To consider progress against the 2022/23 actions within the Communication Strategy Action Plan.

49.1           The report of the Communications and Customer Experience Manager, circulated at Pages No. 103-122, provided an update on progress against the 2022/23 actions within the Communication Strategy Action Plan.  Members were asked to consider the report.

49.2           The Associate Director: Transformation advised that the current Communication Strategy was launched in 2020 and this was its final year, as such, new targets had not been included in this report as they would form part of the new strategy due to come forward in the early part of next year.  During the last year, the Communications Team had supported major Council projects including the Garden Town programme, promoted cost of living support, delivered timely communications on adverse weather emergencies as well as continuing to deliver day to day internal and external communications work.  Pages No. 104-105, Paragraph 2.2. of the report highlighted key actions which had been completed in 2022 such as improving social media campaigns, supporting the launch of the new corporate website, delivering media training for Members and Chief Officers, introducing Alistair’s Update – a bi-weekly video update from the Chief Executive to staff - a range of work by the Council’s graphic designer and ensuring that communication campaigns were accessible, engaging and professional.   Of the 21 actions, four had not been achieved and these were set out at Page No. 105, Paragraph 2.3 of the report; these actions would be transferred to the 2024 action plan that would accompany the new Communications Strategy.  The new strategy would be aligned to the new Council Plan and the Council’s ambition to become a high performing organisation.  The actions would be aimed at raising and protecting the Council’s reputation and, personally, she would like to think about how the strategy could be delivered in a live way to ensure it was not a static document which remained for three years.

49.3           The Chair expressed the view that the Council’s communications were fantastic; however, there had been things the team was unable to achieve and he asked whether the action plan was reflective of the resources available to deliver it and what had been learnt from this strategy to put into the next one.  The Associate Director: Transformation advised that the team was technically larger than it had ever been with there soon to be two full-time Communication Officers, nevertheless, demand on the team was significant and, going forward, it was intended to align the communication priorities with those of the Council – the team could easily be swamped with ad hoc requests, for instance, the need to promote an event which was not known about, and it may be necessary for the Communications and Customer Experience Manager to push back on occasions where the information was not provided in a timely or helpful manner.  The Communications and Customer Experience Manager commented that the team would soon be fully resourced so he was confident they would be in a position to make real progress.

49.4           A Member noted that one of the actions that had not been achieved was in relation to the promotion of Council achievements and she asked whether that would be addressed when the new member of staff came on board.  The Associate Director: Transformation confirmed that would be the case and provided assurance this action was in relation to promoting achievements in local government and service-specific publications which was not the same as reaching out to local media and promotion on social media; this action required a one to one relationship to be built with the publication. 

49.5           A Member queried the diversity of the Citizens’ Panel and the Associate Director: Transformation indicated that this question had been raised about a year ago so she undertook to recirculate that response.  The Member noted that communication with Parish Councils had not been as good as it could have been and she asked how that was being improved.  In response, the Associate Director: Transformation advised that the regular Town and Parish Council newsletter, ‘Parish Matters’, had stopped during the pandemic creating a gap in the Council’s ability to fulfil its duty to communicate with Town and Parish Councils; the newsletter had now been reintroduced and Officers were committed to sticking to its production.  The governance arrangements for the Garden Town meant that Town and Parish Councils were involved and engaged and it was intended that practice would be repeated with other key pieces of work such as the Strategic and Local Plan (SLP).  A Member indicated that she produced a monthly Borough Councillor report for her Parish Council which set out in general terms what had been done over the last four weeks; however, she was not always aware of what the Parish Council issues were and asked if there was any way of knowing what issues they had raised with the Borough Council so she could ensure they were addressed.  In response, the Associate Director: Transformation indicated that would not be straightforward as these would not be in a central place within the authority.  The Community Development team was best placed to know what was happening within communities.  The Chair indicated that the wider issue appeared to be around effective engagement between the work of Tewkesbury Borough Council, Borough Councillors and their Parishes and he had noted that the current Communication Strategy, as attached at Appendix 1 to the report, was generally around how the Council would broadcast, as opposed to how it would listen. One of the frequent complaints from stakeholders was that the Council did not listen or engage successfully and he would like to see this addressed in the new strategy.  The Associate Director: Transformation agreed but indicated that having a small team meant there was a need to prioritise and the team was not currently a Communications and Engagement team with engagement sitting within the individual services.  This was being reviewed via the Garden Town programme to an extent and a request for funding for consultation software had been submitted which would further assist.  There were a number of other tools to help with engagement, for instance, social listening enabled technology to understand what discussions were taking place about the Council and AI may have a further role in terms of making suggestions as to what could be done differently to change perceptions; however, she was clear that this was not currently available and had not been the focus of the team.  A brief discussion ensued as to whether it would be beneficial to have a Member Working Group on the new Communications Strategy but was agreed that an Overview and Scrutiny Committee workshop would be more appropriate to be held before the end of the financial year.

49.6           It was

RESOLVED          That progress against the 2022/23 actions within the Communication Strategy Action Plan be NOTED.