On 19 November 2024, ACE/EIC’s policy team, along with CEO Kate Jennings and representatives from several member organisations, were kindly hosted at the offices of Connect Group in Millbank Tower to mark the launch of our new Public Affairs Group. Connect are a strategic communications consultancy specialising in public affairs and political strategy, corporate communications and reputation management. They support some of the UK’s most prestigious organisations to navigate politics, policy making and the media.
At the beginning of the meeting, we heard from Laura Blake, a Partner and co-owner of Connect, who provided us with her insights on engaging with Government and the recently published Industrial Strategy. Laura has a strong track record of working with clients across the public, private and charitable sectors, with particular specialisms in housing, education and pensions. She also has a background working in the chemicals industry and with water companies.
In Connect’s opinion, the Labour Government was keen to publish the Industrial Strategy to shape the narrative surrounding their first one hundred days in power. Given the fact that the UK has long been an outlier amongst major global players in not having an industrial strategy at the heart of our economy, the policy could be seen as transformative if successful. As a result of this, the strategy is currently fairly underdeveloped, therefore, there is significant scope for our organisation and our members to shape its future direction.
Connect also highlighted the increasing influence held by the Mayors of Devolved Combined Authorities, such as Andy Burnham in Greater Manchester, in shaping the agenda and policy positions of the Government in Westminster. This influence is only set to increase as the Government progresses in devolving further powers to local leaders, with two new mayoralties in Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire also on the way. With just under two hundred of our members situated outside of London and the Southeast and with our Northwest and Midlands working groups, our organisation is in a good place to take advantage of these developments. Many of these local authorities will have had little experience in delivering major infrastructure projects, therefore, the skillset and knowledge of our members will be in high demand.
Turning to the future priorities of the Public Affairs Group, all attendees agreed that communicating the value of consultants was key. It was agreed that there was a need to differentiate the work of our members from the type of management consultancy which has garnered negative media coverage and resulted in Government efforts to cut back on overall consultancy spending. More can be done by our industry to share examples of where our member’s work has contributed value to a project which cannot be found anywhere else in the UK market. For example, where members have shared best practise which they have picked up from work overseas.
The group also agreed that securing consistent and visible pipelines of work from Government, reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and developing and gaining access to a skilled workforce were all key topics for us in 2025.
Moving forward, it was agreed that the new Public Affairs Group will have three meetings in 2025 and ad-hoc sessions as required dependent on political events. We will circulate some dates soon. Members additionally agreed to share press notices and case studies with the ACE/EIC policy team to help bring our policy and consultation responses to life. Responding to these types of surveys run by Parliamentary Select Committees and Government Departments are a key method for our organisation to communicate the value of members’ work and increase the profile of our industry amongst decision-makers.
We hope we can expand the group in 2025 and more of you will be able to join us as we increase our engagement with Government and promote the value our members add to the economy and society.
If your organisation would like to get involved or if you would like to share with us which issues you think we should be prioritising, then we would love to hear from you. Please contact Laura Wright, Interim Policy Director at ACE/EIC at - LWright@acenet.co.uk
We are also establishing a group WhatsApp forum to exchange intelligence and insights. If you would like to be a part of this, please let Laura know your mobile number.
