Press Release
Council managers embrace plain English
27 managers from across all services in the Council attended training with the Plain English Campaign last week.The training is part of the Council's soon-to-be-launched Communications Strategy.
Communications Project Manager Peter Peterson said, "We carried out a survey of staff and Members earlier in the year.One of the main things we were told was that there's a lack of clarity in the language being used in Council documents. That was discussed with the Corporate Management Team in April and they felt that engaging the Plain English Campaign to deliver training to senior managers would be a powerful way of showing that we want to improve. The aim is to start with managers and for them to help us spread the word and change the way we communicate".
Managers who attended the training said that they particularly liked the way the course highlighted straight talking and challenged them to think about their own style of writing. One person wrote on their course evaluation form that the course had made them aware of “some of the bad habits picked up over 36 years in council service”.
It's hoped that the training can be offered each year to staff as part of the Council's Corporate Training Programme.
For further information on the Campaign's work, click the link to their website:
http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/