As we reach the last throes of departmental negotiations for this Government’s three-year spending plans, all Government departments and officials will be looking at what they can do differently to drive efficiencies and change their ways of working.
With a Mission led Government committed to renewing the state to working in collaboration and partnership, there is a huge opportunity to modernise the relationship between the Government and external stakeholders, including businesses, charities, trade bodies and, notably, the public affairs community.
The public affairs profession – and, yes, I think we legitimately are a distinct profession – can no longer be defined by long lunches and quiet lobbying in dark wood-panelled corridors. Today’s practitioners are strategic communicators who bring valuable experience, practical insight and, in most cases, a strong sense of professional integrity. We are an army of smart, politically savvy professionals, bridging the gap between the external world and the machinery of government.
And yet, in 2025, the civil service too often continues to operate as if the growth and professionalisation of the industry hasn’t happened. The reality of stakeholder interactions are often opaque, fragmented, and delivered via overly cautious engagement structures that are often too late in the policymaking process and frustrating to make meaningful. To state the obvious, tick box stakeholder engagement is completely pointless.
Too often, we are treated with scepticism and kept at arm’s length, rather than recognised as a resource to be engaged. If the sector were harnessed rather than merely managed, we could help shape better policy, more quickly, and support the change that both the Government and the country urgently need.
We are all too aware that the UK faces persistent challenges, sluggish productivity, underinvestment, and regional inequality. None of these can be solved by the civil service alone. If the responsibility for driving growth and delivering prosperity is a shared National endeavour, then the civil service must rethink its relationship with the public affairs community to help deliver it.
Public affairs professionals advise businesses, often from the c-suite (whether in-house or in consultancy), to navigate complex policy and regulatory environments. We speak both the language of policymakers and the language of business leaders. As business invests heavily in future technologies, we are generating streams of data and cutting-edge market intelligence that can be much more effectively utilised by the public sector.
Far from the lazy stereotype that we exist only to promote narrow interests, public affairs professionals largely help organisations understand and respond to government priorities, enabling smoother policy implementation on the ground. We also provide a vital feedback loop when policy is not working as intended, identifying barriers, highlighting unintended consequences and, crucially, helping to resolve them.
Good practitioners operate with integrity, focused on building understanding of the impact of policy and regulation on their organisations and developing long term relationships with policymakers. This is a time-consuming and relentless task. The generalist nature of our civil service and frequency with which officials and politicians move around make this challenge even greater.
We need to have a more open conversation around what constitutes best practice for stakeholder engagement; a recognition that this is a two-way street, where the value of collaboration is understood and embraced. Discussion around how to ensure effective consultation, one where there is more honesty and transparency about when there is a genuine desire for ideas, and more respect for the time, effort and energy that goes into developing high quality consultation responses.
This is absolutely not a call for preferential access or for government to “go easy” on vested interests. This is a call for greater transparency, smarter policymaking, based on earned trust, transparency, and genuine collaboration.
If we want policy to keep pace with a fast-moving economy, the civil service must open the door wider and build a more collaborative working relationship with the public affairs profession.
My advice: take control of the conversation, be mindful of vested interests, make use of data, evidence and insight, and set a clear standard for excellence. You’ll find a profession ready to engage, willing to challenge, and full of ideas.
