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Anger at 13k for council 'spin' lessons

9:49am Friday 30th July 2010 in


MORE than £13,000 of taxpayers’ cash has been spent on ‘spin’ media training for councillors and staff.

The four councils that serve south Buckinghamshire spent £13,047.64 on media training from consultants since 2007. All have complained of being short of cash.

TaxPayers’ Alliance spokesman Emma Boon said: “Taxpayers will be fuming that so much has been spent on media training.

“They want that money to be spent on better local services, not on spinning master-classes so they council can make itself look good.”

Buckinghamshire County Council gave firm Zamala £8,337.74, including £3,148 on one session for five people.

Its guidance includes urging staff and councillors to “look ‘normal’” and to ‘decline invitations to discuss anything that does not help your bottom line’.

It urges people to ‘do more than rephrase and reiterate your previously well-defined statement’ if asked a hypothetical question.

It urges them to be ‘pro-active’ when asked questions such as whether they should consider their own position.

It states: “Do no necessarily start from the question.” The guidance says to sit up straight and to carry a deodorant and a spare shirt or blouse.

Wycombe District Council spent £2.084.90 with two firms.

Guidance includes telling councillors not to ‘express a view that is your personal opinion as though it were the view of the council’.

Chiltern District Council paid £1,000 for one session for its cabinet. South Bucks District Council spent £1,625 for 17 staff.

County council deputy leader Councillor Bill Chapple said it helped councillors ‘carry out their roles efficiently and effectively’ and ‘manage controversial issues’.

Sue Robinson, spokesman for WDC, said: “It is appropriate that we give them the tools needed to help them communicate with the media confidently and effectively to get important messages out.”

A CDC statement said the ‘one off’ session was to give councillors ‘skills required to deal with media inquiries and interviews’.

Kate Murray, spokesman for SBDC, said the course was cheaper as the training firm came to its offices, instead of staff going on a course.

She said this ‘demonstrates our commitment to using our resources in the most cost effective way’.

Comments(12)

towncryer says...
11:05am Fri 30 Jul 10

I expect councillors to be controversial and speak out against the bad decisions that the councils make -- i elected them to represent my interests not the councils !!!
Tory councillors like Clarke, Green, Shakespeare and Chapple seem to forget this!!!

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Mutley says...
11:37am Fri 30 Jul 10

If the media wasn't so intent on misrepresenting anything anyone said, blowing things out of all proportion, sensationalising, twisting and generally making mischief, but accurately reported facts and intentions, then there wouldn't be such a need for media training.
It's like when the BBC report negatively about "media scrums" when they are just a part of it.

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Blueberry says...
1:15pm Fri 30 Jul 10

Do your sums BFP.
.
For 4 councils and 3 years, that's barely £1000 pa per council.
.
All employers should provide a certain amount of training for staff, a small investment in handling the media seems perfectly reasonable.

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yog says...
1:46pm Fri 30 Jul 10

The trouble is the Councils are treating Councillors as staff.
Two very different roles.
Councillors are the ones that used to be in charge!

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wayneo says...
6:41pm Fri 30 Jul 10

In other words, a course that teaches "how to deceive, mislead and talk ****.

Not much different from Commonpurpose then!

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hondo says...
8:45pm Fri 30 Jul 10

What else can I say but ....... that appears to be £13,000 poured down the drain.
Perhaps if councils were more honest and open, e.g. obeyed the law on freedom of information, and told the truth, there would be no need for such training.

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The Judge says...
11:49pm Fri 30 Jul 10

