Lobbying and all party groups - ninth report of session 2005-06, report and appendix, together with formal minutes (Paperback)

The Committee's report considers a memorandum from the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards regarding a complaint made by the Editor of the "Times" newspaper that six All Party Groups (APGs) had breached the registration rules requiring that all sources of financial support must be named in the Register of APGs. The Committee agrees with the Commissioner's decision to uphold the complaint in relation to three of the groups (those on Intellectual Property, Patient Safety and Pharmacy) who had used secretariat services provided by a public relations company without it being declared. The Commissioner has made seven recommendations to revise the regulatory regime for APGs, designed to improve transparency and accountability, and the Committee's report calls for comments from interested parties to arrive before the House rises for the Summer recess. The Commissioner's memorandum is reproduced as an appendix to this report.