Agenda item
Communications Strategy 2021-24
- Meeting of Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Tuesday, 7th September, 2021 7.00 pm (Item 9.)
Minutes:
The Strategic Lead
Communications introduced the report and stated that it outlined
how the Council’s communications would align over the next
three years, and was designed to build on the work previously
undertaken by the Communications Strategy 2017-20. She explained
that the new strategy focussed on brand recognition that would
enhance the Thurrock narrative, as well as providing a strategic
approach that aligned with Thurrock’s corporate priorities.
She summarised and stated that the strategy would also provide a
more modern communications service, including increased use of
direct digital communications tools.
Councillor Kent thanked officers for their report and questioned if
the Local Government Association health check recommendations had
been included in the strategy. He gave the example of an external
workshop between Members and officers; a new sign-off process to
reduce the number of people and timeframes involved; new media
briefings rather than press releases; and a priority triage system
for communication enquiries. He also queried if the communications
team had introduced a new system to cut out errors in press
releases, as recommended by the Local Government Association. He
summarised and asked if a system for including local faces in video
content had also been rolled out.
The Strategic Lead Communications responded and stated that a
workshop between Members, senior managers and members of the
communications team had occurred in line with the Local Government
Association recommendation. She added that other elements of work
with local media, such as sign-off processes for queries, were
operational aspects of the communications team and were therefore
not included in the strategy. She explained that the team were
looking into media briefings, for example utilising a hybrid
briefing system, potentially both in person and online,that would allow local media to directlyask
questions on key topics. She added that the communications team had
also introduced a system of double proofing work to ensure errors
in press releases did not occur. She mentioned that the
communications team were also including residents in video content
more, and gave the example of a local GP who participated in a
recent COVID video, and local business owners who were currently
filming for future content.
The Chair thanked the team for their hard work and felt that lots
of reporting was being undertaken, but asked for more evidence and
feedback on outcomes from the strategy. Councillor Collins
highlighted page 25 of the agenda and questioned what positive
behaviour change in the population would look like. He also queried
the use of TikTok to spread the Council’s messages.
Councillor Collins then highlighted page 27 of the agenda and asked
if the Council offices would be reopening, which would help boost
the local economy in Grays. The Strategic Lead Communications
replied that communications teams in a variety of sectors regularly
used behavioural science to encourage good behaviour in local
residents, for example by encouraging them to recycle or not drop
cigarette butts. She stated that some Council’s used
footsteps leading to the nearest bins to encourage residents to
dispose of waste properly, or by installing question bins for
cigarette butts. She then moved on and stated that Thurrock were
looking at a variety of digital channels from across the world, and
whilst that included the TikTok platform, no decisions had yet been
made on which channels to pursue. The Chair questioned how much
money Thurrock Council had spent on pursuing the use of TikTok as a
media platform and the Strategic Lead Communications responded that
so far no money had been spent.
Councillor Muldowney stated that approximately 10% of the adult
population did not have access to the internet, and asked how they
would be included and engaged within the strategy. She felt that
people who did not have access to the internet tended to be more
vulnerable, such as elderly people. The Strategic Lead
Communications replied that additional options were available to
those residents who were not online, and these options were built
into the strategy. She explained that Thurrock were moving towards
a more digital communications approach, and digital messages could
be passed on through community forums to people who could not
access the internet. She added the Council still produced leaflets
and posters, for example for information regarding sheltered
housing, and that easy-to-read posters in high footfall areas were
useful for communicating with residents for whom English was a
second language. The Strategic Lead Communications mentioned that
the communications team also regularly liaised with community
groups for their support on projects, which would help people who
did not have access to the internet, engage with the Council. She
added that using digital channels was also a more cost effective
option than printing leaflets, but for large campaigns or the
council tax leaflet, printed information was utilised.
The Chair questioned how the strategy would encourage people in
rural areas to engage with the Council. She also queried how the
team were working to improve engagement as a whole, as currently
only 35% of Thurrock residents were actively engaging. The
Strategic Lead Communications responded that people in rural areas
would have access to digital campaigns. She added that the figure
of 35% engagement related to Thurrock Council’s newsletter,
but engagement was higher for other elements of communications
including campaigns. She stated that the communications team would
never focus solely on digital channels, and the team would try to
find the balance between digital channels and print media.
Councillor Muldowney questioned what the balance currently was
between digital and non-digital channels. The Strategic Lead
Communications felt that the balance between digital and
non-digital engagement differed from issue to issue. She stated as
an example that if an issue disproportionately affected people aged
over 80, the communications team would focus on print media.
Councillor Muldowney highlighted appendix two of the report and
stated that although the Thurrock Thanks campaign had had a good
digital reach, the proportion of those residents retweeting and
clicking through the link was low. She questioned how the
communications team was measuring the quality of engagement, and
the proportion of people who were taking in the information. The
Strategic Lead Communications replied that it was sometimes
difficult to measure the level of engagement, particularly with
awareness campaigns such as Thurrock Thanks. She stated that if the
campaign set out a call to action, such as campaigns regarding
rent, then specific engagement targets would be set. She stated
that this was monitored through the number of people calling the
contact centre after a specific campaign, or the number of click
throughs on a link. She stated that for Thurrock’s fostering
campaign, people that made enquiries were asked where they had
heard about fostering and those answers were recorded. She
commented that all campaigns were linked to service priorities, but
there were lots of people simply passive scrolling on social media
who would see content but not necessarily engage with it.
