The government has appointed Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts to conduct a review into how the Lobbying Act is being put into practice.
In a statement released today, Sam Gyimah, minister for the constitution, said Hodgson will assess the “effectiveness of the current provisions of third party campaigning”.
In particular, he will examine whether party political campaigning is “undertaken in an open and transparent way” and that it complies with the “need to maintain public trust and confidence in the regulatory regime governing third parties”.
He will also assess whether charities and other third parties who undertake campaigning activities have fully understood and complied with regulatory rules.
In cases where Lobbying Act legislation has not been adhered to, he will examine whether appropriate enforcement activity has been carried out by the regulator.
Hodgson will also be required to examine the suitability of Electoral Commission guidance, the appropriateness of the registration thresholds and the effective and proportionate enforcement of the rules by the Electoral Commission.
Elizabeth Chamberlain, policy manager at NCVO told Civil Society News that “from NCVO's point of view, Lord Hodgson is a good appointment”.
“Hodgson has past experience in reviewing legislation,” said Chamberlain. “He was the official reviewer of the charities Act in 2011 and was very involved in the parliamentary debates while the Lobbying Act was going through Parliament.
“He made some very useful amendments at the time and he really knows the charity sector. So generally it’s positive.”
According to today’s statement, the finished report will be presented to parliament “before November 2016”.
“It’s a slightly later timeframe than expected,” said Chamberlain. “Work will be under way fairly soon in terms of covering evidence between now and the general election in terms of what the impact of the rules will be.
“We’ve always said that some of the more thorny issues, like the definition of controlled expenditure – that test as to whether you come within the scope of the rules in the first place or not – is something that requires a lot of careful thinking.
"When the Act was going through Parliament, the definition was one of the key issues and one on which everybody agreed required more time.
“So I’m hoping that the later deadline indicates that some of these key issues will be addressed."
