Scottish Government

CHAPTER FOUR CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

4.1 The conclusions and recommendations presented here are those of Opinion Leader Research, and are based on analysis of the Citizens' Jury findings and comparative analysis with the findings of the Phillis Review Group report. The jurors themselves presented conclusions at the end of the Citizens' Jury and these have been considered in our analysis.

Trust in Government

4.2 Generally, jurors did not trust politicians and political processes, but this appears to be driven largely by UK Government and its Ministers

• We found that jurors often knew relatively little about the Scottish Executive, its policies and work
• Consequently, there were a few specific things which made them distrust the Scottish Executive per se; albeit this lack of awareness could encourage people to perceive the Scottish Executive as closed / a poor communicator
• As such we recommend that as a priority the Scottish Executive should strive to ensure it is perceived as open and transparent
• Overall, we believe the Scottish Executive may have an opportunity to build trust as a relatively new organisation with few negative associations
• Emphasising the impartiality of the civil service may be an effective way of building trust, with jurors recommending that the civil service's role in delivering public services be reinforced in communications with the Scottish people.

Communicating with Scottish Government

4.3 Scottish people's relationship with the Scottish Executive is / has the potential to be different to their relationship with UK Government

• As a devolved organisation (that is perceived to be closer to people in Scotland), it is easier for them to see how the work of the Scottish Executive affects their own well-being, and the well-being of their family, friends and wider community ( i.e. messages are perceived to come from a source close to home).
• Scottish Executive communications have an important role in facilitating a more reciprocal and balanced relationship between the Scottish people and the Scottish Executive.

Views of Scottish Government

4.4 Positives / achievements are more likely to be attributed accurately to the Scottish Executive (compared to other governmental bodies) than negatives, but we believe only a minority are able to identify such positive associations (because of the lack of understanding of the Scottish Executive's roles and responsibilities)

• The Scottish Executive may wish to explore ways of enabling Scottish people to differentiate between it and other governmental bodies.

National Scottish news and current affairs media

4.5 National Scottish news and current affairs media is particularly influential, especially broadsheets

• We found that those who consume it are more likely to know the Scottish Executive and to differentiate it from other government bodies
• However, it is perceived as reporting mainly negative stories about the Scottish Executive, its work and policies. This is thought to encourage people to have a low opinion of the Scottish Executive.

Local news and current affairs media

4.6 Local news and current affairs media are particularly trusted, because they are perceived to be part of the local community; as such, we recommend that the Scottish Executive consider exploring how further engagement with the public could be built through collaboration with this media.

Ministers' language

• While some jurors were interested and engaged with what ministers have to say; they were in the minority. As such, the language used by ministers is important to ensure they get their message across effectively to those who are listening
• Other jurors tended to only know the negative media reports about ministers and so distrust both ministers or the information (albeit UK rather than Scottish ministers); consequently, how ministers behave (or how behaviour is reported) can affect how government is perceived and trusted
• However, jurors were surprised how interesting and easy to read and understand interviews with ministers can be (when asked to read them). There may be scope for greater engagement between ministers and the public ( e.g. via local media, deliberative events, etc) by making use of this material as part of a balanced conversation
• Overall, there is demand to give the Scottish Executive a more 'human face'. This needs to be explored further.

4.7 The language used by the Scottish Executive and its ministers is important to ensure on-going engagement, including ministerial speeches and other communications.

Mass media campaigns

4.8 Mass media campaigns conducted to date are perceived to have been highly effective at getting their message across:

• They are widely cited as key achievements for the Scottish Executive, largely because of the social context (the issues they tackle are considered important for Scotland and the policy response is widely supported)
• They are perceived to have exceeded expectations in terms of recall, appeal, reach, comprehension, impact and effectiveness, and value for money
• However, they do not provide sufficiently strong and alternative source to turn around negative perceptions driven by news and current affairs media, experience and hearsay
• They are not always attributed to the Scottish Executive, but this is not considered a problem for Scottish people; as such we recommend that the Scottish Executive may wish to review the extent to which this is an issue for the organisation and whether, when and how to achieve greater prominence via campaigns and to encourage greater differentiation between itself and other governmental bodies.

