Regulating lobbying
agendaNi looks at Westminster’s plans for a statutory register of lobbyists and its ambition to include lobbying in the devolved nations.
In February 2010, the then Leader of the Opposition David Cameron stated that lobbying would be the next big political scandal. “We all know how it works,” he said. “The lunches, the hospitality, the quiet word in your ear, the ex-ministers and ex-advisors for hire, helping big business find the right way to get its way.”
Subsequently, the Coalition Government’s Programme for Government pledged to regulate lobbying through introducing a statutory register of lobbyists.
A consultation on how a register would work ran from January to April of this year. The Government says that it would not cover the normal interaction between constituents and their MPs.
A lobbying firm would be required to update the register quarterly with a registered address of the company and company number, names of employees engaged in lobbying, whether those employees are former ministers or senior civil servants, and client lists. A self-employed lobbyist would be required to update the register quarterly with their details and their client list.
As government departments already publish lists of their external meetings, there is no need to provide further information about specific contacts with government, it adds. This excludes in-house lobbyists (people hired to lobby on behalf of a certain business), trade unions and think-tanks from registering.
The definition of lobbyists is “those who undertake lobbying activities on behalf of a third party client or whose employees conduct lobbying activities on behalf of a third party client.”
Ultimately, the Government aims to introduce legislation to create a statutory register, run by a body independent of government, which collects information on lobbyists and their clients. It would not act as a regulator.
Interestingly, the Government aims to include the devolved administrations and legislatures within the scope of a statutory register. The SDLP, Alliance, the Greens and TUV told agendaNi that they support the introduction of a statutory register of lobbyists in the province. Sinn Féin supports a register in the Republic. The DUP and UUP had not clarified their position at the time of going to press.
An SDLP spokeswoman said the party welcomes “any proposal to bring greater openness and transparency to government.” A register of lobbyists “could provide both accountability and structure to lobbying activities.”
Alliance has supported the register in Westminster, adding that it should include a provision that there should be an interval before former government ministers become lobbyists. A spokesman confirmed that this thinking applies here too.
The Greens support the mandatory registration of all lobbyists from all types of organisations.
Parliament’s Political and Constitutional Reform Committee has since called on the Government to scrap its plans for a register, arguing that the proposals single out third party lobbyists, thereby creating too narrow a focus.
“Under the Government’s proposals, a lobbyist who worked in-house for a large company such as News International, or Tesco, would not be required to register, however a ‘one-man band’ lobbyist would be required to register, name their clients, and pay for the privilege,” a committee spokesman said.
The committee suggests that the Government:
• regulates all those who lobby professionally in a paid role;
• publish information about ministerial meetings no more than a month after the month in which the meeting occurred (some departments take up to eight months); and
• publish, where applicable, the company or charity number of any organisation that meets with ministers or officials.
It argues that it has seen no evidence to suggest that third party lobbyists are a particular problem within the lobbying community, adding that these lobbyists make up less than one per cent of all meetings with ministers.
