Local Authority Publicity Code Approved by Parliament

Following a sustained, high-profile campaign by the NS and its members, the revised Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity has been approved by both Houses of Parliament and will come into force as soon as possible. It stipulates that local councils should not publish newspapers in direct competition to the local press, these publications should not appear more frequently than four times a year and should only include material directly related to local council services.

The Code was debated in the Commons last week and in the Lords last night, when an Opposition motion of regret had been tabled by Lord Beecham, former chair of the Local Government Association. He said proposed restrictions on frequency of council publications were “a reflection of the Secretary of State’s own obsessions,” ran counter to localism and were a matter which should be left to local councils to decide. He challenged the evidence that local newspapers were suffering because of council publications.

Local Government minister Baroness Hanham, proposing approval of the code to the Lords, said: “Local authority publicity is important but the freedom of the press is also important in providing information for the public to hold their local authority to account. It is equally important that readers of a newspaper can tell whether what they are reading is part of the independent press or a publication by the council setting out the council’s message."

Lord Fowler and Lord Black were among peers who spoke strongly in favour of the Government’s proposed changes to the Code. Lord Black, a former local councillor and now a director of the Telegraph Media Group, said that “a free and vibrant local press is the cornerstone of a properly functioning local democracy. Not only do they foster a sense of local and community spirit, but crucially they scrutinise those in power, help ensure that local taxpayers’ money is being used efficiently and – at a time of increasing secrecy in council decision-making – help shed some light on the workings of local government.”

He described independent local newspapers as “the best example we have of localism” and said people trusted the regional press, “which employs 10,000 journalists across the UK, more journalists on the ground than any other medium” to act independently in the public interest. He cited recent research from Ofcom which found a general increase in high quality investigative journalism over the past five years.

“Such high quality journalism is expensive. Even in a benign commercial climate, that places a considerable burden on publishers. But it is infinitely more difficult during a period not just of economic downturn but also of structural change within the industry,” he said.“If we value a free local press, then we have to do what we can to ensure it operates on a level commercial playing field. It cannot do that if it is competing with local authority publications not just for readers but crucially for the advertising revenue which largely funds it. Using taxpayers’ money to compete for that increasingly scarce revenue is unfair, anti-competitive and highly damaging to the local press.”

However, Lord Shipley (Lib Dem) said most council publications already printed quarterly, a third contained no advertising at all, so posed no threat to local newspapers. He said: “we are in very great danger of producing a sledgehammer to crack a nut."

Lord Fowler, a former chairman of Midland Independent Newspapers, said: “This debate raises something absolutely fundamental. The role of the regional press is to report independently… the regional and local press has a proud record of exposing injustice in this country.” He pointed to the example of Birmingham Council which had at one time withdrawn all advertising from the Birmingham Mail because it objected to the way the newspaper had reported its activities. “Not all councils recognise the importance of a free press,” he added.

The Code applies in relation to all decisions by local authorities relating to paid advertising and leaflet campaigns, publication of free newspapers and newssheets and maintenance of websites – including the hosting of material which is created by third parties.

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