UK Public Affairs Council wants a “statutory hug” - and why that’d impede transparency
The UK Public Affairs Council wants government to base proposed legislation for a statutory lobbyist register around UKPAC’s new voluntary lobbyist register.
In a recent interview Elizabeth France, chair of the UK Public Affairs Council, said:
“We’ve really got about a year to try to show [the government] that the scheme that we’ve set up in UKPAC works, and to try and persuade them that what they need to do is embrace that with a statutory hug rather than invent something else.”
UKPAC plans to make its voluntary lobbyist register public online later this month.
UKPAC chair Elizabeth France on CIPR TV on 16 January 2011, indicated her hopes government will embrace UKPAC’s voluntary register with a “statutory hug”.
The UKPAC register will show firms and staff that have registered as lobbyists, and a list of current clients. Similar information is already public for some firms in voluntary registers run by the industry bodies APPC and PRCA.
UKPAC has stated its register will not include financial information
If the proposed UK statutory register were to follow US regulations on lobbying, then it would include financial information.
In the US, lobbyists report amounts received from clients to the Senate Office of Public Records. This allows transparency sites like Influence Explorer to make this accessible to the public.
In the US, Influence Explorer shows us that BAE Systems spent $30,417,000 on lobbyist firms from 1997-2010.
UKPAC register probably won’t list specific lobbying issues
If the propsed UK statutory register were to follow US regulations, it’d require lobbyists to report specific lobbying issues for each client.
In the US, a lobbying firm is required to file a separate registration for each client. Organisations employing in-house lobbyists must also file registrations.
Specific lobbying issues, both current and anticipated, are stated in the registration.
In the US, lobbyists must file a separate registration for each client, and report specific lobbying issues.
UKPAC register probably won’t list lobbyist’s employment history
If the proposed UK statutory register were to follow US regulations, it’d require lobbyists to report former roles they’d held in the public sector.
In the US lobbyists are required to state the executive and/or legislative positions in which the person served.
UKPAC wants to run government’s lobbyist register
In the same interview on CIPR TV, Elizabeth France went on to say:
“I would be very shocked if [the government] wanted to a new non-departmental body to do this work; which is why I am as confident as I can be, that if UKPAC can show that it can do the job, they’ll be happy for us to do that on their behalf - within a statutory framework.
Lobbying transparency requires full disclosure
The UKPAC register is light on disclosure in comparison to US registration disclosure requirements.
For transparency we need the UK government to mandate that a statutory register of lobbyist activity include financial information, specific client lobbying issues, and the employment history of lobbyists.
The UK government will be releasing a consultation paper on their proposed statutory register in the near future. That’s a chance for the public to say what they’d like to see in a register of lobbyist activity.
