Archived press release

Government ordered to release CBI lobbying documents

1 May 2008

The Government has been ordered to disclose previously secret records of lobbying by business group the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), in a judgement published today (Thursday 1 May 2008), following a court case won by environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth.

In July 2005 Friends of the Earth requested details of lobbying meetings between the CBI and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) that had taken place shortly after the last General Election [1]. The information included records of monthly meetings between Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Alan Johnson, and Director General of the CBI, Digby Jones. The information also includes the notes of a private away-day between senior CBI and DTI officials shortly after the last election.

In 2007 the Information Commissioner ordered the DTI to release most of the information requested by Friends of the Earth [2].

However, the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (DBERR) - where Lord Jones is now a Minister - appealed to the Information Tribunal to overturn that decision [3]. In a four-day hearing, the court heard evidence from a number of business lobby groups which supported greater transparency as well as from a senior BERR civil servant and from John Cridland, Deputy Director General of the CBI.

BERR and the CBI claimed that if records of their lobbying meetings were disclosed, it could prevent such meetings happening in future, which could damage Government's policy making. During the Information tribunal hearing, Cridland claimed that if the tribunal ruled in favour of disclosure, lobby meetings might have to take place by the lake St James Park with dark glasses and a rolled up newspaper; he also claimed that government might be brought to a standstill [1]. In an ironic twist, Digby Jones complains about the lack of transparency in EU decision making in one of the disclosed documents.

In a ruling published today (Thursday 1 May 2008), the Tribunal ruled that nearly all of the disputed information must be released because there is a strong public interest in understanding how lobbyists influence government. In this case it is not possible to distinguish whether the CBI was neutrally advising or influencing government so there is a clear case for releasing the information in the public interest [5]. The Tribunal found that the lack of a lobbying disclosure system as they have in the USA increased the need for transparency [6].

Friends of the Earth is calling for the Public Administration Select Committee inquiry into lobbying to recommend mandatory lobbying registration, with full financial disclosure, as a first step in ensuring democratic oversight of influential lobbyists. The campaign group believes this information is necessary to hold the government accountable for its decisions [7].

Phil Michaels, Head of Legal at Friends of the Earth, said: "We welcome this very important Information Tribunal decision.

"The Tribunal has recognised the strong public interest in members of the public having access to lobbying records and has recognised that transparency is particularly important where a group like the CBI has privileged access to Government to push their views.

"It is crucial that the Government now changes its outmoded culture of secrecy and recognises the importance of transparency in its dealings with lobby groups."

Tony Juniper, Friends of the Earth Executive Director, said: "If lobbying takes place in secret, the public is in no position to assess whether decisions are taken in the public interest or biased towards industry.

"Full disclosure would help people to understand the relationships between Government and industry. The current arrangements leave the general public in the dark whilst lobbyists go round and round the revolving door into roles as public servants and back again. The time has come to bring lobbying out of the shadows and this case is an important step in the right direction."

Notes

[1] Now the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (DBERR).

[2] That Decision Notice is at
www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/decisionnotices/2007/fs_50093052.pdf (PDF†nbsp;)

[3] The Information Tribunal is the specialist court set up to deal with Information appeals from the Information Commissioner.

[4] During the hearing, John Cridland, Deputy Director General of the CBI said: "I hope we aren't going to reach the point where people need to meet by the lake in St James' Park with a rolled-up copy of the Financial Times under their arm in dark glasses because that wouldn't be a satisfactory replacement for frank, involved discussions."

On the effect on government he said: "if some of the matters I have heard discussed and we are discussing today came to a particular conclusion, it seems to me the work of government would come to a complete standstill."

[5] The Tribunal ruled that:

"In our view, there is a strong public interest in understanding how lobbyists, particularly those given privileged access, are attempting to influence government so that other supporting or counterbalancing views can be put to government to help ministers and civil servants make best policy." (para.117)

The Tribunal rejected the Government and CBI's argument that the possibility of records of lobbying meetings being disclosed would mean that CBI would stop having such meetings with Government and therefore Government's policy making would be damaged. The Tribunal found that some of the risks raised by the Government and CBI were `greatly overstated'.

[6] Friends of the Earth is a member of the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency which is backing calls for Government to introduce rules that require full and routine disclosure of lobbying activities, its key demands are:

A mandatory public register of lobbyists, with full financial disclosure

Truly enforceable ethics rules for all lobbyists

Enhanced rules on ethics for politicians and public officials on the so-called `revolving-door' syndrome between lobbyists and public bodies; to halt privileged access to decision makers

More info about the coalition is available at: http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/decisionnotices/2007/fs_50093052.pdf

It is notable that the Tribunal ruled that:

"In view of the stated aims of the CBI and the evidence given by Mr Cridland in this case we consider that it is not possible to distinguish between their influencing and advisory roles when its officials are meeting with government and that it would be nave to take any other view. If lobbyists do have genuine advisory roles then the adoption of a regulatory system, such as that in the USA in relation to third party contacts, might enable us to take a different view.But in the absence of such a regime we consider that there is a strong public interest in the transparency of such relationships."

[7] For further background information about the case, please visit:

http://srvwebcms1/resource/reports/easy_listening.pdf (PDF†nbsp;)

http://srvwebcms1/resource/press_releases/ ¬
the_cbi_big_claims_little_19072005.html

http://srvwebcms1/resource/reports/hidden_voices.pdf (PDF†nbsp;)

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust