SHARING KNOWLEDGE IN UNPRECEDENTED TIMES
SHARING KNOWLEDGE IN UNPRECEDENTED TIMES: DEVELOPING A COMMONWEALTH PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK The importance of Parliamentary Communications has never been greater and a new network will aim to link Communications professionals in our Parliaments.
The importance of legislatures in passing laws, scrutinising the Executive and debating the issues of the day is well established. But what is the value of doing this if the wider public don’t know about or understand about what their elected representatives are doing? Whether it’s doing a Tweet about a Committee hearing, or devising a long-term engagement strategy, parliamentary communications is an important yet often under-researched part of the democratic landscape. If the past ten months has shown us anything, it’s that the need for rapid changes to ways of working and the effective sharing of ideas and best practice is vitally important. The importance of knowledge sharing As the world has adapted to life under the Coronavirus pandemic, legislatures across the Commonwealth have made rapid changes to the way in which they work, with many sessions moved either partially or fully online. Parliamentary communications teams have been at the forefront of explaining these changes to the public, whilst themselves often having to adapt to the changes to the way in which they work. Here in the UK House of Commons, my colleagues in the Media Relations Team and the wider Communications office are primarily working from home, whilst communicating a legislature that is still sitting in a mixture of physical and virtual proceedings. It has
been our job to communicate and explain the biggest changes to the House’s proceedings for centuries. It is important that at a time of great anxiety and worry for people across the country, they are aware that their democratic institutions are still functioning and that their concerns are being represented in the legislature, albeit in many cases via a zoom link rather than in the traditional surroundings of the Chamber. Our experiences in the House of Commons will be shared by counterparts in legislatures, large or small, across the Commonwealth, especially as many of us follow similar parliamentary traditions. It is important, now more than ever, that we share knowledge and ideas, exchanging thoughts and best practice on how our legislatures can adapt to the biggest shake-up to the way in which they operate for many years. There have been many informal contacts between legislatures in recent months, for example here in the UK, we have an interparliamentary communications network that brings together Communications teams in both houses of the UK Parliament, the Scottish Parliament, Northern Ireland Assembly and Welsh Senedd. However, we have been looking at ways to put this knowledge sharing on a more formal and permanent basis, and to encourage opportunities for networking amongst those working in the field of parliamentary communications. Therefore, I am currently in the process of establishing a Commonwealth Parliamentary Communications Network.
Mr Alasdair Rendall
is the Head of Media Relations for the UK House of Commons since September 2020. Prior to this, Alasdair worked as Head of Broadcaster and Press Gallery Relations, and as a Media Relations Manager. He also worked for the CPA UK Branch as a Communications Manager. Earlier in his career, he held several positions in the BBC and the European Parliament. He has a high level of expertise in the workings of the UK House of Commons and European Parliament, with a strong understanding of devolved legislatures.
The Parliamentarian | 2021: Issue One | 100 years of publishing | 71
