PRCA Welcomes Committee on Standards in Public Life Report Lobbying Recommendations

The PRCA thas welcomed the recommendations of the Committee on Standards in Public Life report into lobbying.

Commenting on its findings, PRCA Director General Francis Ingham stated:

“This heavyweight report is a damning indictment of the Government’s continued indifference towards the mess that is the Lobbying Act introduced by David Cameron in 2014. We agree entirely with its assessment that it is ‘unfit for purpose’ – a view we have made clear for approaching a decade.

"Following the David Cameron Greensill revelations in April, we called for a fundamental overhall of the current framework. We are delighted that Lord Evans agrees with our proposals that ex-Ministers should be barred from taking lobbying jobs for up to five years [recommendations 12 and 13]; that Ministerial diaries should be published accurately and frequently [recommendations 27 and 28]; and that the requirement to register meetings and correspondence should be broadened to include senior civil servants and Special Advisers rather than just Ministers and Permanent Secretaries [recommendation 33].

"We also note with approval of Lord Evans’ warning to Government that if it fails to deliver the transparency improvements he recommends, the current exclusion of in-house lobbyists from current lobbying regulation should be revisited. The exclusion of in-house lobbyists from the current Register is precisely the one and sole reason why Mr Cameron’s lobbying on behalf of Greensill was within the rules that Mr Cameron had himself introduced.

"We would urge the Government to accept the recommendations of this report.”