Appendix 1
Letter from Miss Chloe Smith MP, Minister
for Political and Constitutional Reform, Cabinet Office to the
Chair of the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee
Publication of the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party
Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill and the Government's
responses to the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee's
reports on Recall of MPs and Introducing a Statutory
Register of Lobbyists
As you will be aware, the Government
today introduced the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning
and Trade Union Administration Bill to the House of Commons, which
includes provisions for a statutory register of lobbyists.
This is the first Government to proactively and regularly
publish details of ministerial and senior officials' meetings,
government procurement and other items of interest. The Bill introduced
today will extend this transparency and will give the public confidence
in the way third parties interact with the political system, ensuring
these activities are accountable and properly regulated.
The timetable for introduction of that
Bill has not, regrettably, allowed for formal pre-legislative
scrutiny of the provisions. The proposals for a statutory register
of lobbyists have, however, been subject to a full consultation
and detailed scrutiny by the Committee and we will be undertaking
targeted stakeholder engagement over the summer to ensure that
all aspects of the Bill are subject to thorough examination. In
parallel, we are also responding to the Committee's report on
Introducing a Statutory Register of Lobbyists and
publishing our response to the report on Recall of MPs.
As I did when I last attended your Committee,
I apologise to you for the delay in responding. The Government
takes the Committee's inquiries, reports and recommendations very
seriously and values the input of both the Committee-members and
those who gave detailed and informative evidence to the Committee
during its inquiries.
The Committee's report Introducing
a Statutory Register of Lobbyists made clear that identifying
the problem that such a register will address is critical. The
Government's proposals will address the specific problem that
we have identified: that it is not always clear whose interests
are being represented by consultant lobbyists when they communicate
with government. Our proposals will identify those interests and
enhance transparency by requiring consultant lobbyists to disclose
details about their clients on a publicly available register.
It will complement the existing government transparency regime
whereby ministers and permanent secretaries proactively disclose
information about who they meet. While we recognise that some
will consider the scope of the proposed register too narrow, we
are yet to see a clear articulation of the problem that will be
addressed by expanding it.
I look forward to discussing our proposals for a
statutory register of lobbyists in detail when I give evidence
to the Committee tomorrow.
The Committee's report Recall of
MPs raised serious questions which we have taken the appropriate
time to thoroughly consider. The Bill introduced this week does
not cover recall, but the Government intends to legislate on this
when Parliamentary time allows. Our programme of political and
constitutional reform is designed to help restore public trust
in the political process and ensure that those who wield power
are accountable to the people who they serve and recall is part
of that process,
I welcome the Committee's thorough consideration
of the proposals and have accepted many of their recommendations,
particularly on the conduct of the recall petition.
17 July 2013
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