outcomes achieved by our poorest and most vulnerable communities so they are closer to those achieved by the most affluent. At a time of shrinking resources, this will be achieved by moving away from universal services that are open to all towards targeted services that support those citizens in greatest need. As a result of this targeted work aimed at preventing social disadvantage we want to see a reduction in income inequality between the poorest and most affluent in the borough, support for our most vulnerable families, and the provision of a range of preventative health and social care services to enable citizens to lead healthy and active lifestyles. As well as improving the life chances of our citizens the council must also continue to be the champion for all people in Lambeth, including our employees – but in particular seeking to ensure that our most vulnerable residents are protected from the effects of public sector cuts. We will achieve this by ensuring the voices of our residents and communities are heard by central government, working with other elected representatives to ensure Lambeth is not disadvantaged by national policy decisions, and through pro-active lobbying of central and regional government both directly and through organisations such as London Councils and the LGA. An aspirational borough We want people to feel proud to live in Lambeth. It is a diverse, aspirational borough and we are driven by the desire to see everyone take advantage of the opportunities that are available as a result of living in central London. Lambeth will ensure high quality education and support for every young person, from early years right through to further and higher education, to guarantee every young person is given the best start in life. Caring for the vulnerable and narrowing income inequality underpin our desire for fairness, but Lambeth must also be a place where our citizens are supported to realise

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their ambitions. In particular, we want to ensure people are able to live in decent homes, can get a job with good prospects, have access to world-class education in good schools and colleges, and can enjoy a clean, green and sustainable environment. We also want to help our citizens prosper economically, and aim to promote enterprise and entrepreneurship within a strong and diverse local economy. We can help start-up businesses and social enterprises to take root and grow, we believe there is a particular opportunity for growth in the cultural, creative and green industries, and we believe we can stimulate entrepreneurship by including a wider range of organisations in delivering public services. All of this will generate more and better job opportunities for local people and attract investment into our borough. A safe and secure borough Lambeth's communities must feel safe with falling rates of crime and anti-social

behaviour and a visible police presence fighting crime within our neighbourhoods. We also want residents to feel secure in their homes, families and jobs, and secure

financially. With such a diverse population, community cohesion is important, with communities confident both in themselves and integrated as part of the wider borough. People from different backgrounds, class and communities must feel at ease mixing with one another and working together to improve their local neighbourhood. Local culture, arts and sports opportunities should provide yet further opportunities to bring Lambeth's communities together.

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6: Our communications objectives Our objectives will be evaluated through focus groups, residents’ surveys and a range of monitoring and evaluation techniques. Our key objectives this year will be to:

• Build a reputation as a council which enables neighbourhoods to be clean and safe

• Build a reputation for enabling people to get jobs, improve skills, receive training and get support

• Build a reputation as a council that enables communities to determine the way in which services are managed and delivered

• Increase levels of informed, satisfaction and perceptions of VFM levels across key audiences

• Achieve outcomes for our residents and stakeholders through our contribution to the cooperative council.

• Enable our staff to be engaged in the council’s vision and able to advocate for the council and borough

We will review the work around our key campaigns and use research in order to determine the effective use of messaging. This will be both qualitative and quantitative. The emphasis of our research will be on a values based approach that seeks to understand personal and community motives. This knowledge will be used to influence positive behaviour change. Individual campaigns will need to work with services and the community to determine effective measures to be evaluated. The overarching requirement for the division is to impact on the measures below. These will be tracked and tactical activity will be constantly reviewed in order to determine more successful ways of working going forward.

Measure Target Outcome

Levels of resident satisfaction

Satisfaction levels amongst adults goes up by 10% from 52% to 62%

Levels of resident satisfaction

Satisfaction levels amongst young adults goes up from 67% to 70%

Informed levels Informed levels amongst adults and young adults goes up from 53% to 63%

