Where does the truth lie?

Under Pressure 27 September 2024

Where does the truth lie?

In the UK the Prime Minister this week said a duty of candour would be in place affecting all public bodies and authorities before April 2025. This looks set to be a significant change and one that will put communication in the spotlight.

For those not aware, the duty of candour is also referred to as the ‘Hillsborough Law’ and came from recommendations in a report published in 2017. In the past seven years the families who had to wait decades to hear the truth about what happened at Hillsborough have been campaigning for the introduction of the new law.

It is their tenacity that has ensured the campaign has reached this point and at the heart of it is something I am passionate about - being honest. It is my number 1 principle in crisis communication closely followed by integrity and transparency. The Duty of Candour will require public bodies to co-operate with investigations into major disasters or potentially face criminal sections. There will be a code of ethics for public bodies and authorities in an attempt to avoid defensiveness seen in many recent public inquiries including the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry. In addition an independent public advocate will be sent to disasters to support affected people and communicate to public bodies on behalf of those affected. This post is expected to be in post next Summer.

As with all legislation the devil will be in the detail and how it is actually put together. How will it mandate the change? What will the sanctions be? Will it cover in-house public sector legal teams? How will the advocate ensure independence? I have a long list of questions.

The biggest issue for me is the lack of awareness about the duty of candour and particularly among communication teams. I can foresee potential issues including communication and PR teams having to challenge approaches that they are being asked to implement that contradict the Duty of Candour. And when things go wrong communicators can be put under the spotlight first. It was Allegra Stratton who took the full force of the ‘partygate’ scandal. Communicators can be an easy target to unscrupulous bosses who are under pressure.

There is a lot to consider in what the Duty of Candour actually means and the change in approach and mindset that is needed from bosses and communicators. To discuss this I will be joining Professor Lucy Easthope on an online session on 18 November around 7pm. Keep the date as more details will be shared about joining in the coming weeks. If you have any questions or areas you want us to cover let me know.

Early Warning Systems

The latest edition of the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Natural Hazard Science Amanda has co-authored an article about the Media and Early Warning Systems. The article considers the history of warning systems and the important elements to make them work. It uses case studies to assess when it worked and didn’t work as well as differences around the world. You can find out more about the article here.

Tackling the trust deficit

In the latest edition of Crisis Response Journal, Amanda has explored what is needed to rebuild public trust in policing. Following a series of challenging events and lots of online chatter, Amanda considers what change is needed and addresses the limitations of trying to counteract negative perceptions by publishing ‘good stories’. Find out more here.

2025 Training

Amanda is developing the crisis communication training plan for 2025 and is looking for your feedback. There is a short two minute survey that will help to define the priorities for the coming 12 months. If you an share your thoughts click on the link here to complete the survey. Thanks.

In Brief:

• The World Economic Forum shared an interesting article considering how to get better at spotting deepfakes. Find out more here.

• Details of a recent Nordic Baltic crisis exercise have been shared. It was focused on a financial crisis and went through a number of phases. Details of what will happen next are promised to be shared. Find out about the crisis simulation here.

• California Pizza Kitchen demonstrated how to approach a customer complaint that goes viral. Find out more here.

• What do you do when your most senior person makes a public declaration about the state of the business as they announce they leave? West Midlands Fire and Rescue faced this recently. The Fire Authority released a statement trying to balance recognising the Chief Executive’s contribution but also responding to the allegations that were made. Find out what was said here.

• The UK Government has released guidance on building organisational resilience in Government Departments, Agencies and Arms Length Bodies. Find out more here.

• Türkiye's Communications Director Fahrettin Altun emphasised the importance of "effective communication" in dealing with global crises at a recent event. Find out why here.

• Nextdoor is hailed as an essential platform for emergency managers in an article by my colleague Dan Stoneking. Find out why here.

• The New York Times assessed the announcement about Dave Grohl’s new baby including why now and why he did it in the way it happened. It is a different look at personal crises and reputational issues. Find out more here.

• In another case Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs who has been arrested in America is looking for a new publicist after the existing one quit. Find out more here.

• A Canadian area policing board have been criticised for spending $104k on a PR firm to ‘sell the budget’. The details about the management of the issue by London Policing Board in Ontario were highlighted through a Freedom of Information request. Find out more here.

Diary Dates:

• Amanda will be running the full day ‘Managing an in-house team’ session for the PRCA on 2 October 2024. Find out more here.

• Producing engaging content for public sector communication is the focus of a webinar Amanda is running for the PRCA on 15 October. Find out more here.

• On 16 October Amanda is running a session on getting the most from a small or non-existent PR and communication budget. Find more about the PRCA session here.