Conduct of staff and board members
Staff and/or board members may be involved in elections as supporters of political groups or as candidates. In these cases, it is important that they ensure that this is done in their own time and that they do not use any Healthwatch resources to support this activity.
Healthwatch will also need to ensure that their resources are not used in a way that might be seen as supporting any campaigning activity.
If any board members or staff are involved in canvassing, careful consideration should be given about their role in any public-facing activity during this period. You should consider whether a different person can take part in the activity or whether it can be postponed until after the election. It will be important to remind your board members and staff about your code of conduct and/or your conflict of interest policy so that they are clear about their responsibilities.
We would also urge your operational team to have a discussion with your local authority commissioner to establish if there will be any specific guidance during this period that the local authority will expect local Healthwatch to comply with, and share this with all staff and your board.
Engagement
Engaging with communities and enabling the involvement of local people in shaping services is a statutory function of local Healthwatch and can be continued during this period.
You should discuss with your board and operational team how you plan to conduct your external engagement (and communications) during this time. You may need to adapt your approach to assure that you maintain your impartiality. Whatever work you are undertaking, it is expected that it should not draw attention away from the election, so you should be careful about how you publicise any engagement activity, even if the subject is not contentious.
During the pre-election period you should also think carefully before you launch any new consultations or publish report findings from consultation exercises, which could be politically sensitive.
Publications
During this period, you may want to publish findings of Enter and View visits, engagement work and survey findings. Material that would normally be considered objective and impartial may well be seen as political and attract attention from candidates who wish to highlight these as evidence to support their campaign. You should consider each report separately before deciding whether to publish new material.
Social media
As ever, in your capacity as a Healthwatch representative, be careful not to issue any personal opinions on social media platforms or make any comments from your Healthwatch account that could lead you into a political debate.
Avoid offering additional comment or opinion. Candidates and supporters may ask directly about the work of your Healthwatch, and any comment you make should be purely factual rather than expressing an opinion.
Do not retweet tweets from a political or campaigning organisation that is advocating party political positions, or from a local figure who is standing for election. Consider removing any applications that share content automatically to your social media channels during the election period.
Media enquiries
It is possible for comments made to the media to be taken out of context or misinterpreted and used in a way that could call into question your political impartiality or that of your local Healthwatch.
If a journalist contacts you during this period, you should direct journalists to material already in the public domain such as previous statements or reports that you have released on issues. Avoid offering additional comment or opinion, and if a journalist asks questions directly about Healthwatch, any comment you make should reflect previously published materials. This will be important if the journalist is fact-checking something said by a candidate, as you may be perceived as being critical of that candidate.
It can be better not to respond at all than being pushed into saying something that does not accurately reflect your views.
Working in partnership
Public sector organisations will be aware of the limitations imposed by the period of pre-election sensitivity, but partners from other sectors may not.
Check that any partnership activity that you are associated with takes account of the heightened sensitivity. For example, if a campaigning organisation wants to launch a report that you have collaborated on, you will need to be assured that it will not be seen as supporting a particular political group or candidate either directly or indirectly.
Healthwatch England activity during this period
Healthwatch England will be subject to guidance issued by the Cabinet Office that will apply to all Government departments and arm's length bodies. During this time, we will continue with our day-to-day business of supporting the Healthwatch network and taking forward our projects.
However, we will be carefully considering if our work or publications could be perceived as having a particular local dimension or if they risk competing with local election activity for media coverage.
