The Times OnLine

By Sam Coates

January 13, 2006

IT WAS the dilemma no lobbyist could solve.

Fearing the ever-increasing dominance of the big supermarkets, the pharmacy industry — which represents thousands of high street chemists — desperately wanted a share of the £20 million emergency contraception market.

Then in 1999 came the creation of the All-Party Pharmacy Group, funded by four pharmacy associations. It immediately announced that its first inquiry would be into over-the-counter emergency drugs.

In its report in February 2000 it concluded: “Many women seeking emergency contraception, especially younger women, feel uncomfortable at having to visit their GP [for a prescription] . . . Community pharmacists are able to offer expert advice on the use and appropriateness of emergency contraception without the need for an appointment.”

Within months the rules were changed. Howard Stoate, the Labour MP for Dartford and group chairman, later boasted that it was “no exaggeration to suggest we have helped shape policy on emergency contraception”. The report framed its argument around what was best for the patient-customer. Sceptics say that may be true, but ask why its conclusions coincided with key demands from the pharmacy lobby.

“We make the sources of our funding absolutely transparent. If people want to know you can easily find out. There are no secret deals,” Dr Stoate said.

All-party groups are required to register the names of outside organisations that provide them with benefits, which is then published on the Parliament website.

Yet the entry for the All- Party Pharmacy Group lists only Luther Pendragon, a lobbying company, as the provider of their administrative support. This would appear to be a clear breach of parliamentary rules that state: “Where a public relations agency provides the assistance, the ultimate client [of the PR company] should be named.”

Nor do any of the group’s 11 reports mention where their support comes from.

In fact the group’s sponsors are the Company Chemists Association, which represents 4,000 chain pharmacies, the National Pharmaceutical Association, which represents community pharmacies, the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC), which also represents community pharmacies on NHS matters, and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, the professional and regulatory body for pharmacists.

The group’s remit, registered with parliamentary clerks, is: “To raise awareness of pharmacy and pharmacists and to promote pharmacy’s current and potential contribution to the health of the nation.” A pharmacy industry lobbyist could not have dreamt of better. Luther Pendragon has worked with the group from the start.

Dr Stoate said that the group does get the lobbyist to draft the group’s reports after the group has deliberated, but is adamant that it does not overstep the mark.

“They have no direct impact on how to run the group. Luther Pendragon has an expert who works with the group who knows his stuff and helps, and they act in an advisory capacity. They book rooms, send out reports. They help us to draft the report. The report is agreed with the committee, so they write down and print it out. The reports are the property of the group.”

The ability to draft reports gives a lobbyist huge influence over their tone and structure.

A lobbyist not involved in the All-Party Pharmacy Group told The Times his profession pulls the puppet strings of all-party groups.

“The secretariat is invaluable. They will control the group. While MPs have a view on whether to get involved in an issue, they really rely on the secretariat and nothing would happen without them. Often just by setting up a group, you can make an impact,” he said. He said that MPs, who are often a member of many All- Party Groups, do not have time to organise meetings and invite people to receptions.

Even the four pharmacy bodies that fund Luther Pendragon imply a more active involvement in the All-Party Pharmacy Group than Dr Stoate implies. “The PSNC helped set up and is involved in the running and management of the All- Party Pharmacy Group, a group of parliamentarians in Westminster dedicated to promoting pharmacy,” according to the PSNC website.

“The [Royal Pharmaceutical] Society was instrumental in the formation of an All-Party Pharmacy Group in Parliament, which first met in December 1999,” the society’s website says.

They clearly play a more active role than some of the MPs registered as members of the pharmacy group on the Parliament website.

Sandra Gidley, the Liberal Democrat MP and former pharmacist, who is a member of the group, received donations to her constituency party from the National Pharmaceutical Assocation. She said that she does not read the reports that are released by the All-Party Pharmacy Group.

“I’ve never been sent a copy of a report that has been produced by the group. I presume the officers [the chairman and secretary] oversee them. I have not done any lobbying on behalf of NPA.”

THE WAY GROUPS OPERATE

What are all-party groups?
They were created for groups of MPs and peers with shared interests to meet and discuss particular issues and act as a pressure group on specific causes. There are 370 of them: 102 focus on particular countries and the rest on subjects

Who can sit on them?
Mainly backbenchers from the Commons and Lords. Associate party groups may also include non-parliamentarians. Under a standing order of the House, an all-party group must include at least five members of the government party and five from the opposition parties

How official are they?
Formally recognised in 1985. Registration is compulsory for any group that includes MPs from more than one party and has at least one officer from the Commons

How often do they meet?
Some meet regularly, some as little as twice a year, the minimum required.

Do they differ from select committees?
All-party groups are not an official part of the parliamentary process, have no limit on the number of members and have no formal powers to request the presence of ministers or write reports.

How is business allowed to fund them?
Taxpayers’ money does not fund all-party groups so the costs of organising meetings, drafting reports and gathering members together is increasingly filled by special interest groups: companies, trade association and charities. The groups must declare any outside organisation which provides administrative support or funding

Who oversees them?
Administration of the register is overseen by the Committee on Standards and Privileges whereas the Administration Committee oversees the approved committees.