PART 1
(OPEN TO THE PUBLIC) / ITEM NO. 6

THIS REPORT IS DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF FRANCIS TAYLOR, MEMBER OF THE SALFORD FORUM OF OLDER PEOPLE, TRADE UNIONIST AND ACTIVIST IN SALFORD THROUGHOUT HIS LIFE.

Marketing and Communications IN Salford: a scrutiny by older citizens

“Good quality, accessible information is important to older people in order that they can make real choices about their lives and feel in control when making important decisions” source ‘Salford Partnership Board for Older People Information Strategy 2006’

INDEX
Executive Summary / 3
Report: Introduction / 10
Scrutiny / 10
The Wellbeing Strategy / 11
Our Local Population / 11
First steps / 11
Who conducted the scrutiny? / 13
Focusing our work / 13
Scrutiny findings and recommendations / 15
ON IN Salford / 15
LIFE IN Salford / 16
Information Leaflets / 16
The Tourist Information Centre / 17
Events / 19
Conclusions / 20
Appendix 1 / Growing Older IN Salford / 22
Appendix 2 / Chief Executive's Directorate / 26
Appendix 3 / Completed Age Proofing Toolkit / 29
Appendix 4 / Our Values and Behaviours' / 35
Appendix 5 / Leaflets Consulted / 36
Appendix 6 / Results of survey / 37
Appendix 7 / Information Strategy / 42
Appendix 8 / People who took part in scrutiny / 49

Executive Summary

Introduction

Marketing and Communications was chosen by Forum members as a scrutiny subject because it is relevant to achieving several elements of the Wellbeing Strategy ‘Growing Older IN Salford’, in particular the key priorities below.

  • Priority: combating ageism and enabling older people to continue to be involved in the life of the community
  • Priority: access to information
  • Priority: increase the involvement of older people

Scrutiny

Members of the Salford Forum of Older People and other interested older citizens have conducted three scrutinies of city council services to date:

  • Culture and Leisure Services
  • Home Care Services
  • Marketing and Communications (M&CD) services

Experience has shown that dialogue between service providers and older citizens who use services in the city is helpful and brings about positive change.

The approach to scrutiny which has been adopted by the Forum is subject to adaptation. Our scrutiny aims:

  • To look at the services and issues that affect the lives of people in Salford
  • To listen to the concerns of local people and to check how the council and other organisations are performing and where necessary seek improvement
  • To scrutinise services from the perspective of people growing older
  • To bring a non party-political approach
  • To use: Inspection
  • Study
  • Examination
  • Enquiry
  • To act as a ‘Critical Friend’

Scrutiny emerged as a result of the Government’s 1998 Green Paper ‘Modernising local government: Local democracy and community leadership’

Scrutiny by citizen groups is very new. Work in Salford is pioneering the approach. Support comes from Age Concern Salford and is currently commissioned under ‘LinkAge Plus’, a comprehensive series of developments funded in eight areas nationally by the Department of Pensions.

A team of volunteers was recruited from the Forum to carry out marketing and Communications scrutiny work. People who had been involved in previous scrutiny work who are not currently Forum members were also invited to take part. For names of people who took part in the scrutiny please see Appendix 7. Our apologies if this list is not comprehensive.

Our First steps

We learned that the Marketing and Communications Division of the City Council is accountable to the Chief Executive, Barbara Spicer. We found strategic information about the division on the city council’s website.

Susan Wildman, Director of Marketing and Communications described the role of her department to the Salford Forum of Older People

The council needs marketing and communications, summarised as follows:

•To produce attractive and effective materials (e.g. alert people to a product or service)

•To help the council achieve its objectives (e.g. improving health by helping people to stop smoking)

•To bring in visitors and boost the city’s economy (Triathlon 2007 worth £1.97m to businesses in Salford)

•To engage online visitors who come to us for information or to access a service

•To manage the reputation of the council and the city

•To inform customers and provide them with the information they need

The division has five teams: Creative services; Corporate marketing; Tourism marketing; Web development:; Public relations.

Marketing and Communications staff completed a copy of the Ageproofing Tool and shared their findings with us, as seen in Appendix 3 of this document.

Focusing our work

M&CD covers a broad area of work. The team needed to restrict focus in order to learn, have a dialogue with appropriate staff members and agree on relevant recommendations. The scrutiny process is very much a joint effort between service providers and volunteers, with each participant learning about issues and constraints affecting the others.

In considering the appropriateness of a service such as marketing and communications from the perspectives of people growing older there are underlying tensions which should be recognised. People growing older are part of the general population of the city and can benefit from the same information, facilities and events as any other person. But as people age in mind and body, although our wishes are to continue interesting and full lives and to contribute to our local communities, some allowances need to be made for the normal effects of ageing, which can vary from person to person: less acute hearing, eyesight difficulties, reduced mobility, sometimes less stamina. Allowances need to be made by service providers to help people growing older to fully benefit from services on offer, which we have paid for from our taxes and community charge over many years. Older people must also recognise that service providers seek to reach a wide audience: it may sometimes be difficult to tailor output.

