Scots Parliament lobbying conduct code in quandary

PR Week August 17, 2001

SECTION: Pg. 2

LENGTH: 202 words

HEADLINE: SCOTS PARLIAMENT LOBBYING CONDUCT CODE IN QUANDARY

BYLINE: By JOE LEPPER

BODY: The Scottish Parliament may be acting illegally in its attempts to regulate lobbying. The Parliament's standards committee wants to put in place a statutory code of conduct on lobbying firms. This code could force lobbyists to disclose details of clients, budgets and fees and may not apply to in-house public affairs teams. But after seeking legal advice, the PRCA's public affairs group believes the proposals could contravene three articles of the 1998 Human Rights Act, relating to privacy, discrimination and freedom of expression. Public affairs associations including the PRCA and the Association of Professional Political Consultants(APPC) have this week submitted written evidence to the committee and further oral evidence may be asked for later this year. Both the PRCA and the APPC are urging the committee to keep their own self-regulatory systems. Simon Nayyar, PRCA public affairs group chairman, believes the code could allow 'big business' with in-house public affairs units to go unchecked while placing unfair constraints on smaller organisations who use lobbying firms. He said: 'This could lead to the opposite of what the committee hopes to achieve.'

Leader, p10.

LOAD-DATE: August 28, 2001