Cogitamus (Mark Walker)

College Public Policy (Warwick Smith)

Connect Public Affairs (Gill Morris - Chair)

Consolidated (James Page)

Edelman (Michael Burrell)

FD-LLM (Sean McKee)

Foresight (Mark Adams)

Grayling (Tanya Joseph)

Hill & Knowlton (Andrew Cave)

JMC (John Murray)

Lexington (Gidon Freeman)

Mandate Communications (Gavin Devine)

PPS (John Mills)

Precise Public Affairs (Robbie MacDuff)

Sovereign Strategy (Rory O’Neill)

APPC (Mary Shearer - Secretary)

 

 

APCO

B2L Public Affairs                                           

Citigate Dewe Rogerson                      

EUK Consulting

Fishburn Hedges

Fleishman Hillard

Greenhaus                                           

Morgan Allen Moore

Waterfront

Weber Shandwick

 

The Chair welcomed new members to the meeting.       

 

 

Members approved the minutes of the meeting held on 10 September 2007. Matters arising and not otherwise on the agenda were as follows:

 

The seminar held in Cardiff had been well received and had encouraged members there to consider forming APPC in Wales.

 

The Chair reported that there had been no contact from the OFT. APPC’s letter to “The Lawyer” magazine had not been published in full but had been used as the basis for a second article.

 

The Chair reported that, since the last meeting, three new members had joined (Champollion, Golden Arrow and Sovereign Strategy) bringing the number of members to 53. An application had been received from Vardy Consulting Ltd, trading as Political Dimension, and the Management Committee was seeking more information. 

 

 

The Chair reported that the Select Committee had taken its first oral evidence on 29 November, with its next session planned for 13 December, with the others in 2008.   APPC was likely to be called to give evidence, probably jointly with PRCA and CIPR; the Management Committee would be meeting on 10 December to consider oral evidence and other members were invited to attend if they wished. In the meantime, the Chair was gathering a press archive for reference.

 

Members discussed the report of the first session, which they felt had been quite positive, and considered some of the points made in some detail.

 

            The Chair reported on a meeting of members’ compliance officers on 20 November.   The meeting’s main conclusions had been that the Complaints & Disciplinary Procedures should be reviewed and that clearer guidance should be given to members on completion of their Register entries, particularly for those firms that offered consultancy services other than PA. It had been agreed that the meeting should be held annually.

Warwick Smith undertook to circulate a note of the meeting, but in the meantime summarised the proposal for a new stage in the Complaints & Disciplinary Procedures for speedier action in certain cases. The meeting had also reviewed possible penalties and had concluded that suspension was preferable to exclusion.   The meeting had had varying views, but had concluded that it would not be possible for APPC to keep any complaint or action confidential.

 

The meeting had also considered possible amendments to the Code of Conduct which would be drawn up for consideration at the next members’ meeting, including:

 

·        Introducing a time limit of five year on complaints in the future

·        Removing the prohibitions on members of the GLA, who were councillors rather than MPs

·        Introducing an explicit prohibition on payments to councillors (except remuneration)

·        Introducing a prohibition on making a political donation on behalf of a client

 

As regards the Register, the meeting had concluded that:

 

·        Clients with a media communications programme were not registrable

·        Freelancers should be included where they were carrying out PA work but not, for example offering training or market research

·        There should be clearer guidance for members

 

            The Chair reported that the launch of the Guiding Principles had been disappointing, with a number of journalists failing to understand that the document was not a new, weaker code of conduct. She and Mark Adams had had a follow-up meeting with

 

PRCA and CIPR GAG, when it had been agreed to continue to work together to promote the principles and to arrange a “round table” meeting with relevant organisations, such as the TUC, CBI, NCVO, Charities Commission etc

It was reported that the Solicitors’ Regulatory Authority had said that it was acceptable for solicitors to join APPC, and it was agreed to follow this up.

John Mills referred to his report circulated before the meeting. As background, he explained that there was a lack of consistency in the guidance offered to councillors by local authorities’ planning officers and solicitors as to their receiving representations on planning permissions. There were now some indications that the situation could improve and John Mills would be meeting both the DCLG and the LGA in the new year to try to progress the situation.

            It was planned to present revised guidelines for members at the next meeting.

 

In the absence of Jo Nove, there was no report.

 

The Chair reported that, in response to the Management Committee’s request for members’ views, there have been no definite proposals.

 

The meeting noted the action points arising from the management committee’s review meeting on 24 May, which the Chair felt had been largely overtaken by events.

In the absence of Jo Nove, there was no report.

 

            The following dates for members’ meetings were agreed:

 

It now seemed likely that stories resulting from the enquiries by The Guardian and The Times would be published next year. It was suggested that there should be a short version of the APPC Code of Conduct for use by members in pitches, as well as in contracts, and the Chair undertook to look at a suitable form of words, also suggesting that the whole Code should be used.

 

It was noted that APPC had submitted evidence into the Procedure Committee’s Inquiry into e-petitions.

17 March 2008 at 5.30pm at Connect, Millbank Tower, Millbank, London SW1P 4QP

Sam Coates, Chief Political Correspondent of The Times.