Perception levels Perceptions of VFM go from 39% to 45%

Media score Percentage of positive media increases from

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38.9% to 42%

Staff who are willing to advocate for the council and the borough

Percentage of staff that are advocates for the council and the borough

Staff levels of feeling supported through change

Percentage of staff that feel supported

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7: Communications principles The principles outlined will determine how we manage communications output over the coming year: 1 Conversation – we will use communications to create two way conversations with our audiences and use this to enable them to have greater control over the outcomes that will improve their lives. 2. Co-produce – we should constantly look to build closer relationships with our audiences through greater collaboration around messaging and the methods by which we communicate 3 Looking ahead – our messaging should explain where we are going, how we are improving, how we are changing and give clarity to this journey 4 Insight – we will understand what interests our audiences and what will make them respond to our messages through research, monitoring and evaluation. 5 Segment – we should always be looking to localise our messaging so that it is increasingly relevant to specific audiences. We need to understand the social networks of our audiences so that we can influence them and even join in their conversations. 6 Be opportune – where there is a tactic that can enhance our efforts then we will be up for taking it. This means we will be looking for opportunities and responding to circumstance if it means that we can achieve more. This is partly about taking risk, being innovative and challenging perceptions. 7 People – our best advocates are real people and we should always be looking to tell or enhance our messaging through case studies, endorsements, and imagery of real local Lambeth people. 8 Savvy – we need to recognise the impact of what we do and also the decisions of others on what we are communicating. This means spotting where issues can join together or where a service decision can improve the messaging. 9 Live the cooperative principles – our communications messaging and methods should be open to feedback and involvement and be bottom up. We need to see communications as a community enabler allowing local people to understand and influence decisions that can improve the quality of their lives. 10 Plan and record – we need to work to a communications planner that captures our activity and reflects our forward plans. This will highlight key milestones and opportunities.

8: Delivery: what this means in practice The Campaign activity will be focused on ensuring that we deliver against the identified objectives. The three campaign themes will all aligned to an overarching commentary and they will have localised implementation plans that sit below this that are initially segmented by geography Below is a framework for the more detailed communications plans. Objective Campaign Key messages Tactics (examples) Measures

Overarching

Safer Neighbourhoods Clean streets More jobs Cooperative Council VFM

Safer neighbourhoods: we want to work with and enable you to tackle safety issues in your neighbourhood Cleaner streets: we want you to love where you live and to know it is clean and well looked after More jobs: we want you to feel positive about your future and to know how to get support, training, guidance and work Cooperative council: we want you to feel able to own, influence and drive the services that make your lives better for you and other people here in Lambeth VFM: we want you to know we care about your money and will use it well and that providing good customer service matters to us. We have frozen council tax again.

Media and campaign grid of opportunities Management of cabinet activity to ensure maximum impact Direct information from the leader through publications and online Walkabouts, visits, events that allow face to face communications Social media engagement Internal communications emphasising focus

Satisfaction levels amongst adults goes up by 10% from 52% to 62% Satisfaction levels amongst young adults goes up from 67% to 70% Informed levels amongst adults and young adults goes up from 53% to 63% Perceptions of VFM go from 39% to 45% Percentage of positive media increases from 38.9% to 42%

Delivery The overarching messages will be led from across the communications division The messaging will be managed across the whole year and be aligned to a media and campaign grid The role of partner organisations will be integrated into the plan

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Objective Campaign Key messages Tactics (examples) Measures

Safer neighbourhoods

Be Safe Sub issues Your rights Get involved in your community Safety awareness – burglary Sexual violence Buying sex Night time economy

We want to work with you to make your neighbourhood safer We want to enable residents to be able to get involved in their communities and help and support others

Promote a guide to safety awareness and rights Localised issues based on geography Walkabouts Create a target against neighbourhood involvement Promote the safer neighbourhood teams Champion a range of community initiatives that bring safety benefits

Number of people involved in neighbourhood initiatives Perceptions of safety are improved across key areas Perceptions of safety are improved across key audiences

Delivery The division will contribute to successful delivery Work with community safety Use data analysis and research to inform messaging


Clean streets

Better Neighbourhoods Sub issues Improved rates of recycling Tackling graffiti and litter Dog mess

We want people to love where they live and feel they can decide how to improve it We keep streets clean, tackle litter and take tough action against those that are anti-social We want people to love their high streets We want people to make a difference to the environment

Very localised action plans for improving neighbourhoods that are jointly drawn up and agreed Use community connectors to promote the local areas Promote examples of good practice and enable a range of localised initiatives

