Association for Scottish Public Affairs

The Association for Scottish Public Affairs (ASPA) was founded in 1998 to represent the interests of lobbyists with the creation of the Scottish Parliament. Membership of ASPA is predominantly drawn from the commercial sector, with many PR consultancies and legal practices with public affairs / lobbying division playing a leading role in the organisation.

Alan Boyd, the first convenor of ASPA, was clear that the organisation should act to resist democratic scrutiny and regulation of lobbying. He stated:

We can allow the parliament to regulate our own affairs [or] we get our act together and write a code which will allow us to regulate on our own ... There is a golden opportunity for us to influence the CSG. We should go for it in a big way and operate as a professional body. (ASPA minutes, April 1998)