Oral Answers to Questions

Yvonne Fovargue Excerpts

Wednesday 5th September 2012 Commons Chamber

The Minister for the Cabinet Office was asked—

[Yvonne Fovargue (Makerfield) (Lab)]

1. What recent discussions he has had with the Deputy Prime Minister on the lobbying White Paper.

[The Minister of State, Cabinet Office (Mr Oliver Letwin)]

The Deputy Prime Minister has recused himself from any involvement with the question of lobbying due to a possible conflict of interest with his wife’s activities, and therefore I have not had any discussions with him whatsoever about this subject.

[Yvonne Fovargue]

Will the Minister explain why the Government have failed to bring forward any proposals for a statutory register of lobbyists? It seems that the public want one, the lobbying industry wants one and the Government promised one.

[Mr Letwin]

Yes, I will explain why we are where we are. The hon. Lady would, I am sure, share my view that it is important when issuing a consultation to pay some attention to the responses received. When we issued the consultation with a set of proposals for a statutory register, an enormous number of responses were received. We are going through them, considering them extremely carefully. The Select Committee on Public Administration also reported on the matter—it was a weighty and serious report—and had a great number of things to say. We are also considering those, and when we have finished that consideration, we will come forward with new proposals.