Client Profile and Issue

The All-Party Parliamentary Media Group is a forum for discussion within Parliament on public policy as it affects the media sector, formed in 1992. Its membership is drawn from all political parties and both Houses of Parliament. It meets regularly to receive an address and have a short discussion with key players from the media industry, its regulatory agencies, and government ministers. It is an impartial, efficiently-run organisation, which provides a useful interface between Parliament, the industry and other key stakeholders.

 

Our Strategy

Our approach was to position the Media Group from the outset as the pre-eminent forum within Parliament for the discussion of public policy on the media. We provide an efficient and professional secretariat that is completely impartial to all party political considerations and all interests within the industry. We organise a programme of regular meetings for the Group as well as a series of policy breakfasts and an annual reception attended and addressed by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media And Sport. The Chair of the Group is a former journalist and TV presenter and its other officers bring substantial credibility from a wide range of backgrounds in the media and policy-making community.

 

Outcome

The Media Group is now acknowledged as a leading forum for discussion in Parliament and its work is sponsored, at arms length, by the BBC, BSkyB, ITV, Channel 4 Television, Time Warner and Walt Disney. It makes a valuable contribution to raising the quality of debate on media policy in Parliament and is greatly valued both by ministers and by industry.

 

The work of the Media Group also gave rise to the now-independent Westminster Media Forum which organises regular keynote national seminars on important developments in media policy.

 

 

Client Profile and Issue

The British Gurkha Welfare Society (BGWS) is the largest organisation of Gurkhas settled with their families in the UK. It has several thousand members in Nepal. Since its inception in 2004, the BGWS has been at the forefront of Gurkha campaigns on equality, settlement rights and equal pension entitlement for all ex-British Army Gurkhas.

 

In October 2009, the BGWS brought a High Court judicial review against the Ministry of Defence, challenging for equality of pension rights for a significant number of Gurkha veterans who had retired before 1997. In January 2010 the verdict of the review was returned in favour of the Ministry of Defence, leaving many of these Gurkhas with little option but to relocate to the UK to secure adequate financial provision.

 

The BGWS had maintained a high profile and successful national media campaign in 2009 fronted by TV actress Joanna Lumley. It was keen to continue its pursuit for equality of pension rights for the Gurkhas, despite the setback of the adverse judgment.

 

Our Strategy

We ensured the relevant Government officials were thoroughly briefed on key issues and that the crucial cost-savings implied in equal pensions was forcefully communicated. The BGWS enlisted the cross-party support of vocal Members of the House of Commons in support of a statement in opposition to the judicial review verdict.

 

All of the UK national newspapers, television and radio stations, along with key international newswire services, were contacted in advance of any announcement to alert them to the verdict of the judicial review. The BGWS then issued its statement as soon as the judgment was made public, also making Gurkha and legal spokespeople available for interview, supported with comments from the most supportive members of the House of Commons.

 

Outcome

The BGWS ensured that its comments in opposition to the judicial review verdict were published in three national newspapers (The Times, Independent, Daily Express) with a fourth (Daily Telegraph) also noting the outcome of the case.

 

The decision was highlighted as a breaking news story on Sky News, with additional online articles published on well read websites such as Sky News, BBC News and The Guardian. To date, more than 400 media outlets worldwide, including the Wall Street Journal, have carried the story, helping to secure public support for future Gurkha pension claims.

 

 

Client Profile and Issue

The British Olympic Association (BOA) is the national Olympic body for the United Kingdom. It is responsible for selecting and taking members of Team GB to the Olympic Games, and for supporting and encouraging elite sport in Olympic disciplines. The BOA wished to mount a bid to bring the 2012 Olympic Games to London, but knew that such a bid would only succeed with active support from the government, the Mayor of London, and the opposition political parties.

