The government has announced an overhaul of its communications service in a bid to improve trust in politicians and civil servants.

Whitehall media chief Howell James announced on Thursday that a new Government Communication Network (GCN) will replace the existing structures in a bid to improve public confidence and respond to voters' needs.

But new research from polling firm MORI has suggested that trust in politicians has not declined in the past 20 years and has significantly gone up for the civil service.

Speaking at the same conference as James, MORI chairman Bob Worcester said several social scientists had been wrong to identify a declining faith in public servants.

He pointed to his own firm's finding that the proportion of the public who trust government ministers to tell them the truth is at a higher level than under the previous Conservative government and has gone up since the Iraq war.

Between 1983 and 1997 the level fell from 16 to 12 per cent, before rising to a high of 23 per cent in 1999 following the election of Tony Blair.

While this subsequently fell to 20 per cent until last year, it rose back to 23 per cent during 2004, despite revelations about the reasons for going to war.

Similarly confidence in civil servants telling the truth has risen steadily in the past 20 years.

Just 25 per cent of the public trusted mandarins in 1983, whereas the figure stood at a high of 51 per cent last year.

Worcester contrasted these findings with the perception among social scientists and policy makers that trust has declined across the board.

Overhaul

Nevertheless, James told the Centre for Public Policy seminar on trust in Whitehall's work that he is implementing the overhaul of the Government Information and Communication Service (GICS) to "ensure that our communication reflects the reality and desires of our customers".

He said the move to expand GICS into the GCN was in response to the independent Phillis review of departments' media and information strategies.

The GCN will incorporate internal communications staff, as well as electronic and marketing specialists, in a bid to join up and broaden its work.

"In government, we want to use communication not just to tell the world about what government is doing, but also to bring the views of the public to the centre of policy and service development, and use research and consultation to inform and refine our thinking," he said.

"At the same time as developing this new remit we have to maintain our grip on the traditional skills, especially media relations.

"The media environment is frenzied - hundreds of channels and outlets, constant noise levels, a media hungry for news and driven by an apparent endless consumer appetite for celebrity news and sizzling soundbites.

"There is almost as much discussion about the public's lack of trust in the media as that of politicians, but, despite this, for nearly all public organisations media handling is, and always will be, a critical function.   

"News management is the most well-known part of government communication but it is by no means all of it. My aim will be to ensure that all the techniques in the modern communications toolkit have equal status."

Local

He also stressed that civil servants should strive to provide local and personal angles to communications.

"During the Phillis review, we commissioned our own research which reinforced other published evidence that people are generally most interested in government when it affects them personally and in their own communities," James said.

"They are interested in their local school, their local hospital, crime in the area, less so in national statistics and performance. The public want to be involved, but on their own terms. They trust local media, television, radio and press more than they do the national media.   

"If we can focus more communication effort and resource on interpreting national policy into what it means for people locally, become less reliant on the national media and use a wider range of communication channels then we have a better chance of really engaging people. 

"The research was also extremely clear that the public do not think in departmental terms but look to government as a whole for information. This is why an effective web-based strategy is so important to the future direction of government communication."

Number 10

James, who was appointed last year as permanent secretary in charge of communications, explained that his role had been created as a way of countering claims that government "spin" had clouded the reliability of information.

"The fact that I am here today as the permanent secretary, government communication is evidence of a significant change in the way that government manages communication," he said.

"The Phillis Review recommended that the post of director of communications, then held by Alastair Campbell – a special adviser with executive powers, be split into two new roles. 

"One would continue to be a special adviser, focused on the prime minister's communication strategy, but without the executive powers. The second role, a civil servant, would be head of profession for all government communicators.

"Today, David Hill is the prime minister's director of communication without the executive powers. I am the first permanent secretary, government communication.

"David Hill and I work together in complementary roles.  While the prime minister's official spokesperson and the civil servants in the Downing Street press office officially report to me, I am not involved in the day to day media activity at Number 10.

"My role is to head up a Centre of Excellence for all communication disciplines within government and to take a fundamental look at the way government communicates. The aim, in line with Phillis's recommendations, is to adopt a strategic approach, to better inform and respond to the requirements of citizens and people who use and work in public services."