Positive media coverage of different areas Recycling rates improve Perceptions of litter and cleanliness improve Community cohesion Strong local economy

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Garden waste I love – in relation to place

Delivery The work with environmental services is well underway – and will continue to be managed The division will contribute to this theme


More jobs

Lambeth Working Sub issues Apprenticeships Role of business Training How to get into work Education Welfare reform

We want to work with you to create real opportunities to improve your chances and to find sustainable work We will help guide you and offer support if you need it We want business to step up to the plate and give back to the community

Stakeholder engagement with business Simple guides to help find solutions Empowering opportunities in the community that we can communicate about

The number of apprenticeships The range of examples associated with business and giving The percentage of people finding jobs, accessing training and setting up new businesses

Delivery This will need major involvement from the Enterprise section and across the whole council Needs partnership working All of communications are involved


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Cooperative Council

Lambeth – a cooperative council Sub issues Early adopters Community connectors Libraries and hubs

We are becoming a cooperative council We want to enable you to have control over the ways in which you can improve your lives and lives of others in Lambeth We are changing as a council and giving power to our residents

Internal communications work to create engagement around coop and change Targeted work with community connectors and examples in the community that are leading the way Promotion to other stakeholder audiences external to the borough Lambeth Champions promotion Networking the community connectors Redevelopment of the website

Community connectors are involved and empowered Staff rates of informed and engaged are improving Residents awareness of coop council are increasing

Delivery

PEP All of communications The community


VFM and Customer care

Value for money and customer care Sub issues Lambeth Direct Council tax freeze Budget consultation Open data

We use your money well We have frozen council tax for 4 years in a row You can same time and money by going online We are open about our services, our money and our performance We provide an excellent service because we care

Use the council tax booklet and direct contact about council tax freeze Endorsers emphasising the benefits of local services Media stories that emphasise VFM Marketing of Lambeth Direct Open data online The redevelopment of the website

Perceptions of VFM go from 39% to 45% Numbers of transactions completed online Awareness of council tax freeze

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Redevelopment of the web

Delivery Finance consultation team Communications team IT – managing data

Secondary activity This activity must be aligned to the vision and reinforce our narrative

Project Objective Type Audiences Housing Developing a better housing service and better

housing stock Perception, inform Tenants & leaseholders

Staff

Fostering and adoption Increase number of people fostering and adopting

Behaviour change, Perception, inform

Residents

Olympics The borough is seen as successful and attracts tourists

Perception, Inform Residents Staff Tourists

Lambeth Country Show Event is well received and well run Perception, inform Residents Participants

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9. Delivery plan Objectives Detail Progress Resources Outcome Delivery date

Overarching Message

Campaigns

1. Create strong overarching messages for the key channels

2. Develop the campaign plans

3. Create a timetable for delivering the campaigns

4. Monitor and manage expenditure on the campaigns

- Work with officers and cabinet to develop the messages and plans

- Work with colleagues from across the division to create a programme of activity

- Ensure research, monitoring and evaluation are considered and reflected in the plans

- Coordinate web, media, design, internal, stakeholder and marketing work to support the campaigns

- Secondary activity must be supported appropriately

Started

Started

Started

Started

Started

- Access to information and cabinet

- The resources from relevant divisions

- Officer time from across the division

- Levels of satisfaction improve

- Informed levels improve

- Perceptions of VFM improve

July

July

July

August

Internal rollout – Aug

External rollout - Sept, then ongoing

Internal – OD

1. Create a clear narrative for the organisation that enables staff to be informed and involved

- Create a clear narrative for the

organisation

- Use all relevant channels and

people to promote the narrative

- Create appropriate

communications for specific

audiences

Started

Started

Started

- agreement from DA

- Staff levels of

informed and

advocacy are

improved

Sept

Ongoing

Ongoing

Audiences

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Objectives Detail Progress Resources Outcome Delivery date

Cabinet

1. Provide members with materials, information and opportunities to promote the campaigns and our vision for Lambeth

- Provide materials that they can use for their face to face engagement – to include headed paper, posters and templates

