Lobbying in the United Kingdom
Formal procedures enable individual members of the public to lobby their Member of Parliament but most lobbying activity centres on corporate, charity and trade association lobbying, where organisations seek to amend government policy through advocacy. Companies and individuals who operate in this sector commonly use the terms "public relations", "public affairs", "political consultancy" or "corporate affairs" to describe their activities (though this was also a reaction to the negative publicity surrounding the word "lobbyists" following the 1994 Cash-for-questions affair). Professional public affairs agencies, representing multiple clients, undertake a significant proportion of lobbying activity in addition to individual organisations conducting lobbying on an in-house basis.
Bachelor of Public Administration
The Bachelor of Public Administration (BPA or B.P.A.) degree is one of several Bachelor's level management degrees that provides training in the public policy field as well as public management. A bachelor's degree in public administration provides a background for those interested in pursuing careers in governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, management in hospitals or public health institution, consulting in private firms, school boards, and human resources. Careers in international agencies, urban or regional planning, city management, financial planning, public finance and public relations also at the local, state/provincial, national/federal and supranational levels, as well as in the nonprofit sector. Through its history, the BPA degree has become more interdisciplinary by drawing from fields such as economics, management, sociology, political science, and regional planning in order to equip BPA graduates with skills and knowledge covering a broad range of topics and disciplines relevant to the public sector. A core curriculum of a typical BPA program usually includes courses on economics, public finance, research methods / statistics, policy analysis, ethics, public management, leadership, planning & GIS, program evaluation/performance measurement and human resources management.