As the party conference season gets underway, only 13% of MPs and 9% of peers rate attending such gatherings as one of the best ways for charities to influence them, trailing almost every other lobby tactic, according to a poll out today.

Not-for-profit sector research consultancy nfpSynergy’s Charity Parliamentary Monitor surveyed a representative sample of over 150 MPs and 100 Peers, asking them which charity lobby methods they find most persuasive.

Out of a wide range of prompted ploys, only the use of “house business” (11%) is deemed by MPs to be less influential than party conferences, whilst peers rank party conferences bottom out of a similar range of options.

Face-to-face meetings at Westminster are seen as the most influential by MPs (mentioned by over half, 54%).

The next three most influential forms of contact are all constituency based: constituency correspondence (39%), constituency events (37%) and constituency business (36%) - followed by Westminster events (33%), Westminster correspondence (27%) and media coverage (19%).

Like party conferences, reports/publications are mentioned by just 13% of MPs as being influential.

Comparing the forms of contact that MPs say are most influential with those that MPs claim charities use most frequently highlights a number of underexploited areas: in particular face-to-face meetings at Westminster (54% say influential, just 16% say it is frequently used), constituency events (37% influential, 9% frequent) and constituency business (36% influential, 14% frequent).

Conversely, Westminster correspondence and reports/publications appear to be overused by charities - despite their lack of influence.

When asked last year (Nov 2008), a quarter of all MPs (24% - split 30% Labour, 18% Conservative & 13% Lib Dem) said they didn’t even bother attending their party conferences.

Of the MPs who did attend, 1 in 4 (25%) claim to have been unimpressed by any charities that may have been present there – rising to over a third (34%) of Conservative MPs, compared to just 17% of Labour MPs.

nfpSynergy researcher, Sarah Lincoln, said: “Many charities assume that campaigning via a costly stand or fringe meeting at a party conference is an effective way to reach MPs and Peers.

"However, politicians themselves – a significant proportion of whom don’t even bother attending conference or, if they do, are unimpressed by any charities that may be present – say that voluntary organisations would prove far more persuasive lobbying them face-to-face in Westminster, or operating at constituency level.”