- Get key cabinet member opportunities timetabled onto the planner

- Develop Lorna’s role as a community connector

To start

Ongoing

Started

- Design time for completing the members support materials

- Finance for production of materials

- The members engage more effectively with residents and stakeholders

- Levels of informed improve

TBC

Ongoing

TBC

Business

1. Promote coherently our support for business

- Launch the business pledge in September

- Work on a stakeholder relations plan with key businesses

- Capture business support effectively through publications

- Support the Deputy Leader in engaging with businesses

Started

To start

Ongoing

To start

- Design time

- Web time

- Finances for materials

- Satisfaction levels are improved

- Levels of informed are improved

- Perceptions of VFM are improved

TBC

TBC

Ongoing

TBC

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Central and Regional Government and other external bodies

1. Develop a lobbying plan that is aligned to the key campaigns and other relevant opportunities

- Promote a lobbying protocol

- Support a core lobbying strategy group in the council

- Identify the opportunities associated with the campaigns

- Identify and map out the other opportunities – capturing finance and policy opportunities

Started

Started

Started

Started

- Stakeholder Manager to oversee protocol and plans

- Finance resources needed to promote the top level issues

- Scoping the top level issue with Departmental support

- We get PR out of the top level issues and improve our relationship with bodies external to the borough

- We achieve success for the projects that we are lobbying on behalf

September

Staff

1. Get staff to be informed and involved

- Develop clear narrative as part of internal communications plan

- Re-launch staff award schemes

- Review comms channels and implement changes

- Coordinate Leader and Chief Executive walkabouts

Started

Started

?

To start

- Help from OCE office support

- Input from HR and IT

- Staff levels of informed improve

- Staff advocacy increases

September

October

October

?

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Partners

1. Promote closer working with our partners in order to achieve consistent messaging and a clear vision for the borough.

- Create common issues that we can jointly promote

- Manage the integration of Public Health staff

- Build up evidence of success for

promoting across our

organisations

- Manage a partnership

communications group

Ongoing

Started

Started

Ongoing

- Commitment from officers and managers

- we have a clear unified message for the borough that impacts on our audiences

-

Media

1. Strengthen key media

relationships and provide

regular opportunities to involve

and engage the media in

Lambeth’s improvement

- Identify opportunities to develop stories in local, regional and national media in relation to the key campaigns

- Create a strategy to target trade publications

- Manage a forward plan of

communications activity with the

media with specific targets

Started

To start

Ongoing

- Integrated planning

for the major

campaigns

- Weekly planning

with the Leader’s

office

- Satisfaction with

the council

improves

Sept 2012 and

ongoing

Oct 2012

Ongoing

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The Mayor

1. Ensure the Mayor can be an

advocate for the borough

and enhance the reputation

of the council

- Provide a blog for the Mayor

- Support his activities around inward investment

- Support his key charity

- Help promote his News Year parade float

- Work with him on the promotion

of the Lambeth Champions

Started

To start

To start

To start

Ongoing

- Web advice

- Potentially a range

of materials

- Satisfaction

rates with the

authority are

improved

July 2012

TBC

TBC

TBC

TBC

Community connectors

1. Enable people in the

community to connect with

each other and be active

members in the cooperative

journey

- Develop a database of community connectors

- Promote opportunities to the connectors and update them regularly about coop activity

To start

To start

- Database

- Templates for

communicating

- awareness of

coop is improved

- levels of

informed are

improved

- Dec 2012

Method

1. Web site development programme to enable the community to use a modern, cooperative website

- Build a new website

-

- Monitor expenditure and staffing in relation to this project

- Agree a programme of web development including GIS mapping, consultation software and other tools

- Ensure that web content is up to date and informative

To start

Ongoing

To start

Ongoing

- The role of the community

- Finance

- Levels of informed increase

April 2013

Ongoing

October 2012

Ongoing

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Data

1. Develop a data base management system that allows personalised communications and aligns itself to new and existing communication channels.

