The Scottish Government

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7. Lobbying

Areas of Support

Figures 7a and 7b show the percentage of all organisations who have:

a) Used external support;
b) Have internal capacity; and
c) Anticipate future support needs;

In each of the specific lobbying areas. The graphs are arranged in descending order of anticipated future support needs.

Figure 7a: External Support, Internal Capacity, Anticipate Future Support Needs

Figure 7b: External Support, Internal Capacity, Anticipate Future Support Needs

The main areas where organisations have used external lobbying support are:

• Producing print materials (18%)
• Producing web-based materials (14%)
• Connecting with national political structures (10%)

The main areas where organisations have internal capacity for lobbying are:

• Identifying and connecting with partner organisations (44%)
• Connecting with local political structures (43%)
• Producing print materials (40%)

The main areas where organisations anticipate needing future lobbying support are:

• Developing a communications strategy (18%)
• Producing web-based materials (16%)
• Media training (16%)

The proportion of all organisations accessing support for the different areas of lobbying was relatively low in comparison with other core topic areas.

The reported use of external support and anticipated future needs were similar, focusing on basic communication; for example: producing materials, media training and connecting to national political structures. The highest reported internal capacity was for connecting at more a more local level: identifying partner organisations and connecting with local political structures.

Lobbying institutions and influencing political parties came out as very low priorities in terms of internal capacity, use of external support and anticipated future support needs.

Internal Capacity & External Support Costs

Figure 7c shows that the cost of internal support for lobbying is less than 10% of annual turnover for the majority of organisations. No-one reported the internal cost of lobbying as more than 30% of annual turnover.

Figure 7c: Internal Cost of Lobbying Support

Figure 7d shows the cost of external lobbying support for each financial size of organisation. External support for lobbying costs less than £500 for most organisations of different sizes.

Figure 7d: Cost of External Lobbying Support

Figure 7e shows that the majority of lobbying support is paid for, with only 10% of organisations reporting more than half of support being provided free of charge.

Figure 7e: Lobbying Support Received Free of Charge

Figure 7f shows that the majority (78%) of organisations reported that external lobbying support was providing value for money. 12% of organisations reported that external lobbying support had not been value for money.

Figure 7f: Value for Money of Lobbying Support

Figure 7g shows that external lobbying support is most commonly reported (41%) as being required once per year, while 27% report requiring support up to once a quarter and 27% never requiring any external lobbying support.

Figure 7g: How Often External Lobbying Support is Required

External Support Provision

The table below shows which agencies and organisations have provided external lobbying support and the average quality score of that support.

* A list of specifically identified providers is presented in Appendix A

As previously noted, a small proportion of organisations have accessed external support for lobbying in comparison to other core topic areas. There is no particularly prominent type of support provider, although the most common sources of lobbying support are either from private companies or national organisations: SCVO, intermediaries and other national voluntary organisations. Quality of support is scored high for all these organisations.

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