Agenda and minutes

Scrutiny and Media Relations Task and Finish Group, Overview and Scrutiny Management Board - Tuesday 15 March 2011 10.00 am, NEW

Venue: Council House (next to the Civic Centre)

Contact: Mr Ross Jago, Democratic Support Officer  Email: ross.jago@plymouth.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

104.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Members will be asked to make any declarations of interest in respect of items on this agenda.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest in accordance with the code of conduct.

105.

CHAIR'S URGENT BUSINESS

To receive reports on business which, in the opinion of the Chair, should be brought forward for urgent consideration.

Minutes:

There were no items of Chair’s urgent business.

106.

EVIDENCE FROM WITNESSES

The Task and Finish Group will hear evidence from:

 

  • The Herald,
  • BBC Plymouth,
  • A Plymouth based Blogger and Tweeter,
  • Plymouth City Council Corporate Communications,
  • Former member of the UK Youth Parliament,
  • Plymouth City Council Scrutiny Lead Officer.

Minutes:

The Chair requested that each witness introduced themselves and gave evidence in turn following introductory remarks from the lead scrutiny officer.

 

The lead scrutiny officer reported on the work that scrutiny undertook and its place within the democratic process. It was reported that there had been good coverage of a number of issues that had been considered within the scrutiny function. However this did not reflect the large number of meetings that took place and the large amount of resource required. It was the purpose of the task and finish group to receive information from the witnesses in order to formulate realistic recommendations which could be implemented to develop the scrutiny function’s relationship with the media.

 

Witnesses were invited to make comments on what communication from the scrutiny function had been successful, what had not been successful and how the scrutiny function could improve its relationship with the media and the general public at large.

 

The Panel heard from the following witnesses –

 

  • Giles Perritt, Plymouth City Council, Lead Scrutiny Officer;
  • Keith Rossiter, The Herald, Political Reporter;
  • Emma Clements, BBC Radio Devon, News Editor;
  • Ash Mashhadi, www.inplymouth.com, Social Media Entrepreneur;
  • Kate Taylor, former member of the UK Youth Parliament;
  • Richard Longford, Plymouth City Council, Head of Corporate Communications.

 

In response to the Chair’s request, witnesses made the following comments –

 

  1. reports presented at scrutiny were often very difficult to read and lacked plain english. The planning department, when providing reports for committee, authored summary documents which allowed relevant information to be highlighted and negated the need to trawl through large documents to determine whether or not the issues would be of interest to the public;

 
  1. there was more interest in “member led” scrutiny; the issues raised by councillors often resulted in a large amount of public interest when compared to the “statutory” scrutiny work;

 
  1. there was an appetite in the media, particularly within radio, for councillors to be interviewed live on air. It was remarked that if a councillor was able to be interviewed in the early part of the day the issue had a better chance of being revisited throughout the day’s programming and news bulletins;

 
  1. the BBC would not use edited clips of recorded council meetings as this would break their editorial guidelines;

 
  1. interviewing councillors before meetings took place would allow for issues to be followed over the course of the week;

 
  1. there was an appetite for engagement from the social media and online community in Plymouth. It was reported that there were conversations online regarding the council and by not engaging online there was a chance that the council was losing its voice;

 
  1. social media provided access to activists based in communities across the city who were literate and active within their communities. Social media was an inexpensive way for the council to engage in the community and did not have to be burdensome in terms of the time required to use social media tools;

 
  1. social media and social networking was the “language  ...  view the full minutes text for item 106.

107.

RECOMMENDATIONS

To receive and consider recommendations from panels, Cabinet or Council.

Minutes:

The task and finish group thanked the witnesses for their attendance and valuable contributions.

 

Agreed that –

 

(1)   media training would be made available to the Chairs and Vice Chairs of scrutiny committees after appointment as part of their development;

 

(2)   that an information event on social media and social networking would be organised to advise councillors on how to best use online social media tools and to clarify the city council’s social media policy;

 

(3)   executive summaries should be made available to the press using planning reports as best practice;

 

(4)   scrutiny reports should be written in plain english with guidance made available to report authors. Councillors and those attending scrutiny meetings should be encouraged to flag any difficulties with reports and the author would be informed;

 

(5)   if scrutiny chairs and vice chairs engage with the media before planned panel meetings, guidance provided through media training should be followed;

 

(6)   officers should be reminded of their obligation to advise councillors of decisions affecting their wards;

 

(7)   the current communications protocol regarding scrutiny communications should remain.

 

108.

EXEMPT BUSINESS

To consider passing a resolution under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the press and public from the meeting for the following item(s) of business on the grounds that it (they) involve(s) the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph(s) of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, as amended by the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Minutes:

There were no items of exempt business.