Goverment Response to Lobbying Report

The Political and Constitutional Reform Committee today publishes a report that criticises that Government for the delay in responding to its July 2012 report on lobbying and for failing to provide an opportunity for the lobbying Bill to be subject to pre-legislative scrutiny. 

The Chair of the Committee, Graham Allen MP, said:

“It is the convention for Government to respond to Select Committee reports in two months.  In this case, the Government took over a year and then gave us a response that is a page and a half long and doesn’t engage with any of the detailed points we made in our original report. 

We are also unhappy that we were not given a chance to scrutinise a draft lobbying Bill.  Pre-legislative scrutiny results in stronger legislation and this is a missed opportunity.”