The UKPAC register of lobbyists is to go live at midnight on 1^st March 2011, delivering the recommendation of the Public Administration Select Committee for a public register of those engaged in lobbying.

Shadow Minister for Political and Constitutional Reform, Chris Bryant MP, is hosting event to demonstrate the of the UKPAC register between 1730-1900 in the Grand Committee Room of the House of Commons.  UKPAC Board members will be on hand to answer any questions from the audience.

The register, which contains details of public affairs practitioner members of the Association of Professional Political Consultants (APPC), the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) and the Public Relations Consultants Association (PRCA), provides information about employers and clients.  Those that are registered fall under the UKPAC definition of lobbyist and are bound by their respective bodies’ code of conduct.   The register provides links between individual registrants, employers and clients and there is a search function for anyone looking for a specific person or company.

UKPAC Chairman Elizabeth France said “I am delighted that we are in a position to make good our commitment to the Public Administration Select Committee to create this register.  I pay tribute to my colleagues on the UKPAC Board for their hard work and to Mark Adams and Sir Philip Mawer for the platform they created. 

 

“The register brings together the three industry bodies whose members are most active in public affairs and demonstrates to the Cabinet Office their commitment to self-regulation and transparency.  I would urge anyone else engaged in public affairs or lobbying to look at our definition and consider when would be the right time to make that same commitment.”

 

The Cabinet Office have announced the introduction of a statutory register of lobbyists and will shortly be launching a consultation document.  France continued by saying “I have no doubt the forthcoming Green Paper will ask important questions about what a register might contain, who should be listed and how it should be maintained.  UKPAC has taken the first steps to delivering a solution.  That it has done so from within the industry itself is testament to the importance the three bodies involved place on a transparent democratic process.”

 

 

 

The register will be available from midnight on 1^st March 2011 on the UKPAC’s website: www.publicaffairscouncil.org.uk.

 

In its report on “Lobbying: Access and influence in Whitehall” published in January 2009, the Public Administration Select Committee of the House of Commons recommended the establishment of a single body to promote ethical behaviour by those involved in lobbying.

 

The UK Public Affairs Council has four key roles to deliver that recommendation:

 

1.       To hold and review periodically the Guiding Principles covering those who lobby, examining how a common Code of Conduct enshrining the Principles can be established and keeping under review any related Codes of member bodies;

2.       To maintain a Register of those engaged in lobbying and of the organisations on whose behalf they lobby;

3.       To oversee the disciplinary arrangements necessary to enforce the Principles and any common Code; to allocate complaints against individuals or organisations within member bodies to the most appropriate body; and to review periodically the process through which complaints are considered by member bodies;

4.       To promote with its member bodies high ethical standards in lobbying generally.

 

The UKPAC Board comprises independent members Elizabeth France CBE, Sir Roger Sands and George Kidd and the three founding industry member bodies: APPC, CIPR and PRCA.   More details about the UKPAC, including the definition of lobbying can be found at: www.publicaffairscouncil.org.uk (available now).

 

Please contact the Executive Secretary of the Council, Mark Ramsdale, on 078 111 888 93.