Scottish government slammed again over lobbying bill

The Scottish government has been lambasted over a change to lobbying legislation which would create a loophole allowing dozens of organisations to avoid reporting lobbying activity.

Under the proposal, bodies with 10 full-time employees or fewer would not need to report contact with politicians.

The government has been criticised previously for the Lobbying (Scotland) Bill, which would record lobbying activity in a public register. The move was made ahead of the bill’s final reading this Thursday.

It asked for the amendment in a letter sent o Stewart Stevenson, convenor of the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee.

The directive is intended to “reduce the impact on smaller organisations and businesses by providing a general exception of communications made by legal persons, on their own behalf, which have fewer than 10 FTE staff,” an internal Scottish Parliament briefing paper states, according to the Sunday Herald.

Research by the Scottish Alliance for Lobbying Transparency (SALT) found a number of organisations would be exempted from declaring their lobbying activity.

Among them are the Law Society of Scotland, the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) Scotland, the Institute of Directors Scotland, the General Teaching Council for Scotland, the Scottish Retail Consortium, Scottish Licensed Trade Association and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland.

A YouGov poll last year found that two-thirds of voters think companies’ dealings with politicians should be recorded.

SALT, who commissioned the survey, comprises a number of groups including the Electoral Reform Society Scotland and Transparency International.

Robert Barrington, executive director at Transparency International UK, said: “Research has shown that the public overwhelmingly want greater transparency in Holyrood, but they’re still waiting for MSPs to deliver, rather than give in to the lobbying industry.

“It would be farcical and ironic if the bill to regulate lobbying were to be neutered because MSPs have been lobbied by the lobbying industry. If Scotland really wants to lead the UK by doing politics in the open, these new loopholes need to be removed.”

Willie Sullivan, Scottish director of Electoral Reform Society, said: “The Scottish government have caved in on a massive scale and taken some of the most prolific lobby organisations out of a requirement to show the public when they are meeting government to try and change policy.

“When asked by YouGov in December, 88 per cent of Scots said they believe that lobbying posed a big or significant risk to the policy-making process. The Scottish government is blowing smoke in the public’s face with these changes.”

However, parliamentary business minister Joe FitzPatrick said the bill will provide “a proportionate approach for the registration of lobbying activity”.

He added: “Our aim is to secure transparency whilst respecting the openness and accessibility of the Scottish Parliament, something for which Scotland has a proud reputation.

“The bill, as drafted, takes account of the views of a range of stakeholders and MSPs and protects legitimate engagement in a proportionate and simple way.”

The news comes after the bill was “enhanced” last month to cover more dealings than the original face-to-face meetings.