Transparency campaigners have welcomed a new Parliamentary report urging the Government to introduce rules that would allow greater public scrutiny of the normally secret world of lobbying.

The key recommendations of the report published today (Monday 5 January) by the influential Public Administration Select Committee are the introduction of a statutory register of lobbying activity and a strengthening of the system overseeing the ‘revolving door’ between government and business.

David Miller of the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency (ALT), a coalition of civil society groups, said:

“Gordon Brown must follow the recommendations of this report and reform lobbying to bring it out of the shadows. The public has a right to know which groups are bending the Government’s ear to influence policy.”

“We welcome too the Committee’s recommendations for controlling the movement of personnel between Whitehall and business, the so-called revolving door. When public funds are tight, there must be no suspicion that Ministers and officials are working for anything other than the public good.”

The lobbying industry’s attempts at self-regulation are also heavily criticised in the report, which describes the existing system of as  “little  better  than  the  Emperor’s  new clothes”. Industry arguments against regulation were also dismissed, with the Committee concluding that most of their fears were “over-stated.” It also points out that lobbyists are regulated in a number of other jurisdictions including the United States, Canada, Australia and Brussels.

The report follows an 18 month inquiry into lobbying by the Committee of MPs, led by Dr Tony Wright. Members of the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency gave both oral and written evidence to the Committee calling for reform.

Recommendations in detail

1. A  statutory register of lobbying activity to include:

•    Names of lobbyists and the organisations hiring or employing them
•    Names of clients of lobbying consultancies
•    Information about any public office previously held by a lobbyist
•    A  list  of  the relevant interests of decision makers within the public service, and summaries of their career histories outside the public service
•    Information  about  contacts  between  lobbyists  and decision  makers - essentially,  diary  records  and  minutes  of meetings

1. Strengthening of the system overseeing  the ‘revolving door’:

•    Former Ministers and other public servants should be prevented from lobbying for an extended period of several years
•    The committee overseeing business appointments (ACoBA) needs to be strengthened.

 Go to the Public Administration Select Committee website to download a copy of the report .