 

Our Strategy

By commencing an early dialogue with Ministers and with officials at the Department of Culture Media and Sport and the 10 Downing Street Policy Unit we were able to work to support the BOA in identifying the concerns and objections the government might have to the proposal. We organised a parallel initiative to identify, approach and brief the key Conservative and Liberal Democrat Spokespersons in both Houses of Parliament, and managed the regular submission of briefing notes to Parliamentarians prior to relevant debates in both Houses. We created opportunities for the BOA to disseminate its arguments about the tremendous benefits to the whole of the UK economy that a successful bid would bring, and helped them to convince government that the Prime Minister could confidently personally endorse the bid, despite its huge financial cost, because of the professionalism and thoroughness with which the BOA were preparing the detail of the project.

 

Outcome

Over a period of three years behind the scenes work, the Government was persuaded that it could proceed confidently to endorse the Bid in the knowledge that it would have the support of the Mayor of London, the Conservative Party and the Labour Party, as well as the overwhelming majority of MPs and Peers and the people of London. In July 2005, after an inspiring campaign by the bid team, the International Olympic Committee announced its selection of London as host city of the 2012 Olympic Games. Whitehouse is proud of the part we played in bringing the Games to London.

 

 

Client Profile and Issue

Consumers for Health Choice (CHC) is a campaigning organisation defending the interests of consumers of food supplements, herbal remedies and other natural health products and therapies. CHC considers that regulations from the European Union are overly restrictive and will prevent UK consumers having continued access to safe and popular products which have been traditionally used to achieve and maintain optimum health.

 

Our Strategy

CHC has maintained an intensive lobbying campaign within the United Kingdom political environment to ensure that the UK government at all times is fully aware of the depth of concern about disproportionate regulatory developments. CHC has regularly briefed and lobbied all UK Members of the European Parliament, and members from all Member States who serve upon the key Environment Committee of that Parliament. We have also established an ongoing dialogue with officials of key government agencies, including the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), and CHC’s views are also registered when appropriate directly with officials of the European Commission.

 

A high media profile, the recruitment and deployment of high profile celebrity supporters, and a constant barrage of parliamentary questions, early day motions, debates and other political activity, has kept pressure on the UK government to actively negotiate for a more proportionate approach in Europe.

 

Outcome

CHC achieved a paradigm shift on the part of the UK government in 2005, with the Prime Minister personally intervening to take a high profile public position on issues of concern. CHC has now achieved a situation where it is fighting in Europe with the UK government as an active and committed ally, rather than as the enemy. Meanwhile many MEPs from across the Union have signed up as patrons of CHC, and the Commission itself, at Director-General and Commissioner level, is very much aware of CHC’s aims and objectives for legislation under discussion.

 

 

Client Profile and Issue

ESSNA is a trade alliance representing the specialist product sector of the sports nutrition industry in Europe. It comprises members who have sales and marketing interests in specialist sports nutrition products in most of the member states of Europe.

 

The organisation was established to ensure that potentially threatening EU legislation on sports supplements was amended and to develop the image and profile of the sector. The legislation would have set unnecessarily low maximum permitted levels for popular products as well as set up a positive list system for particular ingredients. The latter would have meant that some existing products would have needed removing from the shelves, and that new product development and innovation would have been stifled.

 

Our Strategy

As a new organisation it was first of all vitally important to build profile and to develop key messages. The Whitehouse Consultancy helped ESSNA members understand the European regulatory environment and supported them in putting together position statements on issues of import.

 

Once the ESSNA position had been agreed it was important to communicate this quickly to senior UK officials, Ministers, UK and European Parliamentarians and officials in the European Commission.

 

ESSNA explained the flaws in the draft regulation and ensured that pressure was brought to bear from a range of decision-makers prior to the European Commission deciding on its own work plan. The aim was to demonstrate to the Commission that it would have a political problem if the flawed legislation were brought forward as drafted.

 

Outcome

By winning the support of the UK government and key MEPs as well as pressure from within the UK Parliament ESSNA ensured that the proposal was stopped pending industry agreement. ESSNA is now working with the wider industry movement to ensure that any legislation which is brought forward is proportionate and not damaging to small and medium sized enterprises.

