another nail in the coffin

December 1, 2015 Darren Caveney

The public sector has seen huge budget cuts over the past five years with local government cut more than most. One communications head ponders on what the latest cuts mean for those in local government communications.

by Paul Morris

The Chancellor’s spending review hammered another nail in the coffin of local government. As one commentator predicted, several councils will go bust in the next year because there are no more buildings left to sell, services to close, savings to capture or staff to slash.

Our resilience has been stretched to breaking point; enough is enough, was the tone of his message.

This paints both a worrying and confusing picture for our residents, many of whom depend on their local council in one way or another.

As leisure centres, children’s centres, libraries, museums, day centres and other community essentials shrink their offer, or stop completely, where does that leave those people who rely upon them?

There was a time when we offered so many services it was recommended we produced ‘A-Z of services’ guides to help our citizens navigate through them. Now we face the opposite challenge. How do we explain what’s left?

Our challenge as communicators in the coming year is four-fold, in my view...

cherish the things you love for one day they will be gone

March 30, 2015 Darren Caveney

There’s a certain age and point in your life when you begin to reflect on things that little bit more than you did in your care-free twenties…

By Darren Caveney

I’ve reached that point.

Reflecting.

These reflections include work life and personal life and that’s a good and natural thing. Questioning what you’ve achieved and delving a little deeper into what you really want to do with the rest of your life.

And events which occur in our personal lives add to this and can't help but remind you that nothing lasts forever.

we need to lead change - a discussion paper on the future of fire comms

May 10, 2013 Darren Caveney

We know the landscape is changing. In this bold discussion paper one senior fire communications sets out his personal thoughts over how comms people in the sector should lead a revolution. First published here in it there is food for thought for the rest of the public sector.

by Steve Chu

Today I’m publishing a discussion paper on the future of corporate communications in the English Fire and Rescue Service (FRS). I’m saying we need to achieve more with less. I’m saying that we need to find a more efficient model than the historic structure of over 40 press offices at individual FRS level. I’m saying that, as communicators, we need to prove our worth to the FRS beyond doubt. I’m saying that we, and the Service need to clearly set out what we should be aiming to achieve, and how that should be evaluated.

winds of change …

January 30, 2012 Darren Caveney

by Darren Caveney

I’ve been lucky enough to attend and participate in a couple of excellent events this past week or so. The first UKGovCamp in London and the second an LGComms seminar on social media in Cardiff.

A key theme running through both events was that of the shifting nature of the communications landscape, and the differing ways in which organisations are reacting and redifining activity. The sands are certainly shifting at speed for some, for others they're moving at a far gentler pace.