Speaking on behalf of the Council
In general, we'll use a named individual to speak on behalf of the authority. However, circumstances or the required response may dictate (particularly when dealing with a reactive query) that a quote provided by the Head of Communications acting as a spokesperson is more convenient or practical – to be agreed in consultation with the relevant Executive Member.
Leader and Executive portfolio holders
The Leader will be quoted in circumstances when they are representing the city in a city leader role and in connection with their role as Chair of the Executive. For example, major policy announcements, launches of high-profile council initiatives or schemes and civic emergencies will require the Leader to speak on behalf of the Council.
Executive portfolio holders will be quoted in news releases which relate to their portfolio, including overall policy decisions and in response to press enquiries relating to their portfolio.
For photographs, the relevant Executive Member will be used and the Leader will be invited.
For videos, the relevant Executive Member, then the Leader has the right to appear.
Lord Mayor and Civic Party
The Lord Mayor will be quoted in appropriate press releases and statements in respect of his/her civic responsibility and function, where the issue is ceremonial and an ambassadorial role to represent the city is required. In his/her absence the deputy Lord Mayor will be quoted.
Officers
Officers will normally speak on behalf of the Council in any announcement which relates to operational issues or where an officer has a specific area of responsibility which requires a professional profile or where the involvement of an elected portfolio holder is considered not appropriate (for example, election matters, legal issues, code of conduct issues, and others). All quotes and media activity by council officers will be carried out in consultation with the relevant Executive Member.
In radio or TV interviews, where a detailed knowledge of the subject material is more important than broad policy, it may be more appropriate to put forward a suitably qualified officer to speak on behalf of the Council.
Where a pre-prepared statement (already approved by an officer or Executive portfolio holder) needs to be read aloud for the benefit of a broadcast organisation, for instance in the event of a reactive query, a member of the communications team can speak on the authority’s behalf. Council officers speaking on behalf of the authority will always be named.
There are no hard and fast rules about the level of seniority of officers who can be used in council publicity. Generally, it is best to identify someone with the correct balance of authority and subject knowledge for that specific issue. The communications team will advise on this.
Individual councillors and group support officers
The Act and Code relating to publicity places tight restrictions on what and who the Council can legally publicise. This applies particularly to individual councillors, where official publicity is restricted to using an officer with an official position and area of responsibility within the Council to speak on behalf of the authority. The political assistant will provide professional communication support to elected members, to provide an explanation of the views of the relevant political group on matters facing the council or which relates to local ward matters of a non-political issue, which cannot be provided by the Council Communications Team under its protocols.
Media statements which relate to ward specific issues will, as normal, be drafted in liaison with the relevant department and cleared by the Executive portfolio holder.
All proactive media statements will be shared with the Political Assistant.
Partnerships
Where the Council is involved in issuing communication as part of a partnership arrangement, the partnership’s arrangements should be followed. This would normally be the chair of the lead organisation. In the case of a communication being prepared on behalf of a number of partners it may be appropriate to offer each partner an opportunity to be quoted. All partners should be given an opportunity to approve the release within a set timeframe. Where partnerships are complex, or may last some time, a separate partnerships media protocol will be drafted. This will support the principles described in this media protocol, and also include how and when partners might be involved or consulted.
Code of Conduct issues
For code of conduct issues, the Chief Operating Officer (until April 2026) or Chief Executive (after April 2026) will speak on behalf of the Council in liaison with the Monitoring Officer. Any proactive statement will be first shared with the members involved with sufficient time provided for them to comment. For reactive lines to take, the Chief Executive will approve the statement and share it with members involved at the same time as distributing to the media. Any proactive statement will be shared with the member involved with sufficient time provided where possible for them to respond.
Responding to enquiries and criticism
We always respond to enquiries through a named council officer or spokesperson depending on who issues the statement or speaks to the journalist. This may be the Head of Communications if appropriate. The relevant Executive Member may need, or wish, to respond to enquiries and they will be provided with the opportunity to do so, noting the restricted clearance times. Where the Council is being criticised by a politician, it may not be appropriate to quote a council officer in response or put forward an officer for a radio or TV interview. This could easily give the false impression that council officers were politically partisan. In these cases, the communications team will seek to draft a factual response or briefing, and then it will be decided whether the Council can respond factually, or if the Leader or relevant Executive Member or another councillor who has an official position can respond.
However, on rare occasions, officers may need to respond to specific criticisms when there is a need to correct factual information. Where an enquiry relates to a party-political issue, then such matters will be referred to the appropriate party‘s political assistant for consideration. However, a political assistant can only provide a press statement which expresses the group’s view on the matter as it affects the Council.
Responding to enquiries during emergencies/out of office hours
The communications team provides an out of hours service for emergency media enquiries during times when the office is closed (between 5.30pm and 8.30am Monday to Friday, at weekends and on bank holidays). The on-duty officer from the communications team may be required to respond to an incident as it unfolds. Under these circumstances, they will follow the incident communications plan, establish the facts of the incident with the senior officers involved and provide a factual statement/public information response to the media.
Circumstances may dictate that it is difficult or impossible to arrange clearance with the relevant Executive Member before release to the media. If the media require a council officer for interview, the duty communications officer will, at first, try to contact the Leader or relevant Executive Member in the first instance to agree the appropriate response. If this cannot be achieved, the communications officer will contact a senior officer. A copy of any media statement will be sent to the relevant executive portfolio holder and political assistants. Regular updates on an emergency incident or situation will be provided to the party group offices.