Lobbying firm loses big contract after confidentiality breach

Martin Shipton

A lobbying company had a £250,000 contract cancelled after a serious breach of confidentiality, it has been revealed.

The trade news outlet PRWeek reported how the energy industry watchdog Ofgem had terminated its contract with Cavendish on June 8, according to the Government Find a Tender website. The contract ended two months after the agency was appointed to work on Ofgem’s public affairs strategy, primarily in Wales.

The relationship, which had been intended to last for a year, was ended unilaterally by Ofgem “due to a material breach of confidentiality obligations within the contract”, according to the Government Find a Tender site.

The termination notice states: “The supplier acknowledged and apologised for the breach but it was not considered sufficient by Ofgem, which chose to exercise its right to terminate the contract.”

A Cavendish spokesperson told PRWeek: “Following an unintentional error by the account team, with internal processes since tightened, our work has come to an end. We wish them all the best for the future.”

When contacted by PRWeek, Ofgem declined to comment further.

The breach took place between April 1 and April 17 2026, according to the document.

The contract’s final value was listed at £14,400 including VAT, having initially been valued at an estimated £252,000 including VAT.

Ofgem is a non-ministerial government department that serves as the regulator for Britain’s energy markets. It enforces consumer protections including the energy price cap, polices energy suppliers, and oversees the national grid’s transition to net zero.

In the original contract notice, Ofgem said it sought a PR supplier to provide “on-the-ground support in Wales through an agency with Welsh-specific knowledge and insight, in order to increase engagement in the nation”.

It added: “Wider capacity gaps in the team have created a need for additional support from an external organisation to help with public affairs in Great Britain more broadly.

“This covers both delivery work and strategic insight in order to help the internal team broaden and strengthen relationships with policymakers and increase their awareness and understanding of Ofgem’s work.”

Cavendish was the third-fastest-growing PR firm in the UK last year, seeing a 45% jump in revenue to £18m, according to PRWeek’s most recent UK Top 150 Consultancies project. The agency placed second in the public affairs sector table, and 28th in the overall rankings.

Deryn

The agency bolstered its Welsh expertise in early 2025 with the acquisition of Cardiff-based public affairs shop Deryn, which it renamed Cavendish Cymru.

At the time of the takeover, Deryn’s directors were former Welsh government special adviser Cathy Owens and ex-Plaid Cymru Assembly Member Nerys Evans. Both carried on working for Cavendish after the takeover, and were kept on as directors, Ms Evans resigned her directorship in March this year and was elected to the Senedd to represent Sir Gaerfyrddin. Ms Owens remains a director of Cavendish Cymru.

The company was involved in a series of scandals over the years. In 2017 the communications regulator Ofcom concluded that it broke its own procurement rules when it awarded a contract monitoring events at the then National Assembly to Deryn without competitive tendering and while two of Deryn’s senior figures – Nerys Evans and Huw Roberts, another former Labour special adviser – sat on Ofcom’s advisory committee for Wales.

The row led to calls for a register of lobbyists to be established at the Assembly – something that has still not occurred.

Also in 2017 Deryn’s name cropped up in connection with the tragic suicide of Welsh Labour politician Carl Sargeant, who had been sacked from the Welsh Government’s Cabinet by the then First Minister Carwyn Jones after being accused of inappropriate behaviour towards a number of unnamed women. It later emerged that Mr Jones had lengthy telephone conversations with Cathy Owens and Jo Kiernan, another former Labour special adviser working for Deryn, immediately after being told of Mr Sargeant’s death.

New guidance

In 2022 the then First Minister Mark Drakeford issued new guidance to Ministers about their contact with lobbyists after it was reported that two Cabinet Ministers – Julie James and Jeremy Miles – met Fiona Stewart, the owner of the Green Man Festival, at the home of Ms Owens during a period when controversy was raging over the Welsh Government’s decision to buy a £4.25m farm seven miles from the festival’s site in Powys to help the festival develop its business.

An investigation concluded the meeting was purely a social occasion, but stated that it “might have been prudent” for the Ministers to have declared their attendance at it to the First Minister.

We asked Cavendish to explain the nature of the confidentiality breach, but did not receive a response.