---

Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity

My Lords, today we are considering the draft Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity, which is largely a simplification and re-presentation of the codes which are currently in place. It is a simplification in that if the draft is approved by this House, it will replace in a single code the two documents that currently apply to different tiers of local government in England. One such document, which was issued in 1988, applies to parish councils and suchlike bodies. The other such document is a code which is identical but includes revisions made in 2001. This latter document applies to principal councils—that is, to unitary, county and district councils, and to London boroughs. The draft code is also a significant re-presentation, since a matter which is in the current documents is now grouped around seven principles. These principles are not new, but the draft code improves their presentation and clarifies them. I shall say more on this later. Finally, the draft code also makes two changes of substance. The first of these is designed to fulfil a mandate from the general election manifestos of both the Liberal Democrat and the Conservative parties—now a coalition commitment— "““to impose tougher rules to stop unfair competition by local authority newspapers””." The second change seeks to toughen up the rules on the use of lobbyists by local authorities. Before saying more about the detail, I would like to say something about the nature of the publicity code and the processes that have been followed in drawing up the draft before the House today. In 1986 the Government enacted legislation, the Local Government Act 1986. That legislation tackled the whole question of local authority publicity. It provided for a code of recommended practice on publicity and required local authorities to have regard to such a code. The code is therefore a statutory document, so councils are obliged to consider it when taking decisions about their publicity. It is a code, though, not regulations or an order, so it does not contain binding requirements. There is an obligation to have regard to it. This means that if a council is not to be challenged successfully in the courts or by its auditor for any departure from the code, there must be reasoned and rational grounds supporting such a departure. That is the nature of the rules on local authority publicity that have been in place since the 1986 Act. The Merits Committee has questioned just how effective such rules, based in a statutory code, can be. The evidence is that over the years successive Governments have seen these rules as appropriate and effective. There is no reason why this should be different in future with the latest revisions. Underpinning the 1986 legislation and the codes made under it, including the revisions made in 2001, is the firm belief that good, effective communication between a local authority and its communities is key to developing the understanding necessary for a healthy local democracy. Local authorities should use local publicity, not just to keep their communities informed of the services that they provide but to encourage greater civic participation. Councils up and down the country do this and it is right that they should. However, publicity can be a sensitive matter because of the costs associated with it and the impact that it can have. That is why it is essential that decisions about local authority publicity are properly made. The purpose of the publicity code is to ensure that this will be the case. At the end of last September we launched our consultation on proposed revisions to the publicity code. The consultation ended on 10 November. We received over 350 responses, all of which were carefully considered before finalising the text of the draft. At the end of last year the Communities and Local Government Committee held an inquiry into our proposals to revise the publicity code. That committee concluded that it was right to have a code to regulate the production of local authority publicity and went on to make a number of recommendations. We carefully considered the Select Committee’s conclusions and recommendations before laying the draft code before Parliament on 11 February. In parallel with that, we also published the Government’s response to both the consultation and the Select Committee’s report. I turn to the draft code. Its content, as I have said, is grouped around seven principles. These are that local authority publicity is to be lawful, cost-effective, objective, even-handed and appropriate, is to have regard to equality and diversity and is to be issued with care during periods of heightened sensitivity—that is, during periods before elections or referendums. In addition there are, as I made clear earlier, two substantive changes. The first is that there is now specific reference to the maximum frequency, content and appearance of local authority newsletters, news sheets or similar publications. That is to address the problem of unfair competition by taxpayer-funded local authority newspapers. Such competition can have a detrimental effect on commercial local newspapers. Local authority publicity is important but the freedom of the press is also important in providing information to the public to hold their local authority to account. It is equally important that the readers of a newspaper can readily tell whether what they are reading is part of the independent press or a publication by the council about the council and setting out the council’s message. In its report the Merits Committee has echoed the views of the Select Committee, which suggested that the evidence of this unfair competition is slight, and has questioned why the draft code should specify a maximum frequency for publication. The Government’s position is that there is a good case for action to be taken and that the action achieved through the draft code is right. There have been consistent representations from those who should know—the newspaper industry itself—that there is an issue with certain local authority newspapers creating unfair competition. That matters. An independent press holding councils to account is an essential element of any effective local democracy. If the freedom of the press is or feels threatened, then that is not something about which we should simply agree to look at in the long term, to seek more statistical evidence about or to review in the light of further experience. It is something on which we should act now, in support of genuine localism. The fact that the action that we are taking chimes with the practice of the great majority of councils already should give confidence that what we are doing is right. The Local Government Association’s research shows that the great majority of local authorities publish newsletters quarterly or less frequently. As a result of the consultation, the draft code suggests that parish councils can have monthly newsletters and other such publications, reflecting that in a parish such communication is often part of local community life and does not cut across the local independent press in any way. What the draft code underscores is already the practice of the majority of councils, but not all. The second substantive change is about the use of lobbyists by local authorities. Under the draft code, local authorities should not retain lobbyists with the intention of publishing any material designed to influence public officials, Members of Parliament, political parties or the Government to take a particular view on any issue. The reason is that it is a waste of public money for local authorities to hire political lobbyists to contact Ministers and Members of this House. If a council wants to make a point to a Minister or its Member of Parliament, then all it needs to do is address them directly. A code of publicity, with these two changes, and the streamlined and clarified presentation of the draft before us will be of benefit to councils, local taxpayers and communities across the country in ensuring that councils promote themselves in a fair and uncompetitive way. It will stop waste and unnecessary spending, and will bring about consistency between authorities in understanding the actions that they can take to promote themselves and their message. I beg to move.