College Public Policy (James Nason)

Connect Public Affairs (Gill Morris (Chair))

Edelman (Michael Burrell)

Foresight (Mark Adams)

Grayling (Tanya Joseph)

Helen Johnson Consulting (Helen Johnson)

Lexington (Gidon Freeman)

Portland (Richard Taylor)

PPS (John Mills)

Waterfront Partnership (Tim Carr)

Weber Shandwick (David Cole)

APPC (Mary Shearer (Secretary))

 

AS Biss & Co

APCO

EUK Consulting

Fishburn Hedges

Fleishman Hillard

Greenhaus

Hill & Knowlton

Lansons PA

Precise Public Affairs

Open Road

 

The Chair apologised that there would be no speaker after the meeting due to the forthcoming change in the chairmanship of EPACA.  However, John Grogan MP had agreed to speak after the next meeting on 14 May.  The Chair also noted that, as agreed in the interests of transparency, minutes of members’ meetings were now being put onto the APPC website.

 

Members approved the minutes of the meeting held on 4 December 2006.  Matters arising and not otherwise on the agenda were as follows:

 

The secretary reported that Warwick Smith would be organising a seminar for all members’ compliance officers shortly and before the annual Code compliance procedure as at 31 May.

 

The secretary reported that the management committee had reviewed the links from the APPC website and had come to the conclusion that they were satisfactory.  She encouraged members to suggest other links, ideas and content for inclusion on the website.

The Chair was pleased to report that Open Road had joined APPC since the last meeting.  Two more applications had been received and would be considered by the management committee after the members’ meeting.

 

The Chair had written recently to all firms that might be prospective members and, whilst some had refused, she was pleased to report that she had received a number of positive enquiries and perceived a shift in attitude in some firms that had hitherto been uninterested in joining up. All enquiries would be followed up and the copy of the new Code of Conduct circulated to them.  The Chair reported a record number of members.

Members agreed to amend the Code by adding the following new clause 18:

 

“Political consultants must disclose the names of clients and consultants in the APPC Register.”

 

They also agreed to amend the preamble to the Code, other conditions of membership, to reflect the change to a quarterly register.

 

The management committee was considering the question posed by some non-member firms regarding client confidentiality and that being used as the reason why they were unable to join the APPC.  The Management Committee wanted discuss the APPC Code of Conduct with the Law Society and gauge their views.  Some law firms offering public affairs services claimed that the Law Society Rules prohibited disclosure of client names, however it could easily be argued that the Law Society Code applies only to individual law practitioners and not to the company they work for as a whole.

Members considered and approved the latest draft of the generic principles discussed at the last meeting, noting that it was due to be finalised at forthcoming meetings of PRCA and CIPR GAG.  Once agreed by all three bodies, the principles would be launched to a range of organisations with a view to making the whole industry more ethical and transparent.  As a first step, they would be discussed with the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards and the Committee on Standards in Public Life and it was hoped that ultimately they would be accepted as a requirement under Government and public procurement processes.

 

Mark Adams explained that the principles would not be branded as APPC’s and (referring to the amendment to the Code) could not be used to explain a consultancy not joining APPC.   As best practice principles, they would not be policed in any way, but it was hoped that representative employer and trade bodies (Charities Commission, TUC, CBI etc.) would recommend adherence to them by in-house practitioners.  It was not yet clear how the new principles would be branded and promoted more widely.  A further meeting on the way forward regarding a joint communications strategy would be held once PRCA and CIPR GAG had met and gained approval from their respective boards.

In the absence of Robbie MacDuff, the Chair recalled the discussion held at the last meeting regarding the APPC Commissioned, first stage study into international standards of PA consultancy, which had been received just before that meeting.  In the event, and after discussion with Robbie MacDuff, Professor Justin Greenwood had decided not to proceed with the second phase of the study.

 

Michael Burrell said that the first stage report provided the APPC with a list of countries, highlighting whether each had statutory regulation, self-regulation or no regulation at all.  The original idea behind the research was to provide for a comparative study on the effectiveness of self regulation in the industry on a country by country basis.  It was agreed that it would be useful to try to extrapolate some usable information from the report.

 

The Chair referred to the discussion that took place at the previous meeting and to the report of EPACA’s meeting with the Commission, and in particular the Commission’s new proposal to require the publication of financial information (undefined but presumed to be disclosure of fees) which had not been mentioned in either of APPC’s meetings with Commission earlier in the year. 

 

Michael Burrell said that the Corporate Europe Observatory had now criticised APPC for opposing this proposal, it had been reported that the publication of APPC minutes on the website had been “inadvertent”.  The APPC agreed to put the record straight and make it clear that the minutes were published deliberately and in the interests of transparency.  As regards the ETI, the EU had now said that a firm proposal would be published in the spring of 2007.

 

It was agreed to contact EPACA again to find out any developments and to invite the new chair to speak to a future APPC meeting.

 

Members noted that Jo Nove of Greenhaus Communications has succeeded Illiam Costain McCade as chair of APPC(S), with Ross Laird of Citigate as the new secretary.  APPC(S) was undertaking a membership drive with encouraging results.  The meeting scheduled for 6 March had been postponed due to pressure of work in light of the forthcoming elections to the Scottish Parliament, and APPC(S) was planning to send a written briefing to all MSPs after the election and to offer meetings to all new MSPs.

 

In the absence of Lucy Burns, John Mills of PPS referred to his report to the last meeting on the change of advice to councillors in November’s Local Government White Paper, dropping the prohibition on councillors giving their view on a planning application in advance of the committee meeting to determine it.  He undertook to liaise with Lucy Burns to prepare a statement on the impact of the White Paper.

 

Members noted the formation of Public Affairs Cymru (PAC), an organisation intended to be similar to the Northern Ireland Government Affairs Group.  The vice-chair of PAC was Catherine Griffiths of Grayling, who had undertaken to keep APPC abreast of developments there.

 

The next APPC Code training seminar would be held on Monday 26 March and members were invited to send delegates’ names to the secretary.

The Register as at 28 February 2007 was planned to be published on the website on or shortly after 7 March.

 

The Chair reported on a meeting with Accenture at their request to provide more information on the APPC Code of Conduct and ethical issues to avoid bringing the industry into disrepute.

AGM on 14 May 2007 at 5.30pm at Connect, Millbank Tower, Millbank, London SW1P 4QP immediately followed by members’ meeting.  The speaker will be John Grogan MP.