The Cabinet Office has announced today that it will be increasing the annual fee for registration on the Statutory Lobbying Register from £700 to £1,000. The announcement prompted the APPC, CIPR and PRCA to issue a joint statement.
"This cost increase, which is being introduced without effective consultation, is a direct consequence of poor planning by the Cabinet Office. The lobbying industry has consistently warned the Cabinet Office that their estimate of 700 third-party lobbyists joining the register was unrealistic. Currently 113 lobbyists are signed up – just 15% of the Government’s estimate.
As it stands, the Government does not know whether 113 is a baseline or maximum capacity for the register. If the annual running cost of the register was to be met by those currently registered the fees would be unreasonably high. This effectively means a self-funding register of lobbyists based on this model is unviable.
The exclusion of in-house lobbyists and others from the legislation has resulted in an ineffective register that only displays a tiny pool of information. The professional bodies already do a far better job at providing transparency about who is lobbying the Government. They do so free of charge to the public and compel their members to adhere to strict codes of conduct which govern their professional behaviour.
The lobbying industry supports the government’s stated ambition to increase the transparency of lobbying, but the current register will never be effectively self-funding. A financially unsustainable and ineffective register risks failing the public and parliament."