Insight Public Affairs

This article is part of the Lobbying Portal, a sunlight project from Spinwatch.

According to the UK Register of All-Party Groups, the PR and lobbying firm Insight Public Affairs is employed by pharmaceutical firms Sanofi-Aventis, Bayer Schering Pharma and Boehringer Ingelheim to provide administrative assistance (organising meetings, sending invitations).

Insight Public Affairs also works with the National Literacy Trust (NLT) and the Chartered Institute of Librarians and Information Professionals (CILIP).

An article in The Times (London) of 25 September 2009 notes:

Insight Public Affairs, which is still dominated by former Labour staff members and has not yet recruited a Tory candidate, has issued a flattering guide to likely stars of the 2010 intake of MPs, with advice on how to lobby them. "So many new MPs," wrote an account executive, Mark Wheeler, "so many lobby interests, so little time."

Views on lobbying transparency

Following extensive evidence gathering in 2008, the House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee published their report and recommendations on Lobbying in early January 2009. The Committee's report recommended the mandatory register of lobbyists.

In a January 2009 interview about lobbying of members of the House of Lords on BBC Radio 5 Live, Insight's accounts director Chris West seemed to agree with the Committee. He emphasised the importance of "being really open", adding, "All we're looking for is transparency in lobbying."

But in a contradiction of this view, Insight's James Tyrrell criticised the Committee's recommendation that all communications between lobbyists and policy makers should be reported. He said:

The recommendation for all agencies to publish their client list is to be welcomed. But the principal weakness of the report is the proposal - under compulsory regulation - to report all communication between the policymaker and the lobbyist. There remains an inherent difficulty in defining a lobbyist - a fact that risks undermining the committee’s objectives. If we include every group or individual and require them to register every meeting with an MP or civil servant, it will at best be burdensome and at worst a mechanism for disenfranchisement for those least able to meet exacting standards. The public affairs industry needs to uphold exceptional ethics - but discouraging political engagement is not the way to do it.

All-Party Parliamentary Groups

Insight works with:

• the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Libraries, Literacy and Information Management
• the All-Party Parliamentary Thrombosis Group

Clients

Insight Public Affairs' website as at November 2009 lists clients as:

• Bayer Healthcare/Bayer Schering Pharma
• Celgene
• Circle Anglia
• CDFA - Community Development Finance Institutions
• CRFP - Council For The Registration Of Forensic Practitioners
• Foundations
• Genzyme
• Harrahs
• ITM
• Lifeblood - the thrombosis charity
• Local Government Information Unit
• Lloyds Pharmacy
• National Autistic Society
• National Literacy Trust
• N.O.W.
• National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society
• Payplan
• Pulmonary Hypertension Association
• Rentokil Initial
• Sanofi-Aventis
• Skills for Care
• St Mungo's
• Total Politics
• Wallace & Gromit's Children's Foundation

People

As at November 2009:

• John Lehal - managing director
• James Tyrrell
• Chris West - accounts director

Resources

Insight Public Affairs, APPC Register Entry for 1 June 2009 to 31 August 2009