- Scope out the project

- Develop personalised communications that support the campaigns

- Initially use the electoral register

To start

To start

- PEP advice and guidance

- IT support

- Communications will be personalised and the relationship with residents and stakeholders will be stronger and better informed

- Clear record across the council of our engagement

- Sept 2012

Social media

1. Develop our understanding of social media and integrate into our campaigns and communications

- Apply the Meltwater software into our campaign planning

- Develop internal social media channels for better staff conversations

- Promote better use of social media across all service areas for learning and helping our residents

- Engage local area website and other social media platforms in order to promote our key campaigns and messages

Started

To start

Started

To start

- Web support

- Customer services support

- Levels of

informed are

improved

July 2012

TBC

Ongoing

October 2012

23


Print

1. Coordinate a range of printed materials that promote the vision and core campaigns

- Produce the core offer of printed

materials

- Redo the core service booklets

- Produce an A-Z that is delivered

through every door annually

- Produce direct mail and other

materials through a coordinated

timetable in support of the

campaigns

- Produce an annual

neighbourhood statement from

the leader

- Amend the tourist leaflet to be

used with new to the borough

residents and revamp the

electoral registration letter to

new residents

Started

To start in January

To start in August

To start in February

To start

- Finances

- Design time

- Satisfaction

levels are

improved

- Levels of

informed are

improved

Ongoing

April

April

April

?

How

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Research and evaluation

1. Through ongoing research and evaluation we can ensure we achieve real impact

- All campaigns have research

and evaluation mapped into the

plans

- Resident survey questions

capture the three main indicators

- Statistical evidence from web,

media and social media is

reviewed continuously

To start

Ongoing

Ongoing

- PEP

- Data analysis

- Satisfaction

levels are

improved

August 2012

Ongoing

Self service

1. Staff are enabled to coordinate effective communications that meets their needs and that of their audiences

- Development, management and promotion of online print

- Guidance and advice online

- Development of the DIY portal

- Management of the communications inbox

- Content ownership and maintenance on the website and intranet

- Enabling services to have conversations with customers, on social media

- Delivery of service information using online print

- Informing the communications team about positive stories or potential reputational issues

Ongoing

Started

Started

Ongoing

Ongoing

To start

Ongoing

Ongoing

- IT for DIY development

- HH for online print

- Customer services (social media)

- Staff resources in the division are focused on the key campaigns

Ongoing

August 2012

July (web)

Sept (comms)

October 2012

25


Branding

1. Consistent branding in place for contractors and coop initiatives

- Identify all relevant contractors

and agree straplines and

branding and organise a

timetable of implementation

- Establish an agreed kite mark

for coop initiatives

- Development of principles to

support cooperative comms/

branding

To start

To start

- Design time

- Consistent

branding across

the borough that

reinforces the

satisfaction

indicator

January 2013

October 2012

January 2013

10: How the teams will deliver 10a: Media relations The majority of the council’s media relations resource will be deployed in the proactive delivery of the campaigns and the promotion of the council’s vision. We will also defend the council’s reputation where it is threatened. We will adhere to the following media guidelines;

• Campaign planning: the media tactics involved in the communication team’s campaigns will be planned in advance. This will be added to the communications planner.

• Media mapping: we will use research in order to understand where our residents get their information from and we will target our efforts appropriately. This approach will be mapped alongside the marketing and social media activity of the division.

• Use of advocates: use real people to tell our story, front our campaign, speak for us at events etc

• Use the vision: the campaign messages are the key but media opportunities must be relevant to our vision in how we promote issues and stories

• Conversation: we want media contact to help us open up dialogue and provide a platform for other conversations in whatever form

• Media partnership: The Weekender will continue to provide 2 pages per fortnight for our information and media should work with marketing to determine strong coverage for our priorities

• Partnership with media: we should find opportunities for running issues collaboratively across media including ethnic and specialist media

• Partnerships with partners and key stakeholders; work with partners to agree joint messages and to promote a shared vision for the borough

How we work

• Press cuttings are made available weekly

• Quarterly media reports are provided to SLB

• Online media monitoring is provided daily to key contacts

• The communications planner is reviewed weekly with the Leader’s office

• Cabinet will be quoted in releases where appropriate

• We are on call 24 hours a day through the out of hours service – 07960 245367

• Media training will be provided to cabinet and senior management

• Sign off procedures for reactive media will include portfolio holder and senior management representative

• The management and delivery of proactive media will be determined and signed off by the press office and the senior communications team

• Staff can provide directly to the press office any ideas that will make good stories – the press team will determine whether to take these forward

10b: Stakeholder and public relations

Public affairs are an integral part of our communications strategy given the current national and regional political climate and the significantly reduced funding for local authorities. As a result we must strengthen our relationships with key influencers and fight for scarce resources which support our agenda. In addition, building a high level of confidence with our key stakeholders and political community will be essential as we begin to deliver the cooperative council model of local government which represents a massive change for the borough.

