Local Audit and Accountability Bill [HL]

Written evidence from the National Union of Journalists (LAA 07)

Local Audit and Accountability Bill

1. As the union representing PR professionals in local government and elsewhere in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors, the NUJ stands for high-quality public relations to inform the public in an objective, unbiased way.

2. The NUJ believes that PR journalism is bona fide journalism and press and information officer members working in this sector are bound by the same code of conduct as all other NUJ members, alongside further specific, ethical guidelines designed to ensure the highest possible levels of professional integrity in their work.

3. PR officers in local government act on behalf of the authority they represent and not the political party. Their job is to promote the democratically-agreed decisions of the authority and defend its reputation when unjustifiably attacked. In local government we support our members who resist pressure to act in a politicised way on behalf of their employers, because to do so is unprofessional (as in our ethical guidelines). In this we find common ground with elements of the proposals in the bill.

4. The NUJ ethical guide says: "Members working in local and national government shall maintain professional political neutrality at work, unless their conditions of employment specifically allow otherwise," and: "They have a duty to ensure that their employers or clients acknowledge that goodwill and reputation are based on trust, and that effective public relations practice depends on enhancing the organisation’s reputation by truthful means and by ensuring that information disseminated is accurate and fair."

5. NUJ members enjoy the union’s immediate backing should they decline to carry out unethical instructions.

6. There is no evidence that extra statutory powers are required to strengthen the code of practice, as any council which fails to meet its obligation to be balanced and uses publications as political platforms already face sanctions. The NUJ disagrees the extra provisions are necessary. However, if they were enacted it is crucial that there should be a route of appeal. It is a principle of natural justice that there should be a right of appeal and this is absent from the proposals.

7. The NUJ has no difficulty with additional guidance being issued to local authorities and councils. However, the new publicity code "includes specific guidance about the frequency, content and appearance of local authority newspapers, including recommending that principal local authorities limit the publication of any newspaper to once a quarter and parish and town councils limit their newsletters etc. to once a month".

8. We do not believe that this element of guidance reflects the needs of many communities, nor the practicalities of providing prompt, accurate advice and information to communities. For example, in areas where there are no, or limited local newspapers, then sharing planning details, service changes and details of consultations on a quarterly basis is insufficient.

9. Where complaints are brought to the attention of the secretary of state/minister, they should be referred to the appropriate body for investigating improper use of council funds for political aims, as currently. This would save the government from the expense of enacting fresh legislation. With the government’s commitment to ‘localism’, logically the matter should be left in the hands of the electors.

10. The response of the UK’s large newspaper groups to the financial crisis has been to attempt to shore up profit margins by reducing overheads, generally through a combination of redundancies amongst editorial staff and the practice of ‘hubbing’, producing a number of local titles from one centre, often covering a number of counties.

11. In the past decade, 20 per cent of the UK’s local newspapers have closed, with only 70 new launches. According to the Newspaper Society (NS), there are 1,045 local and regional newspapers; but in March 2011 the NS reported 1,195 titles.

12. The NUJ believes that the Localism Act 2011 should be amended to give local papers protected status as community assets. This would prevent newspaper titles closing overnight and give potential new owners, including local co-operatives, the time to put together a bid for the paper.

13. In Leeds a quarterly council publication shares a printing press with its local paper the Barnsley Chronicle and shares costs with the NHS which uses them for health campaigning communications. There is more scope for collaboration of this sort between local and council publications.

14. The last select committee charged with investigating the matter, observed that there was no evidence of a link between high-frequency local authority publications and the decline of ad revenue, circulation etc of the local press in the local authority catchment area. It is important, therefore, that these proposals do not use this notion as a reason to attack the right of councils to decide on the best way to communicate with their citizens. Councils should be able to publicise their work and use a variety of communication channels as long as they are clearly marked as council publications.

15. We believe that rather than an amended code designed to further restrict the ability of local authority publications to inform residents, the consultation should investigate ways in which the Local Government Act 2000 and 2003 be amended to remove barriers on local authorities participating in independent companies on the understanding that such companies would promote or improve the economic or social well-being of their areas and that the companies would be subject to agreements which would guarantee editorial and political independence, as well as decent pay and conditions for staff.

16. The NUJ supports amendment 18A* to clause 35 which would have the

effect of making external auditors of local government subject to the Freedom of

Information Act 2000.

  November 2013