L Barnett

Whatdotheyknow.com

Policy and Performance

Middlewich Road
Sandbach

Cheshire CW11 1HZ

01270 529668

[email address]

DATE: 12/11/2010 OUR REF: 800624 YOUR REF:

Please Contact Rose Raine

Dear L Barnett

Thank you for your request for information regarding council newspapers; the answers to your questions are as follows:

1. The name, frequency and distribution/circulation of your council

newspaper (by council newspaper I mean the most frequently

published newspaper or magazine intended for mass distribution

covering more than one topic)

The council's publication, Cheshire East News is published three times a year, with an additional Christmas edition in December. 170,000 copies of the spring, summer and autumn editions were produced in house and delivered by Royal Mail to each household and business within Cheshire East.

The Christmas edition was produced by a separate directorate as a result of a specific campaign. An external design company was used for this.

170,000 copies of the Christmas edition were produced. 162,410 were distributed via Royal Mail door to door distribution and the remaining 7590 via distribution to Customer Service Points (CSPs), Libraries, Tourist Information Centres and Leisure Centres 

2. How much it cost to produce and distribute said newspaper in the

last full financial year, and how much was budgeted from council

resources in the financial year 2009/2010

From 1st April 2009 - December 2009 the three main editions have cost £93,270.30 to produce and distribute. £88,270.30 was budgeted from council resources, with the difference being made up from advertising revenue.

The Christmas edition cost £29,973 to produce and distribute. 100% of this was from council resources.

3. How much of that cost is offset by advertising

The spring edition created £1,000 of revenue

The summer edition created £2,000 of revenue

The autumn edition created £2,000 of revenue

4. How much of that advertising, if any, comes from external

sources (ie not from your authority's budgets)?

We currently do not offer advertising space to external private organisations or business

5. Which other public sector partners pay to run advertising in

your newspaper, eg PCTs?

Cheshire Fire and Rescue and Cheshire PCT both pay for editorial pages within the publication. This does not include the Christmas edition

6. Whether recruitment advertising forms part of the advertising in

your newspaper?

None

7. A copy of an editorial policy guide, if one exists, which

governs the material which is placed in the newspaper, and how it

is decided

We are currently looking into developing editorial guidelines for Cheshire East News. The content for the publication is generated with the aim of raising the profile of the council, how it works with partners and information on the services it offers to the community.

8. A copy of an advertising policy guide, if one exists, which

governs what sort of advertising is suitable.

We do not have an advertising policy guide. We are currently talking with public sector partners about how we can produce a joint publication. We may in the future look at attracting wider advertising opportunities.

9. The number of people employed to put your newspaper/newsletter

together, including total cost and staff organisation chart

Two members of the communications team look after the production of Cheshire East News alongside their regular duties. This includes an interim communications officer and a creative services officer.

The Christmas edition was produced by an external design agency, with one member of the communications team managing the project alongside their everyday duties.