Working for our members: The Public Affairs team takes on party conference season

By Natalie Chapman, Head of Public Affairs

My role as part of the Public Affairs team is to develop the strategy for engagement. It’s an exciting challenge. We must take a proactive approach and ensure that politicians and decision makers aren’t just talking to us during a time of crisis, such as a global pandemic or petrol shortage, but see the importance of logistics to the economy and country as a whole and continually seek our view. This provides the best opportunity to represent members’ views.  

We engage with ministers, MPs, select committees and all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) in Westminster and devolved governments, as well as at a local and city level with metro mayors. One of our aims is to strengthen our relationship with the Department for Transport (DfT) and increase our reach across Whitehall, in particular HM Treasury.  

We will be attending the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat conferences this year. We have planned panel events at both the Conservative and Labour conferences. These will be sponsored by DHL and Amazon, with key speakers including politicians and political journalists.  

These are fantastic opportunities to increase awareness of what we do, and our aim will be to highlight the vital role logistics plays in the economy, covering four key themes: 

• Innovative and integrated infrastructure. 
• A fair transition to a green economy. 
• Skills partnerships to support a thriving sector. 
• Trade backed as a driver for change and productivity.  

Panel events present huge benefits for members, as we discuss important issues with leaders that will help the industry be more efficient and effective and raise the profile of logistics. We want to gain recognition for the vital role logistics plays in the economy and our everyday lives. If we’re going to attract people into the industry and address skills shortages, they need to be aware of what we do and what the opportunities are. If the needs of our sector are to be taken into account when government makes key decisions on taxation and spending, we need to be in the forefront of the mind of decision makers. This is what we will be doing through our engagement. 

Both of our panel events are in great locations, right in the heart of the conferences, so I expect a lot of interest and opportunity for a lively and productive discussion.  

We have ramped up our activity at party conferences this year, and next year we plan to build on this further. We will be working on our manifesto, with the intention to influence the manifestos of political parties ahead of the expected General Election next year.  

Alongside party conferences, we’re also currently preparing for the Autumn Statement, which is due on 22 November. While there is no formal consultation, we are working with Treasury and providing a submission with our asks against the four key policy themes above. We have discussed this with members through our Public Affairs Working Group.   

Our working group is the best way for public affairs professionals in member organisations to engage with us. It provides a valuable sounding board for us to develop our plans and test ideas. Our next meeting is in November, when we will be reviewing the first year of our Public Affairs team and share next year’s planned activity and milestones. Find out more about our Public Affairs Working Group and I encourage anyone working in public affairs or colleagues whose role includes government engagement to get in touch with me.  

We most recently launched a new report on productivity in parliament, working with our policy information team. I led on the launch event with the House of Commons and ensuring MPs attended. We have made a great start at presenting the needs of logistics to parliamentarians. We will now be looking at anchoring these key messages and effecting positive change. 

We have had a productive year of engagement, but this is just a starting point. We have a programme of planned engagement through events and outreach with MPs and ministers. We will be continuing to highlight the importance of logistics to the economy, and push the challenges that members face to government, and I look forward to driving this forward.

Published On: 21/09/2023 15:00:00

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