Councillor Carter asked if the recent fostering campaign had led to
an increased number of fostering enquiries. The Strategic Lead
Communications replied that she understood this would be discussed
at the next Corporate Parenting Committee and she did not have the
information to hand. She explained that the Council were currently
beginning the second phase of the fostering campaign, which would
highlight the need of local children, compared to the first phase
which had focussed on the council tax rebate. The Chair added that
it would be important for the Corporate Parenting Committee to see
how many fostering enquiries had become accepted foster
carers.
Councillor Snell thanked officers for their hard work on the report
and felt that it would be difficult to increase active social media
engagement, as the majority of social media users simply scrolled
past posts. He felt that communications within Thurrock had
recently improved, for example he was receiving more regular emails
and saw more regular Facebook posts. He thanked officers for their
work on utilising digital tools, as he felt this was the direction
the world was moving in. Councillor Snell suggested that social
media posts became more targeted towards certain users, and more
entertaining to increase engagement. The Chair echoed Councillor
Snell’s comments and felt that the communications team did
lots of good work. She felt there was room for improvement in some
areas, and wished to see the good communications work that was
started during the pandemic continued. She expressed her concern
that the Civic Offices and some libraries and hubs were still not
open, and felt that this restricted vulnerable or elderly people
that could not access services online.
Councillor Kent questioned the differing social media engagement
figures quoted on page 24 of the report, and within the report
introduction, and queried which figure was correct. He also
highlighted page 5 of the report and asked what the new Statement
of Intent involved. He then highlighted the recommendation from the
Local Government Association listed on page 40 of the report,
stating that Members felt removed from the communications team, and
asked what steps were in place to improve this. Councillor Kent
also outlined page 42 of the report which stated that the time
taken to answer local media questions needed to be improved, as
only 50% of queries were answered in target time. He asked how the
strategy responded to these issues. The Strategic Lead
Communications replied that the figure on page 24 was different
from the report introduction, as the first figure discussed which
people received their information from the Council, and the second
figure related to the number of people who saw the Council’s
content. She explained that approximately 65,000 people saw
Thurrock’s post related to COVID and these included people
who did not follow Thurrock on social media, due to the number of
people sharing and commenting on the post. She added that Thurrock
also used boosted posts, which ensured Thurrock Council posts
appeared on people’s timelines even if they did not follow
the Council’s page. She moved on and stated that the team
would be introducing a monthly evaluation report for Members to
ensure they were kept up to date on the work of the communications
team. She explained that this would be uploaded to the
Council’s intranet page, but had not yet been started.
Councillor Kent queried if Members could access the intranet from
home, and the Strategic Lead Communications replied that she would
look into this.
The Strategic Lead Communications added that new internal processes
had been introduced to ensure good communication between Thurrock
Council and the local media. She mentioned that local media often
reported on Thurrock press releases and on positive news stories
from the Council. She stated that the team worked hard to answer
local media questions but some questions did not have an answer.
The Director of Strategy, Engagement and Growth added that the
Statement of Intent was a new piece of work being started that
would outline the tangible outcomes of investment and regeneration
within the borough by 2030, including new job opportunities and
upskilling. She explained that as this was a new piece of work, it
was still in the development phase but would be brought back to
Committee as part of the process. Councillor Kent expressed concern
that Members had not heard of this piece of work until the meeting.
He also queried if local media partners had been included in the
development of the strategy. The Strategic Lead Communications
replied that local media partners had been emailed inviting them to
share and take part in the survey which informed the strategy
development. The Director of Strategy, Engagement and Growth added
that as the recommendations from the Local Government Association
health check had been operational, these had not been included in
the Communications Strategy.
Councillor Kent thanked officers for their work on the report and
stated that whilst he understood the Communications Strategy needed
to work for a variety of people, on a variety of platforms, he had
hoped to see more engagement with the local media. He stated that
committee members had been contacted by one local media editor and
he had sought the views of another. Both felt that the partnership
between Thurrock Council and themselves could be improved, and a
better balance could be struck. He felt that the Communications
Strategy needed to look at local media outlets as partners, and be
given the help to grow as local businesses. The Director of
Strategy, Engagement and Growth stated that local media had an
important role to play in conveying information to local residents,
and this had been supported by independent research outlining where
residents received their news. She explained that day to day
processes relating to the local media had not been included in
the Communications Strategy, as this fell into the operational
remit of the communications team. She added that the Council and
local media outlets worked together on a daily basis, and new media
briefings would help to improve the relationship. She stated that
the Local Government Association health check had been presented in
full to the Committee, and the majority of comments had been
positive, particularly surrounding Thurrock’s COVID response.
She acknowledged that there was still some work to do, but Thurrock
worked well with local, national and trade newspapers on a regular
basis.
Councillor Muldowney queried how the impact of the strategy would
be measured. She felt that residents needed to have direct contact
with the Council, and this could only be undertaken once the Civic
Offices had been reopened. She also wished to see the monthly
evaluation report emailed directly to Members for the feedback,
rather than being posted on the intranet.
RESOLVED: That the Committee:
1. Commented on the proposed Communications Strategy 2021-24 as the
principle policy document for communication with residents,
businesses, stakeholders and staff.
Supporting documents:
- Communications Strategy 2021-24, item 9. PDF 293 KB
- Communications Strategy 2021-24 - Appendix 1, item 9. PDF 702 KB
- Communications Strategy 2021-24 - Appendix 2, item 9. PDF 969 KB