 

ESSNA works with the World Anti Doping Agency, UNESCO and others in the development of a kite-marking scheme for sports supplements to ensure that consumers are fully and adequately protected.

 

 

Client Profile and Issue

The Field Studies Council (FSC) is an educational charity committed to bringing environmental understanding to all. Established in 1943, the FSC has become internationally respected for its national network of education centres and is the UK’s leading provider of field courses. In recent years, the FSC has seen fieldwork provision in science and biology decline in British schools. Currently 96% of GCSE science pupils will not experience a residential field trip.

 

Our Strategy

Whitehouse has enabled the FSC to develop their public affairs activity over time, however the core focus has remained the same, including improving teacher training and seeking to promote fieldwork within the national curriculum. Over a number of years Whitehouse has worked with the FSC to run a successful public affairs campaign with the intention of raising awareness of the importance of fieldwork.

 

Outcome

Due to the success of the campaign outdoor learning is now firmly on the political agenda, evident by the two select committee inquiries which have been undertaken on the issue in recent years. Both reports emphasised the importance of learning outside the classroom and recommended that it became an essential aspect of every child’s learning experience. As a result of public affairs work the Government also commissioned the Training and Development Agency to undertake a review of Qualified Teacher Status standards.

 

Past and present Ministers, shadow Ministers and other prominent Parliamentarians have given endorsements to the FSC’s campaign. The FSC has also been mentioned as an example of excellence by Education Ministers in written parliamentary answers and by Parliamentarians in debates. Furthermore, the Department for Education worked with the FSC on the Manifesto for Learning Outside the Classroom and are represented on the Board of the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom which was launched in March 2009.

 

The FSC is also currently developing a proposal to build an urban education centre on the site of the Olympic stadium. Working with Whitehouse the FSC has generated positive support for this proposal from MPs, local councils and other Olympic partners. This has led to key MPs and Peers championing the centre. The FSC continue to maintain a high profile campaign in Westminster and Whitehall, allowing them to continue to pursue the core aspects of their campaign.

 

 

Client Profile and Issue

The Green Machine is a commercial supplier of vending machines to schools, offering healthy alternatives to the snack foods commonly found in many vending machines.

 

With 16% of all 2-15 year olds currently classified as being obese in the UK, and soft drinks and other unhealthy snack products being cited as a significant contributory factor, the Green Machine was keen to promote to key policy makers the value of its products in delivering a healthier diet option for children in schools, and it enlisted the help of the Whitehouse Consultancy to achieve this aims.

 

Our Strategy

The public health issues surrounding children and young people were used as a platform for the Green Machine to establish itself as both a stakeholder in the debate on children’s nutrition and as part of the solution to the problem, stressing that as well as being lower in extrinsic sugars and unhealthy fats, all Green Machine products are free from any artificial flavourings, colourings or preservatives.

 

By introducing Green Machine representatives to Parliamentarians and senior government officials, governors’ and teachers’ representatives and other key interest groups the Green Machine was able quickly to put its key messages to the people best placed to implement change.

 

Whitehouse ensured that information about the Green Machine was regularly fed into all relevant Government consultation exercises and kept high upon the public policy agenda through Parliamentary questions, letters to Ministers and high profile Parliamentary events.

 

Outcome

The Green Machine is now widely recognised in Westminster, Whitehall and beyond as being part of a solution to the problem of poor health amongst school aged children. Through extensive profile raising and engagement with key decision makers the Whitehouse Consultancy has been able to help the Green Machine achieve references in key Government documents citing it as a healthier alternative to competitors’ products; and has helped the Green Machine establish a highly important relationship with school governors and the teaching profession.

 

 

Client Profile and Issue

The HFMA is the UK’s leading national trade association for manufacturers and distributors of a wide range of natural health products including food supplements, herbal remedies, organic and whole-foods, aromatherapy products, sports nutrition, slimming products, and other specialist items.

 

HFMA members have been threatened by a series of national and European regulatory developments that impose additional burdens upon manufacturers and limit not only the ingredients that may be used in products, and the levels at which they may be present, but also the comments which manufacturers and retailers are permitted to make in their advertising, promotional and marketing material, including on their web sites.

