Increasing pressure from central government has meant
communications has arguably never been higher on the average council
CEO's agenda. Last year's Local Government Act highlighted the need for
improved public consultation.
Also, the 'e-government agenda' requires that by 2005 all residents
should be able to carry out electronic business with councils.
Research has shown that while the commitment at the top level is there,
adequate funding is not universal.
A recent Local Government Association survey (PRWeek, 10 August) showed
that it is only in the London and metropolitan boroughs and county
councils where it is felt that commitment to PR is being backed up with
adequate funding.
E-government is far from on course. The Society of Information
Technology Management has found just one council, Tameside, capable of
achieving its highest grade.(PRWeek, 9 March).
Calls for extra help have not gone unheeded. The Department of
Transport, Local Government and the Regions aims to produce a toolkit to
help PROs in greatest need cope with the extra pressures.
So far Mori, which is carrying out research for the toolkit, has found
no correlation between team size and effectiveness, offering a warning
to chief executives who see more PROs as the best use of modest
funds.
MYRA BENSON, BIRMINGHAM CITY COUNCIL
Birmingham City Council is a £3bn business, serving one million
citizens with 48,000 employees.
Day-to-day work includes production of regular publications such as the
council's fortnightly 400,000 print-run newspaper, and a monthly staff
magazine.
'We also logged around 7,000 media enquiries, sent out 1,500 proactive
press releases and generated around £380,000 of income and
sponsorship,' says head of communications and customer relations Myra
Benson.
'Campaigns in the past year have included the bid to bring the National
Stadium to Birmingham, publicising the Eastside regeneration initiative,
promotion of the consultative ballot on an elected mayor, raising
education targets and a major campaign on fostering and adoption,' she
adds.
The coming year will see a number of new campaigns, starting in the new
year with Making More of the City - a hearts and minds campaign to
celebrate the city's redevelopment while easing the frustration of the
necessary building and roadworks.
SIOBHAN CROZIER, TOWER HAMLETS BOROUGH COUNCIL
During the past year the communications function at Tower Hamlets has
undergone an intensive review and, as a result, a complete overhaul.
One of the results of this was the appointment of communications
director Siobhan Crozier in July of this year.
Within its boundaries Tower Hamlets is an area of extremes - great
wealth is mirrored by intense poverty - and the in-house team has to
deal with many audiences.
'The Canary Wharf development lies within the borough as does 40 per
cent of London's current commercial development,' she says. 'There's
also Brick Lane and the new Mile End Millennium Park, all of which shows
why from a communications perspective, Tower Hamlets needs to wear many
different hats.
'Because of the economic extremes that sit side-by-side here I think
that one of our biggest challenges is to develop ways to help spread
wealth throughout the borough.'
TONY MILLER, BRIGHTON AND HOVE CITY COUNCIL
For the in-house team at Brighton and Hove the biggest single
achievement of the year was undoubtedly the securing of city status.
However, if an outsider assumed that Tony Miller - the council's head of
communications - and his team would have worked on little else they
would have been totally mistaken. The past 12 months have also seen the
team embark on campaigns to promote environmental sustainability and
community diversity, a redesign of the council website, a mayoral
referendum, a royal visit and the Labour Party conference being held
amid heightened security.
The year ahead promises to be equally as challenging, as Miller
explains: 'We're really making use of the possibilities offered by new
media to develop new ways for local residents and visitors to access the
council and its services. Existing work that we've done in this field
has proved invaluable in helping us use communications to do more than
just inform and consult.
'Next year we're also getting involved in developing a new visual
identity, improving staff communications and the promotion of the refuse
and street cleaning contract that has just returned to council control
from the private sector,' he adds.
TOP 10 LONDON BOROUGH COUNCILS
Rank Council PR Population Population
head- per PR
count person
1 Corporation of London* 19 5,430 286
2 London Borough of Tower Hamlets 15 179,834 11,989
3 Westminster City Council 13 230,000 17,692
4 London Borough of Lewisham 13 242,500 18,654
5 London Borough of Greenwich 11 218,700 19,882
6 London Borough of Islington 9 174,500 19,389
7 London Borough of Southwark 9 235,000 26,111
8 London Borough of Brent 9 247,600 27,511
9 London Borough of Ealing 9 302,000 33,556
10 London Borough of Camden 8 192,000 24,000
*Includes the sparsely-populated City of London, which generates
disproportionate media interest.
TOP 10 METROPOLITAN DISTRICT COUNCILS
Rank Council PR Population Population
head- per PR
count person
1 Birmingham City Council 12 937,763 78,147
2 Sunderland City Council 10 292,300 29,230
3 Coventry City Council 10 304,400 30,440
4 Kirklees Metropolitan Council 10 390,868 39,087
5 Sheffield City Council 9 528,500 58,722
6 Newcastle City Council 8 273,300 34,163
7 Liverpool City Council 8 468,000 58,500
8 North Tyneside Metropol Boro Counc 6 193,600 32,267
9 Tameside Metropol Boro Council 6 221,000 36,833
10 Salford City Council 6 227,793 37,966
TOP 10 ENGLISH UNITARY AUTHORITIES
Rank Council PR Population Population
head- per PR
count person
1 Brighton and Hove Council 11.5 248,946 21,647
2 Southampton City Council 7 213,273 30,468
3 Leicester City Council 7 295,700 42,243
4 Bristol City Council 7 400,700 57,243
5 Isle of Wight Council 6 128,231 21,372
6 Portsmouth City Council 6 190,400 31,733
7 Milton Keynes Council 6 200,000 33,333
8 Derby City Council 6 235,826 39,304
9 East Riding of Yorkshire Council 6 312,800 52,133
10 Thurrock Borough Council 5.5 134,806 24,510
The tables rank London boroughs councils, metropolitan district councils
and English unitary authoritires by the number of staff working in their
PR/comms teams. This does not include anyone working in design, direct
marketing or advertising. Where they tie, councils are ranked by the
ratio between PROs and population.
