Council newspaper

The request was successful.

Dear Mid Sussex District Council,

Under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act, I wish to receive the following information from your authority:

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)

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

3. How much of that cost is offset by advertising

4. How much of that advertising, if any, comes from external sources (ie not from your authority's budgets)?

5. Which other public sector partners pay to run advertising in your newspaper, eg PCTs?

6. Whether recruitment advertising forms part of the advertising in your newspaper?

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

8. A copy of an advertising policy guide, if one exists, which governs what sort of advertising is suitable.

9. The number of people employed to put your newspaper/newsletter together, including total cost and staff organisation chart

Some parts of this request may be easier to answer than others, and should this prove to be the case I would ask that you release available data as soon as possible rather than hold up the entire request.

I would prefer to receive this information electronically. If the decision is made to withhold some of this data using exemptions in Act, please inform me of that fact and cite the exemptions used.

If you need any clarification then please contact me at the email. Under your section 16 duty to provide advice and assistance I would expect you to contact me if you find this request unmanageable in any way.

I would be grateful if you could confirm in writing that you have received this request, and I look forward to hearing from you in the near future.

Yours faithfully,

L Barnett

Freedom of Information, Mid Sussex District Council

Thank you for your email. If the email contains a request for information,
the 20 working day countdown will start on the first working day after
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The request may be subject to an exemption, which the Authority is
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Once the information has been identified the Authority may also ask that a
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Any future correspondence you may have in relation to this matter should
be sent to the Senior Service Improvement Officer, Mid Sussex District
Council, Oaklands, Oaklands Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH16 1SS or
by return to this email.

Information provided under the FOI Act 2000 or the Environmental
Information Regulations 2004 may be not be re-used, except for personal
study and non-commercial research or for news reporting and reviews,
without the permission of the Council. Please see the Council website
www.midsussex.gov.uk/page.cfm?pageID=4084 for further information or
contact Service Improvement on 01444 477422.

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Freedom of Information, Mid Sussex District Council

Dear L Barnett,

Many thanks for your FOI request concerning our council newspaper.  I
have outlined the response to each of your questions below:

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)

               

                'Mid Sussex Matters' is produced three
times a year and is distributed to the 65,000 households in Mid Sussex.
 It is also delivered to Help Points, libraries, Town Halls and leisure
centres across       the district.

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?

                Each issue costs circa £11k - the
breakdown of which is circa £5k for printing and circa £5k for
distribution.  The cost of the design is paid for by the advertising. 
Based upon this, £33k has been        budgeted from council
resources in the financial year 2009/2010.

3.            How much of that cost is offset by advertising?

                All of the design cost is offset by
advertising. Last year (2009) was when the advertising started in earnest
and the last issue brought in £3359. The advertising costs £1200 each
issue.

4.            How much of that advertising, if any, comes from
external sources (ie not from your authority's budgets)?

                All of the advertising comes from external
sources.

5.            Which other public sector partners pay to run
advertising in your newspaper, eg PCTs?

                The public sector partners advertising in
'Mid Sussex Matters' are NHS West Sussex and the Safer Roads Partnership.

6.            Whether recruitment advertising forms part of the
advertising in your newspaper?

                No recruitment is advertised.

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

                There is no such editorial guide. Our guide
for the editorial comes from Mid Sussex District Council's Corporate Plan
and the corresponding 10 key community outcomes.  An electronic copy of
the Corporate Plan can         be found on our website at:
[1]http://www.midsussex.gov.uk/page.cfm?pag...

8.            A copy of an advertising policy guide, if one
exists, which governs what sort of advertising is suitable.

                There is no such advertising guide. In the
magazine we include the paragraph 'Inclusion of advertisements does not
constitute a recommendation by Mid Sussex District Council of the products
or                 services offered or the organisations
involved, now will the Council incur any liability whatsoever for any
claim relating to them'. In addition, the Mid Sussex District Council
 Communications Team has final say regarding           
approval of adverts.

9.    The number of people employed to put your newspaper/newsletter
together, including total cost and staff organisation chart

                The person overseeing 'Mid Sussex Matters'
is employed part-time and half the role is dedicated to the magazine. The
band is MSO - on the part-time basis.  As such it is difficult to assess
staff     cost as the production of 'Mid Sussex Matters' is just part
of the officer's role.  For details of the pay and grading structure
please refer to our website using the following link:   
[2]http://www.midsussex.gov.uk/page.cfm?pag...

If for whatever reason you are unhappy with our response you are entitled
to pursue any dissatisfaction, in the first instance, through the
Council's Complaints Procedure, in writing to Jo Carr, Customer Services
and Communications Business Unit Leader, Mid Sussex District Council,
Oaklands, Oaklands Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, RH16 1SS or via the
website at [3]http://www.midsussex.gov.uk/page.cfm?pag...

If you still remain dissatisfied with the response you can complain to the
Information Commissioner - details available at:
[4]https://www.ico.gov.uk/Global/contact_us...

Information provided under the FOI Act 2000 or the Environmental
Information Regulations 2004 may be not be re-used, except for personal
study and non-commercial research or for news reporting and reviews,
without the permission of the Council. Please see the Council website
[5]www.midsussex.gov.uk/page.cfm?pageID=4084 for further information or
contact Service Improvement on 01444 477422.

yours sincerely,

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References

Visible links
1. http://www.midsussex.gov.uk/page.cfm?pag...
2. http://www.midsussex.gov.uk/page.cfm?pag...
3. http://www.midsussex.gov.uk/page.cfm?pag...
4. https://www.ico.gov.uk/Global/contact_us...
5. http://www.midsussex.gov.uk/page.cfm?pag...

John Isteed left an annotation ()

Dear L Barnett

The following may be useful with regards to your FOI request:

Question:
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?

Response:
Each issue costs circa £11k - the breakdown of which is circa £5k for printing and circa £5k for distribution. The cost of the design is paid for by the advertising. Based upon this, £33k has been budgeted from council resources in the financial year 2009/2010.

Question:
9. The number of people employed to put your newspaper/newsletter together, including total cost and staff organisation chart.

Response:
The person overseeing 'Mid Sussex Matters' is employed part-time and half the role is dedicated to the magazine. The band is MSO - on the part-time basis. As such it is difficult to assess staff cost as the production of 'Mid Sussex Matters' is just part of the officer's role.

Comment:
You asked how much it costs to produce “Mid Sussex Matters”. The Council has given figures of ~£5K for both print & distribution. They indicate that the only staff time allocated is 50% of a part time position.

This raises the question of who researches, writes and edits the copy and who designs and produces the artwork. How much internal time is allocated or how much time is bought in?

In 2008 the Council discussed “Mid Sussex Matters” costs and decided to reduce the frequency from 4 to 3 times pa. At that time it was indicated by the Deputy Leader the budgeted cost would be reduced from around £200K to £120K. It suggests that the £33K quoted in the MSDC response to your request might not include all costs.

Regards