 

Our Strategy

Our approach has been to position the HFMA both in the UK and in Europe as a powerful voice of the sector and to ensure that it punches above its weight in the corridors of power in Westminster, Whitehall and Brussels. By sustained and intensive lobbying, both nationally through the HFMA officers and locally through its individual members, the profile and impact of the Association’s campaigns have been increased. Active involvement with Parliamentarians both in Westminster and in the European Parliament was initiated and developed to position the HFMA as the source of authoritative information, comment and advice on the regulation of the sector.

 

Parliamentary questions, motions, debates, delegations to ministers, meetings at 10 Downing Street, lobbying visits to the European Parliament, meetings as the European Commission, and a willingness to challenge regulatory decisions in the High Court and the European Court of Justice have all been key elements of the strategy.

 

Outcome

Today, the HFMA is the first port of call for regulators, officials and politicians seeking advice and information about the impact of new regulation on the specialist products sector. Its interests are now placed much higher on the agenda when new regulations are being considered, and the HFMA is continually in dialogue with all those whose decisions impact upon its members’ interests. Firm and robust commitments have been achieved both from the UK Government and from the European Commission about the way in which legislation will in future be developed and implemented.

 

 

Client Profile and Issue

The Holland and Barrett (H&B) Group is the UK's leading manufacturer and retailer of vitamins, minerals and herbal supplements. Holland & Barrett also owns health stores in the Republic of Ireland, and has expanded into Europe in 2003 with the acquisition of a health and beauty chain of stores in the Netherlands - a total of more than 600 retail outlets operating in three countries.

 

H&B’s commercial interests, and those of the whole specialist natural health products sector, have been threatened by a whole series of European directives and regulations that have greatly increased regulatory burdens, threatening the continued availability of many of the specialist products that are core to the H&B offer.

 

Our Strategy

H&B has been positioned as the most active champion of consumer rights in the UK and as a defender of the interests of the whole industry, including the independent retailers who are H&B’s competitors. With a store in most Parliamentary constituencies in the United Kingdom, H&B branches have been used as lobbying hubs, briefing MPs, issuing leaflets to mobilise consumers, and displaying campaign posters when necessary.

 

Direct communication with MPs, Peers, 10 Downing Street, the Cabinet Office and key officials of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the Food Standards Agency (FSA) have been carefully managed to ensure that H&B’s concerns are noted at the highest possible level and that the company’s managing director has been personally involved, at the behest of government ministers, in finding practical solutions to the problems of over-burdensome regulations such as the Food Supplements Directive and the Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive.

 

We also worked with H&B’s Managing Director to enhance the company’s influence within trade associations both within the UK and Europe; and secured a series of personal meetings with the most senior officials of the European Commission and build relationships with MEPs.

 

Outcome

H&B gained regular access to 10 Downing Street and government ministers, hundreds of products that would have been lost to the natural health sector have been saved, and government agencies have now been specifically charged by ministers with the task of working in Europe to find real solutions to continuing regulatory problems. Consumer choice has been protected, the specialist products upon which an entire retail sector relies have been retained, and many specialist niche manufacturers have remained in the market as a direct result of the H&B lobbying efforts.

 

 

Client Profile and Issue

The LIFT Council represents the private sector partners in LIFT (Local Improvement Finance Trust) schemes, a government-endorsed partnership between the public and private sectors to improve investment in health, social care and well-being in England. The membership comprises more than 90% of the private equity investors in LIFT schemes in England.

 

Whitehouse were appointed to provide public affairs and media support as well as chairmanship and secretariat services.

 

Our Strategy

Although LIFT is at the heart of the government’s policy to move the focus away from acute services, increase investment in primary care, co-locate services and deliver a patient-led NHS, understanding of the delivery mechanism remained low within the public policy arena. Too often LIFT was grouped together with other private finance schemes and its unique benefits and partnership approach ignored.

