1. Presentation for PRCA Compliance Officers’ meeting
Alison J White
Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists
20 February 2018
Presentation for PRCA Compliance Officers’ meeting

2. Compliance summary
Quality of quarterly returns has improved, but still having to do a lot of work to chase late returns and check accuracy of information declared.
Over-declaration of clients (erring on the side of caution) is still a problem.
Limited instances of relevant communication have been identified where the consultant lobbyist is unregistered; one of these resulted in a penalty notice.
Penalty notices were issued for excessively late payment of annual fee in the past; there have been more late payments again this year, and some registrants have still not paid.
Compliance approach laid out in my guidance; I will be launching a new consultation on this shortly.

3. Key components of Act
Direct communications to Minister (or Permanent Secretary, or equivalents);
Referencing Government business;
On behalf of a client;
In return for payment.

4. “In return for payment”
Payment may be direct or indirect.
It does not matter whether the person making the payment is the person on behalf of whom the communications are made.
It does not matter whether a particular payment relates to any particular communication.
What matters is whether, ultimately, the consultancy receives payment in return for making the communication.

5. “On behalf of a client”
The client is the person/entity on whose behalf the communication is made Services may be funded by fees collected from associate memberships of APPGs (where the number of members is very large). All members should be declared to avoid the risk of breach.

6. On behalf of a client/In return for payment”
Clients must be declared if either relevant lobbying has taken place or payment has been received. This means the same client may be registered in two different quarters for the same lobbying activity.

7. “Referencing Government business”
The Act says:
“…the development, adoption or modification of any proposal of the government to make or amend primary or subordinate legislation;
the development, adoption or modification of any other policy of the government;
the making, giving or issuing by the government of, or the taking of any other steps by the government in relation to, -
any contract or other agreement,
any grant or other financial assistance, or
any licence or other authorisation; or
the exercise of any other function of the government…”.

8. “Referencing Government business” (continued)
Things to watch out for:
Invitations/round robins
Business presentations
The greater good/“brand-building”
The Act makes no mention of “influence” or “advocacy” or “presenting a position”

9. For communications with a Minister-think “ding!”
Direct communications to Minister (or Permanent Secretary, or equivalents);
The most common reasons for over-declaration:
drafting a letter for a client, which the client signs;
briefing a client for a meeting, which the consultant lobbyist does not attend;
communications with a Minister’s office or secretary (even if asking for a message to be passed to the Minister).
None of these are registrable.
For communications with a Minister-think “ding!”

10. Codes of conduct
“Other” codes may properly be said to govern the carrying on of the business of consultant lobbying having regard (but not limited) to:
Relevance to the business of consultant lobbying of the UK Government;
Regularity of review (therefore ensuring the code remains relevant);
Compliance processes to ensure the code is properly applied and remains relevant to all those that subscribe to it.
The Registrar approves use of “other” codes at the point of registration.

11. Codes of conduct (continued)
According to the Act, for a code of conduct to be declared on the Register, the organisation must "subscribe" to that code.
I interpret this using the Oxford dictionary definition, which involves payment. In any event, unless you are a full (paying) member of the code, you cannot be a full member of all its provisions, such as its disciplinary mechanisms. 

12. Serving parliamentarians
A number of serving parliamentarians appear (as partners or directors) on the Register. Payments made to serving parliamentarians for performing their parliamentary duties are not included in establishing whether communications are registrable. So if serving parliamentarians conduct communications with Ministers in the context of parliamentary business (for example, on behalf of constituents), those communications are not registrable (even if the person is VAT registered). However, if the parliamentarian were to conduct relevant ministerial communications on behalf of a third party and receive payment for that, potentially that parliamentarian would need to be registered.

13. Charities/membership organisations
A communication is not made in return for payment if
a person makes the communication on behalf of persons of a particular class or description;
(b) the income of the person making the communication derives wholly or mainly from persons who are not of that class or description; and
(c) the person does not receive payment, from persons of that class or description, in return for making that communication.
All of these criteria must be in place for the exception to apply.

14. Good practice for compliance
Compliance process works even if usual person is on leave or resigns. All relevant dates are in the diary. Regular checks are made to ensure registration information is up to date.
Organisation has a clear process and regularly briefs its staff to keep them up to date.
Organisation seeks advice from Office if unsure about an issue of detail.
Process can cope with unexpected changes (e.g. EU Exit)

15. Good practice for compliance (2)
Directors are accountable-it is not a defence if directors don’t know what’s going on!
Registration is a statutory requirement-not a quality mark or badge of office. Showing the Registrar’s logo on registrant websites can create the wrong impression.
Good, regular internal communications are absolutely critical

16. Ring the Office as soon as possible -we are here to help!
What to do if you think there may be a problems with your declarations or information
Ring the Office as soon as possible -we are here to help!

17. Any questions?

18. Contact Us The Office of the
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