Directorate of Public Affairs - thematic performance report

Report: 6
Date: 4 February 2010
By: Director of Public Affairs on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

The report gives an overview of the Directorate of Public Affairs performance against its headline measures and targets and describes how it is contributing to the new MPS single performance measure of confidence.

A. Recommendation

Members are requested to note the report.

B. Supporting information

1. The DPA is responsible for providing professional communication services to support the MPS. We do this by raising awareness and understanding about the MPS, promoting corporate objectives and achievements and providing a comprehensive 24 hour media service.

2. The MPS confidence model outlines the key drivers of engagement, fair treatment, effectiveness and alleviating local anti-social behaviour but places communication at the core of driving confidence. Therefore the DPA has an important contribution to make to the organisation’s delivery against this single performance measure.

3. The Directorate has a number of core activities that contribute to the delivery of confidence. They are divided into the following categories:

• News, media management and corporate communication: 50 staff
• Internal communication: 5 staff
• E-communication: 3 staff
• Marketing/ publicity: 6 staff

They are supported by 10 administrative staff.

4. The organisation also has staff undertaking communication activities working directly to boroughs and other business groups. These are not DPA staff, however, we work closely with them to ensure that standards are maintained. They also work closely with their local authority counterparts in promoting their local crime and disorder partnerships. The DPA also has regular co-ordination meetings with the external agency retained by PSD to advise on communication aspects of the estates strategy.

5 We have a training programme for DPA staff which includes legal training, press release writing, managing press conferences and an annual major incident training exercise where our emergency planning is tested and our contingency plans reviewed. We have also entered into a partnership with the Public Relations Consultants Association in order to access their training programme at reduced cost. These courses can lead to industry recognised qualifications.

6. The DPA supports (B)OCU press liaison staff by providing them with advice, training and development opportunities and by inviting them to an annual communications summit which highlights key issues.

7. The DPA has also played a key role in supporting TP in the development of content and presentation of ward level Safer Neighbourhoods newsletters.

8. The DPA regularly works in partnership with other agencies and police forces, to communicate joint policing initiatives, including public order events and demonstrations. These agencies include the Home Office, GLA, TfL, British Transport Police and the City of London Police. We also work with ACPO to deliver their annual National Counter Terrorism advertising campaign

Headline measures

9. The table below shows our range of headline measures and our performance against the targets. According to the MPS confidence model, keeping Londoners informed, as part of engagement, is a key driver of confidence. Therefore this performance measure, and the activity that delivers it, is a direct contributor to the single confidence measure.

10. Public Attitude Survey (PAS) results
The result of question 133 of the PAS is reported quarterly to MPS Performance Board and the MPA. The results of the previous five quarters are as follows:

• Q2 (Jul-Sept08) 74% well informed
• Q3 (Oct-Dec08) 79% well informed
• Q4 (Jan-Mar 09) 71% well informed
• Q1 (Apr-Jun09) 73% well informed
• Q2 (Jul-Sept 09) 79% well informed
• Financial Year 09/10 76% well informed
• Annual 08/09 75% well informed

11. Each quarter the DPA analyses the results at a borough level to identify increases or reductions in levels of feeling informed. These boroughs are then built into the programme of visits to boroughs to identify any need for additional support or action. The DPA then works with the BOCU press liaison officers to identify potential corrective action or examples of good practice.

12. Safer Neighbourhoods Newsletters have also been proven to be a key contributor to the confidence model. The DPA has supported TP in the development of this initiative by providing advice on the content of the newsletters, assisting with training sessions for authors, and quality assuring completed newsletters. In the past year DPA staff have reviewed over 1000 individual ward level newsletters.

13. Staff Survey results
The results of the MPS Staff Survey regarding the statement ‘I am kept informed of developments’ are as follows:

• 2008/09 Q3 & Q4 result 55%
• 2009/10 Q1 & Q2 result 54%

14. A new question is being added to the survey to measure awareness and understanding of the Commissioner’s 5 P’s.

15. The 5 P’s Communication strategy has included:

• News items on the intranet
• Commissioner’s all-staff briefings
• Video message by the Commissioner
• Articles in The Job (each edition since March 2009)
• A series of posters focusing on each P
• An intranet section to bring together reference information about the priorities and Ps.
• Regular use of the monthly cascade briefing, Key Brief

Individual communication plans have also been created to support each of the strands.

16. The DPA has also produced its own directorate action plan which outlines how we will incorporate the 5Ps into the day to day running of the directorate.

17. Advertising tracking
DPA advertising campaigns support the policing priorities and each campaign's effectiveness is measured through independent research. This shows that DPA publicity campaigns have a positive effect on the public's confidence in the MPS's ability to deal with the issue being advertised.

