The Registration of Consultant Lobbyists Regulations 2015

Thursday 26th February 2015 Written Statements

[The Minister for the Constitution (Mr Sam Gyimah)]

Part 1 of the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2014 provides for a statutory register of consultant lobbyists, which the Government are committed to introducing before the general election. The statutory register of consultant lobbyists will increase transparency by requiring those who lobby on behalf of a third party to disclose the names of their clients on a publicly available register.

Today the Government are laying regulations made under sections 22 and 23 of the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2014 which will provide for certain practical aspects of the register and registration process to take effect.

The regulations make provision about: limitations on the duty to supply information to the registrar; charges; the supply of VAT-registration information to the registrar by HMRC; and the detail of the information that lobbyists will be required to submit in information returns.

The Cabinet Office is also publishing a response to the consultation, which we conducted on a draft of these regulations. I am placing copies of this response in the Libraries of both Houses and it will be available at: www.gov.uk

It is also available online at: http://www.parliament.uk/writtenstatements.

[HCWS314]