THIS COUNCIL IS BECOMING SYNONYMOUS WITH WASTAGE.
WHAT ABOUT ICE-BANK?
£MILLIONS SQUANDERED IN SPECULATIVE NIEVE GAMBLES INTENDED TO JUMP ON THE INTEREST 'BUBBLE'
THE JUDGE BELIVES THAT THIS COURSE IS INTENDED TO ASSIST IN DIFFUSING SIMILAR SCANDALS.
WHEN ARE THOSE RESPONSIBLE GOINT TO OWN UP AND RESIGN.
THE JUDGE WILL NOT REST UNTIL THOSE RESPONSIBLE OWN UP LIKE REAL MEN (OR WOMEN) AND ADMIT THEY WERE ILL-JUDGED IN GAMBLING WITH OUR MONEY LIKE SOME KIDS LET LOOSE WITH THE KEYS TO THE SWEEI SHOP.
TOTALLY UNPROFESSIONAL AND DESPITE CAMERONS 'BIG SOCIETY' THIS IS A PRIME EXAMPLE WHY WE MUST RESIST THESE IMMATURE RANTINGS OF THESE TORIES.
TO ALLOW DECISIONS WHERE £MILLIONS ARE GAMBLED FOR A QUICK BUCK MUST BE COUNTERED AND RESISTED AS DANGEROUS.
LETS START SACKING THOSE RESPONSIBLE FORTHWITH TO SAVE MONEY.
JUDGE

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andy_x says...
8:26am Sat 31 Jul 10

Isn't it time to understand what quality costs. At this time of austerity we should be concentrating on value rather than how much something costs. £13k is peanuts on the scale of the budget (and the deficit the UK is facing). Good on Hondo for saying that every organisation should invest in talent. As for CAPS LOCK stuck Judge's view, have you ever run a business ... which I expect my local authorities to be run as? This amount of money probably pails into insignificance if you look at the amount of money that is 'burned' every time a resident does something uncitizenly, such as commit a crime, claim a little extra housing benefit rather than trying harder to find a job or issue FOI requests asking how much resource is wasted on unnecessary FOI requests. Let's get real and move away from these Daily Mail-esq, low level stories and look at some bigger local issues.

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wayneo says...
8:46am Sat 31 Jul 10

What bigger stories do you have in mind then Andy-x? Do you not think it in the public interest as to how and where our money is spent? A Council is NOT a business, in fact if it were, they would be broke within months, when little 'Daily Mail' 'stories' such as these are reported it informs the Council, its members and 'Officeworkers that they are being watched, monitored and challenged, for that reason 'stories' such as these are important.

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andy_x says...
9:11am Sat 31 Jul 10

Its £13k over 3 years! That doesn't pay the pension contribution of one under performing employee! If they were businesses they'd be in much better shape as they would be driven to be much more efficient.

My argument is not about visibility and accountability, its about scale, proportion and value. What about a report on how many private sector organisations will actively manage out 1-3% of their staff per annum for underperformance to well defined criteria, but local and national government departments barely manage out 0.1%. Lets see now, £240m Buck CC expenditure, 40% or so is staff costs, on that benchmark something like £2M goes on the salaries of people a business would not keep. Now that is a story, and I just made it up based on simple benchmarks. £13k stories like this are distracting us from the bigger stories. Heavens bless DM readership!

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wayneo says...
1:46pm Sat 31 Jul 10

Personally Andy,I think there's a place for all of these stories and besides, I think the story carries less weight regarding the money with the enthasis being on the training; the fact that the Council are spending any monies on such training should be cause for concern, all we want is honesty from these people, instead they are being taught how not to embarass the Council. As for them being mere Daily Mail lowlevel stories, I guess that's why so many people read the DM compared to the Guardian (a paper that benefits a great deal from advertising from Councils and Government. .

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hondo says...
5:56pm Sat 31 Jul 10

Mutley wrote:
If the media wasn't so intent on misrepresenting anything anyone said, blowing things out of all proportion, sensationalising, twisting and generally making mischief, but accurately reported facts and intentions, then there wouldn't be such a need for media training. It's like when the BBC report negatively about "media scrums" when they are just a part of it.
A bit harsh to blame the media. I repeat, if councils were as transparent as we expect them to be, perhaps there wouldn't be mis-conceptions all round. Liars should have good memories.
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We rely on the local media to keep us informed, trivial as it may be at times, so to accuse them of being economic with the truth is regrettable.
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Perhaps the councils and the media should come to some agreement e.g. "you show me yours, and I won't exaggerate mine", then we, the public, may come close to being better informed.
.
It shouldn't be a competition, in which case such "courses" need not be necessary.

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