• What we do

What we do

We offer the full range of government relations and public affairs services, including:

Government relations and lobbying

- Ensuring that institutions of government understand our clients, their contribution and their needs
- Campaigning for legislative change, or regulatory or policy decisions
- Influencing the passage of primary legislation

Public affairs

- Broadly based communication to influence the political mood, including grass roots and grass tops campaigns, old and new media, third party support, events, etc

Stakeholder engagement

- Strategic engagement programmes targeted to help clients engage their audiences and achieve change through mutual understanding
- Tailored approaches encompassing formal consultation events with analysis of feedback, public exhibitions, community websites and newsletters
- Reports on Stakeholder Engagement to demonstrate how the engagement has shaped the plans, in line with Government consultation best practice (PPS1, PPS12) and local authority policies

Regulatory advice

- Assisting regulated businesses and organisations manage their relationships with their regulators
- Advice and support in direct contact with regulators and with their functions
- Influencing government and political opinion around regulation and regulators

Policy research & analysis

- Legislative audits
- Bespoke research for clients on specific issues: preparation of briefing papers
- Research and development of briefing papers for clients with analysis of past and likely future trends, and assessment of consequent business risk and opportunity

Public procurement and PPP (Public Private Partnerships)

- Development of positive awareness campaigns for clients selling to the public sector
- Advice and support in proposing PPP solutions

Strategic political counsel

- Advice on clients' strategic direction in the light of government, political and regulatory pressures and policies
- Creation of government relations and public affairs strategies

Local government & planning

- Assisting to secure housing allocations with local authorities and helping to win planning consents for applications
- Comprehensive political audits identifying the key influencers, with a detailed analysis of the planning system and issues of local importance
- Guide clients through negotiation with elected members at County, District, Borough and Unitary Authorities, as well as at town and parish levels

M&A and competition policy

- Generating political support for, or opposition to, mergers and acquisitions
- Advice on the political implications of mergers and acquisitions
- Developing government relations and public affairs strategies covering the three phases of M&A: planning, deal, post-deal

Reputation management

- "Political branding": managing political understanding and perceptions of our clients
- Engagement programmes

Select committee support and training

- Briefing on committee inquiries, members, etc
- Assistance with written submissions
- Messaging for written submissions and as part of preparation for oral hearings
- Preparing for oral hearings through role play rehearsal

Trade policy

- Advice on and influencing the development of bilateral and multilateral trade agreements
- Advice on and influencing trade disputes

Political monitoring

- Being our clients' eyes and ears amongst the institutions of government
- Regular reporting of political and policy statements and developments
- Legislative tracking