“Transactions are not solely financial payments. Communications,
whether of information, persuasion or influence, are costable
transactions that delivery bodies can make more effective and
efficient.”
National Audit Office,
Delivering Efficiently: Strengthening the links in public service
delivery chains, HC 940, 2005-06
Purpose: To provide government departments with a set of questions to challenge and improve the effectiveness of their communications with the public. Five key aspects of effective communication with the public recur in reports by the Committee for Public Accounts (PAC) and the NAO.
Audience: Staff in departments who are in working on programmes that rely on communication with people. Communicating with the public is a complex area of programme delivery: this toolkit can help you to develop and evaluate your approach and to look at examples where the PAC or NAO have reported.
There is a wealth of guidance available on communication and we have included references to other guidance, in particular Engage which provides government communicators with a practical set of principles, tools, case studies and training materials.
How to use this website: Please click one of the five key aspect buttons to the left to go to the related list of questions on effective communication with the public. In turn these are linked to a further tier of more detailed questions which should be addressed in developing effective communications with the public.
For more help see the
guide Using this Site or
contact the
Enhancing Impacts Team within the NAO. If can help us to improve
this site, or have any other contribution, please use the “Feedback”
button on the left.
