The House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee published a report yesterday. A thorough investigation into lobbying, it calls for a statutory register of lobbying activities:
"Lobbying the government should, in a democracy, involve explicit agreement about the terms on which this lobbying is conducted. The result of doing nothing would be to increase public mistrust of Government, and to solidify the impression that government listens to favoured groups—big business and party donors in particular—with far more attention than it gives to others."
The Association of Professional Political Consultants regulates the industry, but on a voluntary basis, and the committee called this arrangement "little better than the Emperor's new clothes". It also expressed concern about the high influx of former ministers into the industry.
A summary of the report and a link to the whole thing - which calls for far greater transparency - is available here.
Tom Greeves, who wrote this post, undertakes work for a variety of PR and lobbying companies. (And is indeed available for more of it!)
Tuesday, January 06, 2009 in Lobbying, Public Administration Select Committee | Permalink | Comments (3)
And the winner of the Conservative awayday quiz was...
20 Sep 2013 10:42:23 | Comments (0)Today's Tory MPs awayday will be told that the 40/40 strategy is now a 50/40 strategy
19 Sep 2013 06:10:30 | Comments (0)New edition Loyalty Boris hits the shelves
18 Sep 2013 14:28:51 | Comments (0)Lorraine Fullbrook announces she is standing down as MP for Ribble South at the next election
14 Sep 2013 12:56:56 | Comments (0)Grant Shapps writes to the UN Secretary-General in protest at biased Housing investigator
12 Sep 2013 00:05:07 | Comments (0)Candidate applications open for five more seats
6 Sep 2013 15:57:35 | Comments (0)Sajid Javid says he’d “embrace the opportunities” that leaving the European Union would bring
6 Sep 2013 13:15:39 | Comments (0)We need more social entrepreneurs as Tory MPs: Toby Young must do his duty
5 Sep 2013 16:23:54 | Comments (0)Reshuffle speculation, what reshuffle speculation?
1 Sep 2013 12:24:10 | Comments (0)Who's to blame? Cameron, the Whips, or both?
30 Aug 2013 09:04:08 | Comments (0)