Thank you for the opportunity to speak in this debate. I’m pleased to contribute as the Chair of the Standards of Conduct Committee. In the last Assembly, the standards committee undertook an inquiry into lobbying and the report was compiled by representatives of all parties and unanimously agreed by the fourth Assembly.

Since this report there have been changes to legislation in Westminster and Holyrood and as a consequence of this, and to ensure we guard against any complacency, the standards committee agreed to undertake a new inquiry into lobbying in the autumn term. We have asked the commissioner for standards to undertake some initial work on this. He will discuss with other UK Parliaments their arrangements and how they’re working in practice, and I think how they’re working in practice is a really crucial point. So, the commissioner will report back to the committee in November, at which point we will agree the next steps for the inquiry and I’d like to assure all Members here today that the committee will maintain a watching brief on this. Thank you for the time.