 

Whitehouse have therefore sought to widen understanding of LIFT among opinion leaders and decision makers; vocalising the message that LIFT is the solution to achieving health improvement goals and is the perfect delivery mechanism to drive forward the policies contained in the White Paper on primary health and social care.

 

Our aim was to ensure that LIFT had widespread support among all stakeholders and on both sides of the House in order to secure its long-term success at a time of wider uncertainty in the NHS.

 

Outcome

The LIFT Council has been recognised as a key partner alongside public bodies in developing and extending LIFT. In this position, the private sector has been able to act collectively to counter robustly a range of threats to LIFT’s continuing success.

 

Core messages have been communicated to professional medical associations, NHS bodies, shadow ministers, backbenchers and ministers. We have successfully positioned the organisation as a mouthpiece for direct communication with government through which member concerns can be heard at the highest levels.

 

In 2008 the government announced the introduction of Express LIFT, a national procurement framework based on LIFT to speed through delivery of new primary care facilities, allowing all of England to benefit from LIFT.

 

We continue to drive forward the development of this valuable delivery mechanism to improve investment in health, social care and well-being in England.

 

 

Client Profile and Issue

The Nappy Alliance is a trade body of 11 independent providers of reusable nappies, established to promote the use of reusable nappies with their concerns being two-fold; environmental benefits of landfill reduction and unnecessary energy use, and cost savings to new parents.

 

Our Strategy

Whitehouse have acted as both the secretariat and public affairs advisers to The Nappy Alliance, a campaign which has gone from strength to strength over a period of several years. The campaign has been based on issues of waste and costs savings. After numerous rounds of meetings with key Parliamentarians and officials, support for the promotion of reusables has grown, kept buoyant through parliamentary activity which ensures that all inquiries and consultations from waste reduction to sustainable development to NHS procurement are made to consider the impact of disposable nappies and the benefits of reusables.

 

Outcome

The Alliance has achieved sustained support for reusable nappies, securing dialogue with senior officials in the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) responsible for both the Waste Strategy Review and the Waste Implementation Programme, as well as with ministers in the Department of Health (DH) responsible for information which is made available to new parents. Success include the specific identification of disposable nappies within the waste stream by DEFRA and many local authorities in their waste action plans. In addition there has been the inclusion of the benefits of reusable nappies in the DH publication ‘Birth to Five’, given free to all new mothers.

 

The Nappy Alliance also has a strong relationship with the Waste Resources and Action Programme, a government funded body which has received £2.2 million to promote reusables across the UK.

 

 

Client Profile and Issue

Oxford Immunotec Ltd. is a specialist T-cell immunology company who develop and sell products based on T-SPOT™ technology that opens up new ways to diagnose and monitor infection. Their first commercial product to use T-SPOT technology is T-SPOT.TB, a blood test used to test for latent and active tuberculosis (TB) infection.

 

With growing rates of TB infection in the UK, coupled with a current testing regime which is over a century old, Oxford Immunotec realised the need to engage with the public policy making environment to promote their T-SPOT™ technology and to improve diagnostics in the UK.

 

Our Strategy

With the knowledge that the current testing regime for TB was developed over 100 years ago, and delivers low accuracy rates, in comparison to the 96% accuracy of T-SPOT.TB, and in addition that the test, the Mantoux skin test, is unlicensed in the UK, it was clear Oxford Immunotec required immediate meeting programmes with senior parliamentarians and officials leading on the development of TB diagnostics. An audit of health policy in this area told us that the Chief Medical Officer had recently advocated using technological advances to control rates of TB, and that the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) were undertaking guidelines on TB Management. Influencing the latter would be the primary objective and communications were sent from MPs, Peers and Shadow Secretaries of State to NICE to endorse the uptake of T-SPOT.TB.

 

Outcome

Substantial headway was made, all health practitioners now advised that T.SPOT.TB has been identified as the most appropriate test for patients who are immunocompromised. The NICE guidelines acknowledged T-SPOT.TB, but do not go far enough. A commitment has been given by officials at the Department of Health to press for these guidelines to be re-visited in light of further evidence of its efficacy.