Media choice

4.9 Media choice can influence perceived effectiveness of a campaign ( e.g. some messages work better, and are perceived to offer better value for money, in some media than others), but media choice is inextricably linked to the message, its perceived target audience, and the social context within which it is received:

• This makes it difficult to be prescriptive about media choice
• The jurors supported greater use of integrated multi-media campaigns, including editorial platforms, to convey important Scottish Executive messages
• Branding will help audiences to recognise Scottish Executive campaigns across different media.

4.10 Given the importance of language and media choice, we recommend that it is important that the Scottish Executive continues to market test campaigns and other communications across media.

Criteria for successful communications (1)

4.11 As a result of the deliberative process, jurors said they wanted to be communicated in ways that were:

• Simple and informative
• Engaging people with Scottish Executive policy and decision-making
• Arresting and memorable
• Clear and accessible
• Accurate and factual
• Demonstrably from the Scottish Executive - as an impartial body ( i.e. so that people know the Executive cares about and for the population, and is not self-serving)
• A two-way conversation where possible ( i.e. not one-way passive communications, not didactic or preaching).

Criteria for successful communications (2)

4.12 Communications (including phrases used by the Scottish Executive and its ministers) are also most likely to be successful if they:

• Tap into a common concern ( e.g. health, health services, racism, etc)
• Talk their language ( i.e. understood, plain speaking)
• Are credibly, but sufficiently, aspirational and ambitious ( i.e. have clear objectives and fulfil them effectively)
• Are factual and have a clear link to action rather than policy debate
• Have a clear call to action, i.e. being clear about what the minister or the Scottish Executive is asking people to do
• Have a clear beneficiary ( i.e. consumer and / or the citizen).

Future communications options

4.13 A wide range of new media are considered relevant and important (in particular the mobile truck concept). However, jurors stressed that communication technologies needed to be tailored for specific groups e.g. young people, socially excluded groups, men and women as a 'one size fits all' approach would not work. Jurors were also concerned about government control of government TV channels or government newspapers and highlighted the importance of limiting these modes of communication to factual information.

4.14 However, in summary, the criteria used to judge their potential to improve Scottish Executive communications are as follows:

• Reach
• Fit with message
• Impact on perceptions of the Scottish Executive
• Perceived trustworthiness
• Overall, perceived value for money
• Further market testing of each of the concepts.

Greater communication between Scottish Executive and the public

4.15 Overall, there is demand for the Scottish Executive to establish a greater and more balanced dialogue with Scottish people ( e.g. via deliberative and other processes) and not to rely on passive one-way communications; this would enable both citizens, consumers and the Scottish Executive itself to develop a more in-depth understanding of needs, expectations, and aspirations, and how best to meet them

• The Scottish Executive may wish to explore further how this is best achieved (including the potential role of deliberative processes and other consultation methods to ensure on-going engagements; mechanisms for enabling participation, including mandatory citizen days, etc); overall, the Citizens' Jury illustrates the ease with which people can be engaged with the Scottish Executive, its policies and work
• However, it is important to ensure that:
  • People are only engaged and involved where there is scope for them to influence or inform decisions
  • The Scottish Executive manages expectations carefully about which decisions can be influenced and which cannot
  • The Scottish Executive communicates what impact their participation had on the final decision (including why any recommendations were not adopted)
  • The Scottish Executive takes care not to over consult and to demonstrate leadership on key issues.

Future research

4.16 We recommend that the Scottish Executive consider supplementing the findings of the Citizens' Jury with analysis of:

• How different sectors of the population consume different news and current affairs media (men and women, different socio-economic groups, different geographic locations in particular urban and rural, and different ethnic groups)
• The correlation between news and current affairs media consumption and awareness and perceptions of the Scottish Executive (including levels of trust).