Alex Aiken
Executive Director of Government Communications
How did you tackle the biggest challenges facing your organisation in 2014?
The biggest single challenge we faced as government communicators in 2014 was delivering the information campaign in the lead-up to the Scottish referendum. ‘You Decide’ explained the benefits of keeping the union together. It was a truly historic moment; we knew the communications had to be absolutely faultless and very impactful, because the consequences would have been so far-ranging for all of us.
In term of the profession, government communications changed for the better in 2014. We created the Government Communications Service (GCS), set-up shared services such as Design 102 at MoJ, and professionalised our work – with each communicator required to complete four pieces of validated development.
The cross-government communications plan we published in May 2014 covered 100 campaigns, from combating modern slavery to promoting food exports. We are now two-thirds of the way through executing the 2014-15 plan, so we’re on target to deliver the work to a high standard. The initial evaluations of many campaigns – from the Change for Life campaign improving public health, through to an expected £700m benefit from GREAT trade and tourism – are really encouraging. But there is plenty to do before the election. It is noticeable that the focus of cross-government communication priorities shifted over 2014 from the economy to more international efforts – the brilliant DfID work to end FGM, the stunning FCO campaign to stop the use of rape as a weapon of war, and latterly combined government efforts to stop the spread of Ebola and combat the messages of ISIL.
What are your department’s top priorities in the last months before the general election?
In 2015 the international focus will continue as well as major domestic issues like the need to communicate the delivery of the promise of devolution to Scotland and economic communications in the run-up to the budget. We will also be driving forward the second phase of our GCS Improvement plan, with nine projects and a new focus on the importance of internal communications, raising standards of leadership across the profession and designing the ‘modern communications team’.
What’s your favourite Christmas treat? And what makes you say: ‘Bah, humbug!’?
I’ll be in Wales over Christmas, and I hope the whole family will see Cardiff City FC and Cardiff Rugby Club play over the break. Getting all three generations of the family (from two continents) to the matches at Christmas is quite special, whatever the weather. Seeing our teams lose is obviously, humbug.