Cabinet Office issues guidance on 'anti-lobbying' clause and grant agreements

The Cabinet Office has issued guidance to Whitehall departments on implementing a new clause that bans recipients of grants from using these funds to lobby government and Parliament.

The clause will apply from May this year to all new and renewed grant agreements. The Department for Communities and Local Government has piloted the scheme since February 2015.

The wording of the clause is as follows:

“The following costs are not Eligible Expenditure: Payments that support activity intended to influence or attempt to influence Parliament, government or political parties, or attempting to influence the awarding or renewal of contracts and grants, or attempting to influence legislative or regulatory action.”

The implementation guidance can be viewed here. It stresses that the clause should be included for all types of grant recipient, whether public sector organisations or individuals.

The Government insisted the clause would not prevent organisations from using their own privately-raised funds to campaign as they saw fit. “This will ensure that freedom of speech is protected, whilst stopping taxpayers’ money being diverted away from good causes,” the Cabinet Office said.

On organisations that receive 100% of their funding from government, the guidance says: “Where an organisation receives all of its funding from government it should, first, consider whether it has power to engage in activities prohibited by this clause.

“If it does, and the organisation wishes to undertake these activities, they should consider alternative funding sources. In the very rare case where the organisation is unable to raise funds from any other source (e.g. because it lacks powers to do so) Ministers may consider on a case by case basis whether the clause should be omitted, or qualified.”

Departments are also told to ensure that the clause is included in all grant agreements that the department in question funds. This is to cover situations where third party organisations are used to administer grants on departments’ behalf.

The guidance says that departments should take appropriate action if this clause is breached, consistent with the terms of the grant agreement. “In some cases this could lead to cancellation of the remaining payments due under the grant and/or repayment of any funds already disbursed and not spent as agreed under the terms of the grant.”

Matthew Hancock, Minister for the Cabinet Office, said: “Taxpayers’ money must be spent on improving people’s lives and spreading opportunities, not wasted on the farce of government lobbying government. The public sector never lobbies for lower taxes and less state spending, and it’s a zero sum game if Peter is robbed to pay Paul.

“These common sense rules will protect freedom of speech – but taxpayers won’t be made to foot the bill for political campaigning and political lobbying. This government is standing up for value for money, so we can keep taxes down and support better services that people can rely on.”