The independent office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists has published its first guidance for individuals and organisations about the requirements to join the statutory lobbying register.
The Registrar, Alison White, announced the register will be launched by Friday 27th March. The new guidance serves to understand who is required to register, “what information must be declared” and “at what point an individual or organisation should apply to join the Register”.
White declared she “will be setting out to encourage and support potential registrants who are unsure whether their communications are defined as consultant lobbying in the context of this legislation”. According to the Lobbying Act, consultant lobbying is defined as “the business of representing the interests of a client by communicating with senior Government decision-makers on the working or function of the Government”.
At the point of registration, the information required includes whether the person or organisation complies with “a relevant code of conduct”. Registrants are also requested on a quarterly basis to communicate the “name of the clients on whose behalf oral or written communications are made (or payment was received in order to make) personally to a Minister, Permanent Secretary (or equivalents)”. Lobbying which is conducted without payment, for example as pro-bono, is not required to be registered.
White’s new guidance received mixed reactions from the public affairs industry. Francis Ingham, PRCA Director General, summed up the document as being “a decent first effort. But much more work [is] needed.
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“Given many of these questions were raised and left completely unanswered during the Bill process, we’re pleased that the Registrar has provided our industry with at least some of the information it needs to prepare for the statutory register.
“It is still unclear who will have to register; how much they will be forced to pay; and how arbitrary the process will be.”
Alistair McCapra, CIPR Chief Executive, also expressed concerns about the cost of registration, which according to recent speculation may attain £3,000 per organisation, and called for the register to “offer free registration” for the first year.
He commented: “There is significant concern about the cost of registering if the Government applies a flat fee across all agencies and sole traders now required by law to be on the register.
“If the fees were waived for the first 12 months or otherwise gradually introduced, the Register might have a better chance of initial acceptance and get off the ground.”