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Social and political contributions continued >> There is an essential difference separating the political goals of a professional membership body from a professional firm. The former has a public interest remit, evidenced by self-regulatory functions to maintain quality standards, often via Royal Charter membership, whilst the latter is a business, concerned primarily with commercial interests. The public interest is the top priority in professional bodies’ political consultation, even over members’ (short-term) interests when the two conflict (Craig 2007; McAdoo 2007; Labrey 2007; Hatcher 2007; Chapman 2007). In fact, most professional bodies do not see a conflict at all between the public interest and professional members’ long-term interests because professionals must maintain the public trust in order to survive. Two types of policy consultation The processes involved in political consultation vary according to the issue. Broadly speaking, there are two types of policy consultation: 1) responsive, when a professional body is called to consult or advise the government on a relevant policy issue; and 2) proactive, when a professional body goes to the government with advice on a policy which may be on the agenda sometime in the future. Professional bodies initiate projects and influence governments, but more often professions are responding to external demands for change, which can be social, economic, and political. The formal process of political consultation does not differ greatly across the professions. It consists of monitoring government, assessing the situation to evaluate which actions or proposals merit responses in light of limited resources, advising on how to argue the platform in terms of wider political engagement, and facilitating the discussion between members of the profession and the state (McAdoo 2007; Labrey 2007). The role of the public affairs and policy teams of professional bodies is to determine where and how their organisation can participate in the debate, what the key platforms are for the public interest, how to engage them, and marshalling membership to do so. Members are typically willing and eager to participate in the government consultation process, and do so pro bono. Members, and firms, are likely to be willing to provide their time and expertise free of charge because they see the value in helping to shape public policy (Ibid.) The informal process of political consultation occurs when a professional body sees a gap or a problem which may not be on the government’s agenda but should be (Craig 2007). This form of communication and advice is non-traditional for most professional bodies (Craig 2007; Hatcher 2007; McAdoo 2007; Labrey 2007; Chapman 2007). Still, most see significant value in becoming more proactive in their approach. Forward thinking allows professions to get involved with the agendasetting before ideas develop into (much more inflexible) policy proposals (Chapman 2007). Quantifying professional influence Too often professional bodies are overlooked when it comes to making complex, technical policy decisions relevant to their fields of expertise. The case of Home Information Packs (on page 30) is one instance in which consultation with the relevant professional body might well have resulted in a better-designed policy to achieve the government’s aims of simplifying the property-buying process. One way of evaluating the impact of professional bodies is to measure the number of times professional bodies are mentioned in parliamentary debate, committee hearings, written statements and other official transcripts. 11 This analysis does not capture many facets of the consultation process, such as informal meetings and behind-the-scenes counsel. Still, the mention of a professional body in parliamentary debate is one indication of political influence. The following chart compares the average yearly number of references of four professional bodies against the coverage of top professional services firms in their respective sectors. The analysis also compares coverage of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), Trades Union Congress (TUC) and other major institutional bodies. 11 Hansard, the Offi cial Report, is the printed transcript of parliamentary debates. Hansard transcripts cover proceedings in the Commons Chamber, Westminster Hall and Standing Committees. Lords Hansard covers proceedings in the Lords Chamber and its Grand Committees. Both contain Written Ministerial Statements and Written Answers (“Hansard” 2007). 28
The period of analysis is, for most bodies, the past seven years, 2000 – 2007. 12 The analysis was carried out using the Hansard search engine available via the website www. theyworkforyou.com. This site conducts a search for words within the text of House of Commons debates, Written Answers, Westminster Hall debates, Written Ministerial Statements, Lords debates, and Northern Ireland Assembly debates. The chart shows that some organisations are more successful at achieving parliamentary ‘coverage’ than others: KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers both average above 80 mentions per year whilst the ICAEW and CIPFA average under 30. One should bear in mind that particular debates may skew the results for some organisations, eg the Law Society, who were the focus of sustained scrutiny over the development of the Legal Services Bill. On average top firms in the accountancy profession achieve far greater coverage than professional membership bodies. In the property sector, the professional body RICS does comparatively well at about 11 mentions to, eg the British Property Federation’s nine and CB Richard Ellis’ less than one mention, but in the wider analysis compares poorly to other sectors. Notably, the CBI has achieved by far the most parliamentary mentions per year at 160. This initial analysis provides a start to thinking about how scholars might operationalise professional influence in policy-making and chart its effects. All political consultation provided by professional bodies is pro bono. Another way to begin quantifying the professions’ political consultative efforts may be to look at the hours of the people directly involved, the internal public affairs and policy teams. How many are on the teams, what is the scope of the budgets they work with, and how much member time do they co-opt? Beyond time donated, what is the value of the content provided, the expert advice? In many cases, these records are not kept. Professions might pursue the approach of valuing their contributions to society – such a methodology would allow them to evaluate costs and benefits, measure performance and demonstrate accountability and transparency. Professional influcence in official parliamentary proceedings Yearly average of Hansard mentions 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 Accountancy Property 27.8 27.1 93.5 40.1 61.8 85.8 Legal Other bodies 11.4 9.1 0.5 1.4 0.5 6.0 2.2 3.1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 4.4 0.1 15 16 17 18 19 20 2122 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 1 Institute of Chartered Accountants 2 Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy 3 KPMG 4 Deloitte & Touche 5 Ernst & Young 6 PricewaterhouseCoopers 7 Institute of Chartered Surveyors 8 British Property Federation 9 CB Richard Ellis 10 Jones Lang LaSalle 11 Cushman & Wakefield 12 DTZ 13 King Sturge 14 Drivers Jonas 15 Bar Council 34.7 10 122.5 30 18 1.7 1.8 2.8 2.1 1.5 16 Bar Standards Board 17 The Law Society 18 Solicitors Regulation Authority 19 Legal Complaints Service 20 Council for Licensed Conveyancers 21 Institute of Legal Executives 22 Allen & Overy 23 Clifford Chance 24 Linklaters 25 Slaughter & May 26 Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer 27 British Retail Consortium 28 CBI 29 Institute of Directors 30 London First 25.5 160 36 9 12 For newly created bodies such as the Bar Standards Board, the average yearly mentions were calculated only over the time of the body’s existence. British Professions Today: The State of the Sector © Spada Limited 2009 29
Page 1 and 2: BRITISH PROFESSIONS TODAY: THE STAT
Page 3 and 4: Foreword >> This research by Spada
Page 5 and 6: > > > > > The professions represent
Page 7 and 8: 1Introduction >>
Page 9 and 10: 1.1 What is a profession? There is
Page 11 and 12: The unique role of trust in profess
Page 13 and 14: Because the professions can only ex
Page 15 and 16: Changing regulatory structures >> W
Page 17 and 18: 2.2 Historical development The curr
Page 19 and 20: 2.3 Regulated self-regulation Regul
Page 21 and 22: The Clementi review concluded that
Page 23 and 24: 3The professional economy >>
Page 25 and 26: Our data has been sourced from the
Page 27 and 28: 3.3 Productivity Industry productiv
Page 29 and 30: 3.5 Employment A considerable porti
Page 31 and 32: Social and political contributions
Page 33: Civil society Given the decline in
Page 37 and 38: The Law Society, too, felt that the
Page 39 and 40: Conclusion >> The best augury of a
Page 41 and 42: 5.2 Vision for the future Professio
Page 43 and 44: Harris, Charles Phillip. 1999. Lobb
Page 45 and 46: 2. Personal interviews Name Title A
Page 47 and 48: All photography by Warwick Sweeney

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