200.  Government needs to be open to outside interests and ideas. In recent years, it has become more open, in extended consultation, new sources of policy advice, and in greater movement of people in and out of government. All this brings benefits. Yet there are also risks, if the process is not carefully managed. The greatest risk is that some interests may acquire excessive influence, or are believed to have excessive influence, buttressing a public perception that government is not to be trusted.

201.  Our proposals are designed to mitigate this risk, in a way that is at once proportionate and effective. Those who do lobbying business with government on a continuing basis need to do so within the terms of an agreed framework. This means obligations on those who lobby and on those who are lobbied. There is some recognition of this already in the voluntary codes adopted by lobbyists, and in the various duties placed on ministers and civil servants. However, it is now time to go further, and to do so in a considered way rather than as a response to scandal or crisis.

202.  The key, in this area as in others, is transparency. There is a public interest in knowing who is lobbying whom about what. We believe that this can be achieved in a reasonably straightforward way. Other jurisdictions are deciding that this is an area that needs attention, and it now deserves systematic attention here too. We have tried to learn from practice elsewhere, but also to root our proposals in our own political tradition. Lobbying enhances democracy; but can also subvert it. Our proposals are designed to strengthen the former role, while making the latter more difficult.