Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2014
| Year | 2014 |
Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2014
2014 CHAPTER 4
An Act to make provision for establishing and maintaining a register of persons carrying on the business of consultant lobbying and to require those persons to be entered in the register; to make provision about expenditure and donations for political purposes; to make provision about the Electoral Commission's functions with respect to compliance with requirements imposed by or by virtue of enactments; to make provision relating to a trade union's duty to maintain a register of members under section 24 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992; and for connected purposes.
[30th January 2014]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:-
Part 1
Registration of consultant lobbyists
Requirement to register
1 Prohibition on consultant lobbying unless registered
(1) A person must not carry on the business of consultant lobbying unless the person is entered in the register of consultant lobbyists.
(2) Sections 3 to 7 make provision about the keeping and publication of the register.
2 Meaning of consultant lobbying
(1) For the purposes of this Part, a person carries on the business of consultant lobbying if-
(a) in the course of a business and in return for payment, the person makes communications within subsection (3) on behalf of another person or persons,
(b) the person is registered under the Value Added Tax Act 1994, and
(c) none of the exceptions in Part 1 of Schedule 1 applies.
(2) Part 2 of that Schedule makes provision about the meaning, for the purposes of this Part of this Act, of terms used in subsection (1).
(3) The communications within this subsection are oral or written communications made personally to a Minister of the Crown or permanent secretary relating to-
(a) the development, adoption or modification of any proposal of the government to make or amend primary or subordinate legislation;
(b) the development, adoption or modification of any other policy of the government;
(c) the making, giving or issuing by the government of, or the taking of any other steps by the government in relation to,-
(i) any contract or other agreement,
(ii) any grant or other financial assistance, or
(iii) any licence or other authorisation; or
(d) the exercise of any other function of the government.
(4) It does not matter whether the person to whom the communication is made, or the person making it, or both, are outside the United Kingdom when the communication is made.
(5) Regulations may amend subsection (3) so as to provide that communications made personally to a special adviser are within that subsection.
(6) In this section-
"the government" means Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom;
"Minister of the Crown" means the holder of an office in the government, and includes the Treasury;
"permanent secretary" means a person serving the government in- (a) the position of permanent secretary or second permanent secretary in the civil service of the State, or (b) a position listed in Part 3 of Schedule 1 (positions equivalent to those mentioned in paragraph (a));
"special adviser" means a person who serves the government in a position in the civil service of the State and whose appointment to that position meets the requirements applicable to that position set out in section 15(1) of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010.
Keeping the register
3 The Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists
(1) There is to be a Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists.
(2) Schedule 2 makes provision about the Registrar.
4 The register
(1) The Registrar must keep and publish a register of consultant lobbyists.
(2) The entry for each registered person must include-
(a) in the case of a company-
(i) its name, its registered number and the address of its registered office, and
(ii) the names of its directors and of any secretary and any shadow directors;
(b) in the case of a partnership (including a limited liability partnership), the names of the partners and the address of its main office or place of business;
(c) in the case of an individual, the individual's name and the address of the individual's main place of business (or, if there is no such place, the individual's residence);
(d) in the case of any other person (including persons outside the United Kingdom), the equivalent information as specified in regulations;
(e) any name or names, not included under paragraphs (a) to (d), under which the person carries on business as a consultant lobbyist;
(f) such other information regarding the identity of the person as may be determined by the Registrar;
(g) a statement of-
(i) whether there is in place an undertaking by the person to comply with a relevant code of conduct, and
(ii) if so, where a copy of the code may be inspected;
(h) such other information as may be specified in regulations.
(3) Each entry must also include-
(a) for each quarter in which the registered person has been entered in the register, the person's client information (see section 5(3)) or the statement under section 5(5), and
(b) if the person received payment in the pre-registration quarter to engage in lobbying, the name of the person or persons on whose behalf the lobbying was or is to be done.
(4) The pre-registration quarter is the period of 3 months ending on the date on which the person applied to be entered in the register.
(5) Regulations may make further provision in connection with the register; and in particular may-
(a) specify other information about the persons mentioned in subsection (3)(b) which must be included in the register;
(b) make provision about applications to be entered in the register, including the form and content of those applications.
(6) In this section-
(a) any expression which is used in subsection (2)(a) and in the Companies Acts has the meaning which it has in those Acts (see, in particular, Schedule 8 to the Companies Act 2006);
(b) a "relevant code of conduct" (in subsection (2)(g)) is a code of conduct which governs the carrying on of the business of consultant lobbying (whether or not it also governs other activities) and is open to inspection by members of the public.
5 Notification of client information and changes
(1) A registered person must submit an information return to the Registrar for each quarter.
(2) The information return for a quarter must contain-
(a) either the client information for that quarter or a statement under subsection (5), and
(b) details of any change in that quarter in the particulars included in the register under section 4(2).
(3) The client information for a quarter is-
(a) if the registered person engaged in lobbying in the quarter in return for payment (whether or not the payment has been received), the name of the person or persons on whose behalf the lobbying was done, and
(b) if the registered person received payment in the quarter to engage in lobbying (whether or not the lobbying has been done), the name of the person or persons on whose behalf the lobbying is or was to be done.
(4) Regulations may specify other information about the persons mentioned in subsection (3) which must be included in an information return.
(5) A statement under this subsection is a statement that, in the quarter in question, the registered person neither engaged in lobbying in return for payment nor received payment to engage in lobbying.
(6) The information return for a quarter must be submitted before the end of the period of 2 weeks beginning immediately after the end of the quarter.
6 Duty to update register
(1) The Registrar must keep the register up to date.
(2) In particular, the Registrar must comply with subsections (3) and (4).
(3) Where a person applies, in accordance with regulations, to be entered in the register, the Registrar must register the person before the end of the period of 4 working days beginning with the day after the day on which the application is received.
(4) The Registrar must update the register to include any information or change which is notified in an information return.
(5) The Registrar must comply with subsection (4)-
(a) if the return is received before the end of the period specified in section 5(6), before the end of the period of 4 working days beginning with the day after the day on which the return is received, or
(b) if the return is received after the end of that period, before the end of the period of 8 working days beginning with the day after the day on which the return is received.
(6) If the Registrar has reasonable grounds for believing that a registered person is not (or is no longer) a consultant lobbyist, the Registrar may decide that-
(a) the person's entry should include a statement to...
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