 

Oxford Immunotec have garnered in a very short period of time much support across both Houses, the three main parties and among officials, with encouraging answers given on the floor of the House of Lords and in answers to parliamentary questions in the Commons.

 

 

Pro bono Client Profile and Issue

The Spinal Injuries Association (SIA) is the national charity for spinal cord injured (SCI) people. It was founded by Baroness Masham of Ilton and fellow SCI people in 1974 and today has over 5000 SCI members. The SIA won a year’s free public affairs consultancy support from Whitehouse through our pro bono scheme in 2006.

 

The SIA represents the views of its membership on a wide range of issues and we recommended that they select one specific issue of prominent importance to members to ensure their lobbying activity remained focussed. After consulting the membership it was decided that the campaign would lead on health policy and, in particular, specialist care for SCI people delivered through Spinal Cord Injury Centres (SCICs).

 

Our Strategy

The Whitehouse Consultancy worked with the SIA to condense their concerns into a briefing paper and developed a series of headlines to focus attention on the key issues; that SCI care urgently needs modernising and that a national model should be developed to ensure minimum standards are met. Vitally, this action would save both lives and NHS costs.

 

We identified the Department of Health’s review of the commissioning of specialised services, announced in October 2005, as a vital opportunity. We therefore worked with the SIA to develop a programme of meetings with parliamentarians and officials to increase the organisation’s profile in Westminster and Whitehall and to drive home the need for change to the way SCIC care is funded and delivered.

 

Outcome

The SIA have secured valuable contacts across the public policy arena and built a base of support to back their campaign on improvements to SCI care.

 

When our pro bono support ends we will have maximised the opportunity of the specialised commissioning review and placed SCI care firmly on the agenda. We will also have ensured that the SIA are furnished to be able continue their lobbying activities in the future with a valuable range of resources, contacts and support.

 

 

Client Profile and Issue

The Swimming Teachers' Association (STA) is a registered charity with the objective of ‘preserving human life by the teaching of swimming, lifesaving and survival techniques’. The STA receives no Government funding or support, yet has experienced incredible success over the last few years, growing a membership base of approximately 6,000. The organisation currently trains more than 40 per cent of all Swimming Teachers in the UK.

 

Our Strategy

Despite being an international leader in water safety and swimming and a significant contributor to the UK’s swimming sector, the STA was effectively being excluded as a stakeholder from swimming policy development in the UK. The UK Government’s position has been that swimming is a ‘sport’ as opposed to ‘physical activity’. This means that responsibility for both the recreational and elite/competitive swimming sector has been handed to Sport England and the national governing body, The Amateur Swimming Association.

 

Whitehouse devised a comprehensive political contact programme for the STA to raise the charity’s profile among political decision makers. We provided in-depth briefings and regular updates to parliamentarians, officials and policy advisors on the process that the Government was following on swimming policy, highlighting the Government’s closed consultation process, heavily dominated by the organisation with specific responsibility for the elite/competitive side of the swimming and without reasonable input from the wider recreational swimming sector. We were able to highlight the shortcomings of the £142 million initiative introducing free swimming for people aged over 60 and under 16.

 

Whitehouse worked with the STA to develop messaging to highlight the negative effect that this limited consultation process was having on policy development and calling for wider involvement of the swimming sector.

 

Our overall aim was to ensure that the STA had widespread support among all stakeholders on both sides of the House, who were willing to call for their involvement as a partner in future Government swimming policy development.

 

Outcome

A broad base of Parliamentary support for STA’s objectives was developed and drawn upon to raise key issues with the Government and highlight the need for wider stakeholder consultation in the future. With the weight of this political pressure, we were able to make the argument directly to the Government and to the governing bodies that STA’s involvement was a vital part of the swimming policy development process.

 

STA is now accepted as a major stakeholder in swimming policy and is used as an example of excellence by politicians. Following on from our initial activity, STA is now involved in discussions with DCMS and Sports England, as well as more widely with policy stakeholders.