Thread by @allthecitizens

BREAKING: £1.53bn in UK gov contracts have been won by lobby companies listed on UK's statutory Lobbyist Register.

The list, launched in 2015, has 178 companies that lobby parliament for clients

53 (30%) of them have won gov contracts in the last 7 yrs.

registrarofconsultantlobbyists.org.uk

If you also include 3 of the ‘Big 4’ consultancies who are on the Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists (Deloitte, KPMG and PwC are on the list but deny they’re lobbyists) at least £11.6bn worth of UK government contracts have been won.

docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d…

In total, 401 gov contracts have been won by 53 lobbying groups (minus the ‘Big 4’) since the register began in March 2015.

Some firms joined the register after 2015, but we included all gov contracts won in the last 7 yrs, as there was a time-lag for some companies to register.

The top 5 gov contract winning companies - DLA Piper UK, Pinsent Masons, Grayling Communications, Four Communications, Clifford Chance - won a combined £57.6m in individual contracts since 2015 (excluding any framework agreements they won jointly with other companies).

As the Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists says: “The Government’s intention behind the introduction of the Register was to enhance the transparency of those seeking to lobby Ministers and Permanent Secretaries on behalf of a third party”.
registrarofconsultantlobbyists.org.uk

But place like the Home Office appear to award communication contracts to firms that can lobby it.

The biggest contract issued to lobbyists (outside framework agreements and the ‘Big 4’) was a £4.2m win to Four Communications for PR for the Home Office.

contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/notice/e00a183…

Despite the Register stating it is “important that the public can access information in a clear and easily understandable way” regarding lobbying, many lobby companies do not list any clients in the register.

We know Grayling Communications has lobbied for global corporations like Fujitsu and Hilton; Four Communications counts Pfizer and Novaris as former clients. But DLA Piper and Pinsent Masons listed NO clients publicly on the Register.

This is not unusual. There are many instances where lobbying firms have not registered clients. Of the Big 4 companies, Deloitte has never registered any, and KPMG has not registered any clients since 2017.

Despite his lobbying efforts making front pages, former PM David Cameron is not on the lobby list. The Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists published a statement on March 26 saying his “activities do not fall within the criteria that require registration”
registrarofconsultantlobbyists.org.uk/investigation-…

It was reported the former PM lobbied the Chancellor as a paid employee, not consultant, for Lex Greensill. But given Cameron said in 2010 lobbying was ‘the next big scandal’ and helped set up the Register, perhaps he should have listed his name.
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

There’s no assertion any lobby companies acted illegally or improperly winning government contracts despite registering to lobby on behalf of other companies, but @allthecitizens feels it is important all potential conflicts of interest are addressed in the name of transparency.

As part of our ongoing investigation, @allthecitizens worked on this story with @WritesBright at @BylineTimes