The central question asked in this scrutiny is whether there is evidence that the needs of people growing older are consistently taken into account in the work of M&CD.

Completed copies of the Ageproofing tool were circulated to team members. We also received copies of ‘Our Values and Behaviours’ as agreed by the Marketing and Communications Division. These underlying values, illustrated by how division members behave, reflect similar concerns to the values of the Wellbeing Strategy and are shown, with their associated behaviours in Appendix 5 of this document..

Great emphasis is placed in today’s society on providing information via the internet. Almost half our team members were familiar with use of websites but the proportion of Forum members who use the internet is lower than that. Of respondents to a poll conducted at a Forum open meeting 18 people used the internet. 44 people did not. Ages ranged from late 50s to 90s. A MORI poll in Salford indicated that those most likely to use the council website are aged 24 to 44 (34% do so compared to 3% of those over 65) and be working (28%)

Susan Wildman told us that M&CD

–has begun to consider how to make the website more attractive to current non-users and how to engage with low-use groups

–makes sure that the website is as accessible as possible, for example to people with a visual impairment.

This is challenging work:a member of a local disability group who is a member of the scrutiny team shared a personal opinion that there remain access issues for people who have visual and other disabilities.

Team members decided not to focus on web based provision of information during this scrutiny, although we did use the web to obtain some information. We consider that it is essential to progress web based information: it will be the primary source of information for the majority of our society in the future. For older generations the issues are perhaps different: despite provision of IT training by the council and free internet access in all libraries in Salford the greater proportion of people over 60 still use print, radio, television and word of mouth to get information.

To remind ourselves of communication priorities previously agreed by older citizens we revisited the information strategy drawn up by the Partnership Board for Older People in 2006. A copy is included as Appendix 6

The scrutiny team decided to focus on products which local older people might most readily use: written information provision, the Tourist Information Centre and events organisation within M&CD.

M&CD supplied a range of publications to the scrutiny team. For a list please see Appendix 5. Team members examined the documents, discussed issues raised then met with two staff members of M&CD to explore a series of points.

Leaflets were subsequently commented on anonymously via a questionnaire at an open event on May 9th 2008.

A ‘mystery shopper’ visit was made to the Tourist Information office at the Lowry Arts Centre.

A discussion was held with the manager of the Events Team.

Our findings

Staff of M&CD were new to scrutiny by older citizens: this could have been daunting. Without exception they were helpful and tried to provide useful information. The members of staff we met were clearly in the habit of using their initiative and applied the values and behaviours in Appendix 5.

‘ON IN Salford’ can direct people to a wide range of local activities, some of which are free of charge. Bringing people together to share mutual interests is valuable to community cohesion.

We recommend that:

  • An explanation of how to use the directory be given early in ‘ON IN Salford’
  • producers of large print leaflets consider needs of people with visual difficulty when designing layout of timetables.
  • White lettering on pastel ground be avoided in the interests of people with visual difficulty
  • More information be given about circulation arrangements for regular and large print copies of ‘ON IN Salford’

‘LIFE IN Salford’ was also well laid out and carried information about projects and developments throughout the city. Editions feature information from the council, the NHS, police and community safety, fire service etc.

We recommend that:

  • Efforts to increase font size continue
  • Salford citizens be invited to advise on content/play an editorial role as volunteers for LIFE IN Salford. This could be piloted for two editions.
  • The circulation list be revisited for both ‘LIFE IN Salford’ and ‘ON IN Salford’ with perhaps arrangements made for laminated copies to be available in places the public regularly visit such as supermarkets and post offices.

A Range of Information leaflets was made available to the scrutiny team. Several of these were completely new to team members: beautifully produced heritage trail leaflets, some incorporating fold out local maps.

Salford should be proud of such products, but again, for people growing older and those substantial numbers with visual disabilities some versions are needed in larger print size if use is to be maximised.

Given statistics about vehicle ownership in Salford we recommend that information leaflets tell people where they can find out about local transport.

We recommend that:

  • Any new local heritage leaflets be made available in larger font
  • Heritage and other activity leaflets always include signposting as to where transport information can be obtained
  • Consideration be given to issuing small magnifiers such as those produced by askSID. There may be scope for sponsorship.

The Tourist Information Centre (STIC) is sited in the Lowry Arts Centre, a logical setting given the numbers of visitors attracted to the centre each year.

We visited STIC as a group of eight. One of our members was in a wheelchair and one on a motorised buggy. Two walked with sticks. One person had visual disability.

Public transport access to the Lowry Centre is poor. Floors at ground level follow the contours of the site: this presents challenges to people with disabilities.

