Conclusion 12

The current requirement for consultant lobbyists only to declare in the Register the identity of their clients is inadequate. We do not recommend including, as some registers require, the disclosure of the financial details of lobbying contracts. However, the purpose of the Register is to fill the gap in the Government transparency releases created by the use of hired consultant lobbyists. The amount of information that should be included in declarations in the Register of Consultant Lobbyists should therefore be sensibly proportionate to its purpose, and, as such, should reflect the information contained in the transparency releases. The Register should contain not only a list of clients, as it currently does, but also the subject of lobbying, dates of lobbying, and the medium through which lobbying took place.