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Lobbying Transparency (In-house Lobbyists) Bill [HL]

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A bill to Amend the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2014 to include in-house lobbyists.

Be it enacted by the King’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

1 Amendments to the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2014

(1) The Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2014 is amended as follows.
(2) In the heading of Part 1, omit “consultant”.
(3) In section 1—
(a) in the heading, omit “consultant”;
(b) in subsection (1)—
(i) after “lobbying” insert “, or act as an in-house lobbyist,”;
(ii) omit the second “consultant”.
(4) In section 2—
(a) in the heading, omit “consultant”;
(b) after subsection (1) insert—
(1A) For the purposes of this Part, a person acts as an in-house lobbyist if—
(a) the person makes communications within subsection (3) in the course of any employment, engagement, or other arrangement under which they act for the principal (other than as a consultant lobbyist), whether or not for payment,
(b) the person makes those communications on behalf of their employer, engager or principal, or with the intent of furthering the interests of their employer, engager or principal,
(c) their employer, engager or principal is not part of the government or a public body, and is not a member of the House of Commons, a member of the House of Lords, a member of the Scottish Parliament, a member of Senedd Cymru, a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly, or an elected official, and
(d) none of the exceptions in Part 1 of Schedule 1 applies.
;
(c) in subsection (2), at end insert “and subsection (1A)”.
(5) In section 3, omit “Consultant” in the heading and in subsection (1).
(6) In section 4—
(a) in subsection (1), after “lobbyists” insert “and in-house lobbyists”;
(b) in the opening words of subsection (2), leave out “person” and insert “consultant lobbyist”;
(c) in subsection (2)(g), after “conduct” insert “for consultant lobbyists”;
(d) after subsection (2) insert—
(2A) The entry for each registered in-house lobbyist must include—
(a) the individual’s name and the name and address of the main office of the employer, engager or principal with whom they have the relationship described in section 1(1A), and
(b) a statement of—
(i) whether there is in place an undertaking by the person to comply with a relevant code of conduct for in-house lobbyists, and
(ii) if so, where a copy of the code may be inspected.
;
(e) in subsection (3), after “entry” insert “in respect of a consultant lobbyist”;
(f) in subsection (6)(b), after the first “conduct” insert “for consultant lobbyists”;
(g) after subsection (6)(b) insert—
(c) a “relevant code of conduct for in-house lobbyists” (in subsection (2A)(b)) is a code of conduct which governs the work of in-house lobbyists (whether or not it also governs other activities) and is open to inspection by members of the public.
(7) In section 5—
(a) at the end of the heading insert “: consultant lobbyists”;
(b) in subsection (1), for “person” substitute “consultant lobbyist”;
(c) in subsection (3), in both paragraphs, for the first “person” substitute “consultant lobbyist”;
(d) in subsection (5), for “person” substitute “consultant lobbyist”.
(8) After section 5, insert—

5A Notification of employer details: in-house lobbyists

(1) A registered in-house lobbyist must submit an information return to the Registrar for each quarter.
(2) The information return for a quarter must contain—
(a) either the employer information for that quarter or a statement under subsection (5), and
(b) details of any change in that quarter in the particulars included in the register under section 4(2A).
(3) The employer information for a quarter is information about the entities, brands, projects or areas of work of the employer, engager or principal in relation to which communications within section 2(3) were made by the lobbyist in the quarter.
(4) Regulations may specify information which must be included in an information return, which may include details about the meetings, topics of discussion, entities, brands, projects or areas of work described.
(5) A statement under this subsection is a statement that, in the quarter in question, the registered person did not act as an in-house lobbyist.
(6) The information return for a quarter must be submitted before the end of the period of 2 weeks beginning immediately after the end of the quarter.
(9) In section 6—
(a) in paragraph (5)(a), after “section 5(6)” insert “or section 5A(6) (as the case may be)”;
(b) in subsection (6), after “lobbyist” insert “or an in-house lobbyist”.
(10) In section 9(2), paragraph (b), after “lobbyist” insert “or an in-house lobbyist”.
(11) In section 12—
(a) after subsection (1) insert—
(1A) If a person acts as an in-house lobbyist in breach of section 1(1) (lobbying whilst unregistered), an offence is committed by—
(a) the person, and
(b) the employer, engager or principal on behalf of whom they were lobbying or whose interests they were furthering.
;
(b) in subsection (2)(b), after “section 5” insert “or section 5A”;
(c) in subsection (3), after “section 5” insert “or section 5A”, and after “section 5(6)” insert “or section 5A(6) (as the case may be)”.
(12) In section 21(2), paragraph (b), after “lobbying” insert “or acting as an in-house lobbyist”.
(13) In section 23(2), paragraph (b), after “section 5” insert “and section 5A”.
(14) In section 24(5), paragraph (a), at end insert “or 5A(4)”.
(15) In section 25—
(a) in subsection (1)—
(i) in the definition of “to “engage in lobbying”” at end insert “or, in the case of an in-house lobbyist, on behalf of the lobbyist’s employer, engager or principal or with the intent of furthering the interests of their employer, engager or principal”;
(ii) after the definition of “information notice” insert—
in-house lobbyist means a person who acts as an in-house lobbyist;
;
(iii) after the definition of “quarter” insert—
registered consultant lobbyist means a person entered in the register of lobbyists as a consultant lobbyist;
registered in-house lobbyist means a person entered in the register of lobbyists as an in-house lobbyist;
;
(iv) in the definition of “registered person” omit “consultant”;
(b) in paragraph (2)(b), after “business” insert “or to the main address of their employer, engager or principal”, and after the second “place” insert “or address”.
(16) In the heading of Schedule 1, at the end insert “or acting as an in-house lobbyist”.
(17) In Schedule 1, in paragraph 3, sub-paragraph (1), after “lobbying” insert “or act as an in-house lobbyist”.
(18) In Schedule 1, in paragraph 10, after sub-paragraph (2) insert—
(3) For the avoidance of doubt, this paragraph applies only to consultant lobbyists.
(19) In the heading of Schedule 2, omit “Consultant”.
(20) In Schedule 2, paragraph 11, omit “Consultant”.
(21) In Schedule 2, paragraph 12, omit “Consultant”.
(22) In Schedule 2, paragraph 13, omit “Consultant”.
(23) In the Title, after “lobbying” insert “and acting as in-house lobbyists”.

2 Extent

This Act extends to the United Kingdom.

3 Commencement

This Act comes into force at the end of the period of one year after the day on which this Act is passed.

4 Short title

This Act may be cited as the Lobbying Transparency (In-house Lobbyists) Act 2026.