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Lobbyist Register for the Senedd

Is this devolved to Wales?

Where is this happening?

What's happening?

Why is this happening?

Who has been affected?

What's happening?

Why is this happening?

Who has been affected?

Charts (if needed)

Example Title

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Souce text, source text, source text.

£ 00 million Total

Cheese
Explanation
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Who has raised this at the Senedd?

Dr Dafydd Trystan MS

Government Effectiveness Minister

Peredur Owen Griffiths MS

Senedd Commissioner

Sarah Cooper-Lesadd MS

Backbencher

Llŷr Powell MS

Reform UK Whip

Francesca O'Brien MS

Shadow Local Government Minister

Ben McKenna MS

Shadow Health Minister

Carmelo Colasanto MS

Chair: Local Government & Housing

Vikki Howells MS

Senedd Commissioner

Huw Thomas MS

Backbencher

Paul Davies MS

Conservative Whip

Andrew RT Davies MS

Senedd Commissioner

Dr Dafydd Trystan MS

Government Effectiveness Minister

Peredur Owen Griffiths MS

Senedd Commissioner

Sarah Cooper-Lesadd MS

Backbencher

Francesca O'Brien MS

Shadow Local Government Minister

Llŷr Powell MS

Reform UK Whip

Ben McKenna MS

Shadow Health Minister

Carmelo Colasanto MS

Chair: Local Government & Housing

Vikki Howells MS

Senedd Commissioner

Huw Thomas MS

Backbencher

Paul Davies MS

Conservative Whip

Andrew RT Davies MS

Senedd Commissioner

What are the party positions on this?

Plaid Cymru supports the idea of a register in principle, particularly if it’s targeted at professional lobbyists. They also raise concerns about the behaviour and tactics of some lobbyists.

We need to be careful not to create a system that penalises normal democratic engagement. Constituents, small charities, community groups and local campaigners should be able to speak to Members without fear of being caught up in unnecessary bureaucracy. But there is a difference between that and professional, commercial or organised lobbying on behalf of specific interests. That is where we need more clarity.

There's also a question about the conduct of lobbyists in their engagement with Members. Most organisations engage properly and respectfully. They provide information, make their case and understand that Members must make their own judgment in the public interest. But there are also occasions when approaches can become overly persistent or pushy. Members should not be pressured, badgered and made to feel that access to them can be forced through persistent tactics.

Picture someone walking into this building on a quiet afternoon. They have a meeting, and no-one will ever write it down. They make their case in the quiet—a Bill, a clause, a decision that will touch 3 million lives. And as they speak, the law begins to move, slowly, almost imperceptibly, towards an interest you cannot see, for a purpose you will never be told. Then they rise and they leave, and the room is left exactly as it was before....no name, no record, no trace, nothing to say they were ever here, as if they never existed and they were never real (statement made as a Reform UK MS).

Refoem UK believe a statutory lobbyist register would improve levels of trust and transparency in Welsh politics, highlighting the possible dangers of so much influence being wielded behind closed doors.

Turnout is low for Senedd elections, and whilst we did see an increase in the last one, we need to see it grow even more, so we need to find ways that strengthen public trust in this institution and in us as Members and Government going forward. That's why I'm grateful for the Government outlining it's not just supporting this motion, but working cross-party to produce a statutory lobby.

….lobbying itself is not necessarily a problem. Charities can lobby for vulnerable people, small businesses lobby for fairer regulations, trade unions lobby for their members, farmers lobby for food security, and community groups lobby for better local services. None of that in itself is sinister....What this motion is about is the difference between lobbying that happens in the open and the influence that happens in the shadows, and ensuring that the public can always tell the difference.

Labour MSs support the idea in principle. Though they want protections for smaller groups that may face additional barriers lobbying Senedd Members if a register was introduced. Despite this, they voted against the Reform UK motion.

Wales has got a large number of really small charities that frequently want to reach out to Members of this Senedd on issues close to their heart. I recall that some concerns had been raised that any register could serve as a deterrent to smaller charitable organisations who could struggle with the bureaucracy and the costs that may be put in place. So, safeguards will definitely need to be taken forward on any register of lobbyists to ensure that there are no unintended consequences whereby, for example, a small charity might feel it has to pay for a lobbyist to take up advocacy on their behalf.

Members on these benches are ready to progress this agenda, and I call on all Members in this place to work together on this issue. This additional transparency should be welcomed by Members of this Senedd and by everyone, as the point was just made. It's right that this information should be publicly available for people to scrutinise and understand. In an expanded Parliament, we have a duty to the people of Wales to be as open and as transparent as we can be.

The Conservatives support a statutory lobbyist register and have suggested that this is extended to include the Ministerial Code.

I very much hope that this Senedd will further look at lobbying in Wales, build an evidence base to develop a register, and provide an update on the lessons that have been learned from other parts of the UK, because if we are serious about transparency, we must be serious about getting this right. There is little value in a system that creates bureaucracy without delivering genuine insight, accountability and absolute democratic transparency.

Those of us who were here in the last Senedd term remember the purchase of Gilestone farm by the then Labour Government. There was no business case in place for that expenditure of £4.2 million, but what came to light in the development of the business case after the purchase was a private informal dinner party between two Government Ministers and a senior lobbyist, at her house, and the beneficiary of that purchase attending that dinner party. It's critical that the ministerial code is aligned to any register of lobbyists that comes into play.

Green MSs haven’t spoken on this, but both of them voted different ways on the Reform UK motion; Paul Rock MS voted in favour, Anthony Slaughter MS voted against.

Test Test Test

Jane Dodds hasn’t said anything on this specifically.

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Who is responsible?

Dr Dafydd Trystan MS

Government Effectiveness Minister

What have ministers said?

….the Government has noted that the legacy report from the Standards of Conduct Committee in the sixth Senedd recommends the successor committee should continue with the work on individual Member accountability by further considering lobbying and gifts. We support that, as well as further work on a register of lobbyists. The previous work of the committee came to the conclusion….that the UK and Scottish systems weren't sufficiently clear. I think that the suggestion there that we need to develop on the basis of evidence is robust and important.

The Senedd Commission has a key role to play alongside the standards committee in developing that evidence base and in progressing these things. This Government is supportive of that move and wishes the Senedd and the new committee well in their work. ….It aligns with our own views that it's a matter for the Senedd Commission and the Standards of Conduct Committee to progress, and to progress with timeliness, this crucial work.

What's being done about this?

What do the Welsh Government want to do?

Does this need a new law or regulations?

How long will this take?

What do the Welsh Government want to do?

Does this need a new law or regulations?

How long will this take?

What have the Senedd's Committees said?

Nothing has been discussed yet.

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