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The political context

• The Coalition Government is mid term and their focus remains on reducing the national debt, with a desire to stimulate growth through a package of capital investment projects.

• The next Spending Review may be earlier than anticipated (autumn 2013 not 2014) and significant spending cuts, comparable to 2010, are anticipated.

• Boris Johnson has been re-elected as Conservative Mayor of London. His main priority is to create 200,000 new jobs in the Capital; he will also assume new powers in housing and planning.

• The Queens Speech is light on local government related legislation, but this does not reflect the current challenges facing us. There are Bills to reform local government finance and reduce adoption delays. The funding gap in Adult social care is a significant issue which has not been addressed.

• Local impact of the Localism Act and the Welfare Reform Act will need to be monitored as councils assume responsibility for public health and residents see their income reduced as a result of changes in their benefits.

Objectives

• Enhance and protect Lambeth’s reputation and brand identity with key influencers at regional and national level.

• Lead a permanent campaign to preserve a level of funding necessary for the council to deliver core services and champion the borough’s success when seeking new funding bids.

• Support our cooperative council ambitions by lobbying jointly with partners, the community and third party endorsers to build consensus around the campaign/issue.

Deciding when to lobby We will be guided by the political manifesto and our corporate priorities. However, to be responsive we will consider issues against a set of criteria:

• Primary source evidence and local statistics should be available or easily obtainable.

• The issue should resonate with the public mood and have visual impact for media leverage. These will arm us with the compelling arguments needed to secure the support needed to make an impact. Delivery

• Direct engagement with key stakeholders – using relevant officers, managers and cabinet members to do face to face meetings, events, tours, ministerial visits.

• Using key stakeholders to achieve our ends – such as the local MPs and the Assembly Member.

• Exploiting platforms at relevant conferences including conferences, seminars, policy debates and think tanks.

• Regular electronic and printed updates with key stakeholders – through e-newsletters, direct mail, brochures, briefings, providing examples of best practice.

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• Profile raising with the local community – using online petitions and events in order to create support for key issues.

• Engagement with partners and neighbouring boroughs in order to agree a co-ordinated programme of activity in support of shared issues.

• Political and officer activity combined to maximise impact and communications to specific groups channelled through communications.

10c: Internal Communications The council is dealing with the move to being a cooperative council and managing major financial savings. These issues inevitably overlap. The impact on internal communications is to create room for more open conversations between staff and to have more freedom and trust around these conversations. This will change the way communications functions and is run. There remains an important role about keeping staff informed about change and to keep them up to speed with our journey and direction of travel. We want staff to be informed and to have understanding about our journey. We want them to understand the vision and how the golden thread ensures they are contributing to this direction of travel. We need to measure:

• Staff awareness and understanding of the council’s overall vision (including cooperative council)

• Staff levels of feeling informed about day-to-day business and on-going improvement projects (eg new phone system etc)

• Employees ability to raise questions, have them answered, collaborate and contribute ideas. The administration’s vision and priorities will continue to be a key strand in our communications with staff. Objectives The internal communications objectives:

• Informed Objective:

o 5 per cent increase in the number of staff who feel that they are well informed about day-to-day improvement projects at the council (eg new phone system etc).

o 5 per cent increase in the number of staff who know what the council’s overall vision is and who can explain how their work contributes to it.

• Engagement Objective:

o 5 per cent increase in the number of staff who agree they have opportunities to engage with the organisation (eg ask questions and suggest ideas to their executive director/divisional director).

o 5 per cent increase in the number of staff who agree they have opportunities to engage with colleagues across the organisation (eg identify, share information and work with colleagues in other departments).

• Change Objectives:

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o 5 per cent increase in the number of staff who say they feel well informed about re-organisations that affect them.

