Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2014

2 Meaning of consultant lobbying

(1) For the purposes of this Part, a person carries on the business of consultant lobbying if—

(a) in the course of a business and in return for payment, the person makes communications within subsection (3) on behalf of another person or persons,

(b) the person is registered under the Value Added Tax Act 1994, and

(c) none of the exceptions in Part 1 of Schedule 1 applies.

(2) Part 2 of that Schedule makes provision about the meaning, for the purposes of this Part of this Act, of terms used in subsection (1).

(3) The communications within this subsection are oral or written communications made personally to a Minister of the Crown or permanent secretary relating to—

(a) the development, adoption or modification of any proposal of the government to make or amend primary or subordinate legislation;

(b) the development, adoption or modification of any other policy of the government;

(c) the making, giving or issuing by the government of, or the taking of any other steps by the government in relation to,—

(i) any contract or other agreement,

(ii) any grant or other financial assistance, or

(iii) any licence or other authorisation; or

(d) the exercise of any other function of the government.

(4) It does not matter whether the person to whom the communication is made, or the person making it, or both, are outside the United Kingdom when the communication is made.

(5) Regulations may amend subsection (3) so as to provide that communications made personally to a special adviser are within that subsection.

(6) In this section—

• “the government” means Her Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom;

• “Minister of the Crown” means the holder of an office in the government, and includes the Treasury;

• “permanent secretary” means a person serving the government in—

  (a)

  the position of permanent secretary or second permanent secretary in the civil service of the State, or

  (b)

  a position listed in Part 3 of Schedule 1 (positions equivalent to those mentioned in paragraph (a));

• “special adviser” means a person who serves the government in a position in the civil service of the State and whose appointment to that position meets the requirements applicable to that position set out in section 15(1) of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010.