Public affairs and communications management

"The new coalition government is not releasing a lot of detail about its plans. This reflects the complex arrangement between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats and the fact that new ministers still need to settle in. Trading on policy detail is also still taking place between both parties' ministers. The next big announcements will come in and around next week's budget (22nd June) and, much more fully, in the Spending Review (due October, possibly November).

But decisions are being made now, and it is really important the businesses we work with are able to understand them. So we have come to depend a lot more on informal networking within our own network of contacts across government, parliament and political parties. It doesn't quite match the balanced and rigorous findings that you would normally get if there was a volume of published material from civil servants, but it certainly is helping us to gain insights into the big decisions government is taking, as and when they happen."