Delivery

The current portfolio of internal channels will be reviewed with the aim of making better use of emerging technology, adopting systems that are less labour intensive to maintain and are easier for staff to self-publish. They will also need to be sustainable and realistically reflect the resources available to maintain them. A key part of the review is to understand what the organisation needs to do to introduce a highly effective and highly engaging social networking site that all Lambeth employees can use to share information and collaborate. However, in the short term, the key corporate internal communications outputs will include the following.

• A daily news service (eg the intranet homepage or something similar)

• Fortnightly editions of Enews

• Monthly editions of Enews+ for councilors (or something similar)

• An annual staff awards scheme and ceremony plus an on-going employee recognition scheme (eg the FRESH awards)

• Bi-monthly internal posters

• Monthly executive director messages

• Computer pop-ups when required

• Regular Chief Executive emails and intranet stories at key times of the corporate calendar (budget setting, Christmas, etc)

• Regular Leadership network emails and events

• Fortnightly divisional director briefings

A large proportion of the messages that employees receive are delivered through departmental staff conferences, face-to-face team meetings, monthly 1-2-1s and appraisals with managers and colleagues. To support this it is proposed that the corporate internal communications model is enhanced to include a greater focus on communications targeted at managers and supervisors. This will include improved engagement with the Leadership Network and the Managers Network (ie anyone who supervises or manages).

10d. Web and social media Outline The role of the web team is to manage and develop the council’s online channels to ensure that they are effective (usable, accessible, accurate, timely) in providing information, communicating messages and providing paths to transactions. Objectives

• Enable services to provide service users with an accurate guide to their services, enabling access to information and transactions.

• Advise the council on the use of social media as an effective communication/co-production tool to aid the delivery of their services.

• Work with communications colleagues on delivering online aspects of council campaigns.

• Drive and support developments and innovation online for the council.

• Provide web usage and search insight to the council.

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• Maintain the usability and accessibility of the council’s website. Delivery /rules

• We manage online information in line with the web content strategy.

• We work with services to create online content.

• We provide templates to enable devolved content editors based in services to update content on the Lambeth website.

• We deliver content training for the council to enable services staff to keep their own service pages up to date.

• We advise services on the suitability of social media proposals, manage the business case process and offer guidance.

• Support communications managers (and council officers) in the online aspect of delivering their campaigns (social media, newsletters, QR codes).

• We provide monthly web stats to the council and public.

• We advise services and ICT on usability and accessibility of online developments.

• We advise the council on changing online legislation.

10e: Core offer of materials We will provide a range of publications across the year. All of our publications will promote the key themes and the vision of the authority. Content will be planned in advance to support key communications activity taking place across the year and help build the council’s reputation. There will be use of real people and an opening up of conversations about important issues. More specifically we will adhere to the following criteria:

• A magazine that is about the real issues that matter to Lambeth people. This means residents’ feedback and views will shape the content plan. It will include a letters page, a guest editor and when residents request a story for the next edition we will listen

• The idea of conversation will be an underlying theme throughout

• It will help promote our vision and key themes with the detail around these informed by residents views

• We must use real people to tell the story

• We will do quarterly area newsletters that have local content that is created in response to local issues and needs. We will give space to local people to put their content in there id they want to

• Our publications should raise money

Delivery a. Lambeth Talk We will deliver four editions of Lambeth Talk - June, September, December, and March. The content of each edition will be planned in advance and will consider how to support the major themes b. Area Newsletters We will do 4 editions a year based on town centre areas. They will hold local area information and have space for content from local groups if they wish to use it c. 12 service booklets Using the key issues that matter to local people we will provide the 12 service booklets ate the main contact points across the borough. They contain useful information and guides to a range of services and are updated annually d. A-Z of services

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This will be produced bi-annually and will include partner and Lambeth Living contacts. These will be promoted through a quarterly magazine and available at all our main contact points. e. Council tax booklet Annual statement with information about how we use our money and emphasis on council tax freeze f. Bi-weekly Weekender copy We have a fortnightly 2 pages in the Weekender that we use to provide information about services g. Business rates booklet The booklet is important for the financial information but needs to express VFM and customer care

communications plan 2012-13

Documents

key issues

concerns of residents

cooperative council

key messages

residents surveys

safer neighbourhoods

tackle safety issues

specific audiences