STIC is in a shop adjacent to the ground floor bar and restaurant. Few members of the group knew where STIC was before the visit. The shop is beneath a staircase leading to studios.

We recommend that:

  • Real efforts be made to improve public transport to STIC
  • A leaflet be produced to help people get to and return from the Quays area, recognising and addressing issues for people who have disabilities
  • Signage be improved to STIC and physical access issues on the Quays addressed
  • Access issues within the Lowry for people who have disabilities be surveyed
  • Consideration be given to re-siting STIC to a more prominent position within the Lowry
  • Additional STICs be designated in Salford
  • Film be introduced to showcase the city

Events

The Events Team Manager met with scrutiny team members and described the role of his team. He has been in post since September 2007 and is currently engaged in developing a five year ‘Event Development Strategy’.

Objectives of the Strategy are to:

  • Engage communities and residents of Salford
  • Increase the visitor profile regionally, nationally and internationally
  • Bring in new visitors (also an objective of the Marketing and Tourism Strategy) to bring spending into the city

There are three strands to events work in Salford:

  • Events which the city council deliver
  • Community events of varying sizes organised by local groups eg Irlam Festival
  • Third party events eg a charity or music promoter holding an event within the city

A strategic aim is to be able to dictate what key standards should be within any event happening in Salford.

We recommend that:

  • The ‘Event Development Strategy’ specifically take into account meeting the needs of people growing older, adults with disability and carers (numerically significant)
  • Some public consultation take place about events which would attract particular groups
  • Pre-registration be considered if special facilities are to be made available eg seating, floored walkways etc
  • Volunteering proposals be further developed and publicised
  • Adequate administrative support be provided to the events team

Conclusions

This scrutiny exercise has been fascinating. Team members had the opportunity to learn about the work of a significant division of the city’s services. We would thank staff for their cooperation and consideration.

During this report we have made a number of recommendations, some of which may already be under consideration by the M&CD. We are conscious that several of the recommendations are not within the gift of M&CD but want to record them so that they can be referred elsewhere via the scrutiny process.

One of the greatest challenges within the city’s administration must surely be to link people together from relevant departments so that knowledge and information is shared.

A range of existing strategies share a common approach: this report features some strategies of significance to people growing older and we would invite M&CD to influence and be influenced by these in their current and future strategic work.

We note that in their response to the Ageproofing Tool M&CD suggest that they ‘ensure that future user surveys of service users are capable of being segmented by age.’

It is also heartening to note that M&CD intend to ‘Ensure that the needs of older people are addressed equally against those of other groups’, that they recommend consultation on specific plans and hope that this approach ‘becomes embedded in our planning’.

Responses also state that ‘We are actively pursuing an edition of LIFE IN Salford which will focus on older people. We will continue to exert a positive influence in this area as far as possible.’

They also recognise the importance of specific initiatives to ensure services take into account the differing needs of individuals as they grow older.

It is good to note the potential to explore a relationship with the Salford Talking News, a registered charity which records and distributes local news information weekly to over 300 people with visual disability.

Members of the public also have an advisory role to play. Established groups such as the Disability Forum and Older People’s Forum have undertaken pieces of work in the past which might assist M&CD, if the right connections can be made.

There is potential for a range of organisations in the city from churches to supermarkets to play their role in sharing information and improving quality of life for people who live in Salford, particularly people who are growing older.

We would recommend some mapping of relevant groups and organisations within the city which can widen the understanding of those involved in taking forward strategic work in Marketing and Communications. Contact with these groups and organisations should be incorporated in the practise of the division and should ideally play a role in induction of new staff.

The Wellbeing Strategy, supported by the city council emphasises the importance of

‘ensuring that there is strategic leadership across the council, PCT and key partners across the city in delivering ‘Growing Older IN Salford: a strategy for wellbeing’

• raising awareness and understanding of the strategy and ensuring that all partners have a sense of ownership. There needs to be a change in culture within some service delivery areas

• agreeing mechanisms to enable older people to have a voice and influence policy and service provision. Older people should be encouraged to feel empowered and comfortable expressing their opinions, desires and needs.’

There is potential for MC&D to play a significant role in helping to spearhead such work.

Our conclusion about the central question asked in this scrutiny as to whether there is evidence that the needs of people growing older are consistently taken into account in the work of M&CD has to be a qualified ‘yes’. We qualify the statement because we think that the division’s excellent specialist skills and knowledge are about their core job.

We are aware that in such a busy division the public cannot be consulted about the majority of day to day decisions. We would recommend that M&CD appoint a champion within each team of the divisionwho will regularly question whether products and event facilities seek to maximise potential for effective use by people growing older.

These champions could also increase their own knowledge of needs of people growing older and raise awareness within the division. In the main we are not suggesting detailed specialist knowledge. Older citizens themselves could also be consulted on specifics.