18. This year, as part of Operation Blunt, we developed an interactive film 'A different ending' to engage successfully with young people and educate them about the far reaching consequences of carrying a knife. Some 78% of respondents recalled seeing or hearing at least one element of the campaign. The film had over 2.1 million video views and 257,000 unique users.

19. This campaign has won the Public Relations Consultants Association ‘Campaign of the Year’ and ‘Public Sector campaign’ awards’. Last year’s campaign to promote the single non-emergency number has been short listed for Chartered Institute of Marketing Awards.

20. The DPA re-launched Operation Bumblebee to support the MPS's operational response to tackling burglary in London. A pan-London advertising campaign raising awareness of the issue and offering advice to the public on how to secure their property and homes was launched to support operational activity.

21. Working together with the Trident OCU and IAG we have successfully engaged young African/African-Caribbean women and the wider African/African- Caribbean community to raise awareness of the increasing number of young women carrying and hiding guns on the behalf of others. Evaluation shows 58% of respondents recalling at least one element of the campaign and good levels of understanding of the key messages. The website linked to this campaign won an Association of Police Public Relations Officers award.

22. The 2008/09 CT publicity campaign generated an increase in calls to the Anti-terrorist hotline (ATH) by 321% and feedback from S015 also showed an increase in the quality of calls.

Key Performance Indicators/ monitoring performance locally – with targets where applicable

23. In addition to the indicative headline measures, the DPA also monitors it performance against a number of quantitive measures.

Budget and efficiency savings

24. The DPA budget for 2009/10 is £5.82 million compared with £6.87 million in 2000/01 – a real terms reduction of about 30%.

25. In 2007 the MPA conducted a scrutiny of MPS media and communication. The scrutiny recommended a realignment of expenditure to improve our capability particularly in social media developments, media monitoring and minority media. It also cautioned against any further budget reductions.

26. However, the DPA has identified efficiency savings totaling £376,000 for the financial years 2010-2013.

27. The introduction of the public confidence target requires the MPS to refresh and broaden its communication strategy, especially with the Olympics in 2012. Consequently an additional £1 million for confidence and community engagement is included in the 2010-13 draft Budget and Business Plan.

28. Counter-Terrorism (CT) Funding
During 2009/10 the DPA has been successful in securing additional counter-terrorism funding to offset the MPS costs of 5 posts currently engaged in CT communication activity.

29. In addition £500,000 has also been secured to run a pan London CT advertising campaign as part of the national ACPO CT advertising campaign.

Continuous improvement

30. After every significant media issue facing the organisation, the DPA carries out a review and full de-brief of performance as a matter of course. This ensures that we identify and respond to key learnings, ensuring that they are built into future plans.

31. We also review tracking research following advertising campaigns to ensure that learnings from previous campaigns are built into future strategies.

Challenges

32. The digital landscape is changing quickly with social media opportunities widely available. This presents a challenge for the DPA, to ensure that staff skills and experience are up to date. It also presents a wider challenge for the organisation as a whole. There are also reputational risks to the organisation if staff engagement with these opportunities is not carefully managed.

33. As for the rest of the organisation, the Olympics presents a huge challenge for the DPA. An initial communication team funded by the Olympic Security Directorate is already putting a strategy and delivery mechanisms in place. This team will grow over the next two years as we approach the Olympics.

Risks

34. Although an additional £1m has been identified for the next financial year, given the current economic climate, further savings may be required in the future. If this is the case, it is likely that staff posts will be lost, thus reducing our ability to deliver high quality communication advice and support.

35. Some boroughs are considering reducing or removing borough communicator posts in their draft 2010/11 budget and business plans, or are covering this function with police officers. This is likely to have an impact on the level of local communication advice and may also place additional pressure on DPA staff.

C. Race and equality impact

1. Race and diversity issues are a key consideration in any communication activity and the DPA is skilled at identifying key target audiences and ensuring that our communication approach reaches that audience in the most targeted, appropriate way.

2. An example of this is the recent Trident advertising campaign where we sought to engage with African/African-Caribbean women. These principles underpin our approach to all communication.

3. We also provide strategic and tactical communication support to the Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate and sit on the Diversity Board. Most recently we supported colleagues launch the new Diversity and Equality Strategy.

4. Through the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, we have also contributed to industry efforts to increase BME representation of staff working in communications roles generally.

D. Financial implications

1. All costs associated with the activities outlined above are covered within DPA existing budget.

2. The DPA 2009/10 budget and 2010-13 draft budget proposals can be summarised as follows:

E. Legal implications

1. This is a performance monitoring report therefore there are no direct legal implications arising from this report.

F. Environmental implications

None given.

G. Background papers

• DPA Business Group Business Plan 2009/10
• MPA scrutiny of MPS media and communications - April 2007

H. Contact details

Report author: Stephanie Day, Assistant Director, Directorate of Public Affairs, MPS.

For information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

Send an e-mail linking to this page

Feedback