PLC Public Sector reports:
With an excellent sense of timing, Eric Pickles has called on local authorities to embrace twitter and other social media in the week that the press has reported that a Hull Councillor has been heavily criticised by Mencap for posting an offensive comment on Twitter in relation to those protesting against a £65 million savings plan made by Hull City Council. In this post, we look at:
- Whether social media outlets, such as blogging and Twitter can be used to open up public council meetings and make local authority discussion more transparent.
- The dangers associated with councillors and local authorities making use of social media outlets, such as Twitter.
Opening a can of worms?
The Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960 covers public admission to local authority meetings and states that a local authority may, by resolution, exclude the public from a meeting where the publicity would be prejudicial because of the confidential nature of the business being discussed. Arguably a local authority discussion about budget cuts and a planned savings scheme would fall under this category, particularly if disruption has previously occurred or occurs during the course of the meeting. However, how does this sit with Eric Pickles’ statement urging councils to open up their public meetings to bloggers in a bid to increase transparency and the letter sent to councils calling on them to adopt a modern-day approach and allow bloggers and online broadcasters the same access currently enjoyed by the traditional press?
It certainly seems that the government is keen to open up council meetings to bloggers, for example, in a recent press release Eric Pickles criticised Tameside Council for failing to allow local bloggers and councillors to use Twitter as they were not considered accredited members of the press and therefore part of the mainstream media.
In this time of budget and public services cuts and the level of protest faced by councils up and down the country, the question of simply allowing members of the public into meetings at all will take precedence over the use of social media. However, with the current government’s commitment to transparency and a nation of “armchair auditors” it is unlikely that an outright ban on blogging and online media at council meetings will be considered reasonable in the medium to long term.
Local authorities and Twitter
Following our blog on whether the public sector should join the twittering classes, it now seems that the use of social media in local government is here to stay and may even replace traditional media outlets such as newspapers and radio broadcasts. Therefore, authorities need to think beyond its use by members of the public in council meetings to how they may wish to try and regulate its use by council employees or members. So with that in mind here are some helpful hints and reminders for local authorities considering the use of twitter by employees or members (whether in a professional or personal capacity):
- Remember Twitter is instant, as soon as you have tweeted something it is public property and any damage it may cause is likely to be unavoidable.
- Be careful what you say, as of 14 September 2010 Twitter had 175 million registered users and the more followers you have the more people there are to scrutinise your tweets.
- Tweets can be retweeted so assume whatever you say will be passed on.
- Ensure that you have a clear social media policy for employees so that they are aware of what they are and are not allowed to do. You do not want an embarrassing post by an employee to reflect badly on you.
- Members may be slightly more difficult to control but they should be encouraged to read and follow the Standards for England Do’s and Don’ts “Blogging Quick Guide” and the IDEA guide for councillors on the use of social media to support local leadership.