The Welsh Government's Lobbying Rules

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:09 pm on 8 October 2019.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Nick Ramsay Nick Ramsay Conservative 2:09, 8 October 2019

As Neil McEvoy has said, or indicated, I think if one thing is clear about lobbying in Wales at the moment it's that there is a distinct lack of clarity, which has caused some of the issues over the last, well, few months and years. So, it's clear, as you mentioned, the standards committee report—I think my colleague Paul Davies was on the committee at the time that was looked into—came forward with various proposals of how to clarify matters within Wales. I think the idea of a lobbyist register was mentioned, whether that be voluntary or not. Can you tell me, since the publication of that report—yes, that has been discussed by standards committee, but, obviously, Welsh Government will need to provide a way forward through this—have you come to any conclusions in terms of whether a register would be a good way to go in the future, and whether that should be voluntary or non-voluntary, and how it would be regulated, in fact?