Summary and Background
3.The Act makes provision in three areas:
	It establishes a register of consultant lobbyists and a Registrar of consultant lobbyists to supervise and enforce the registration requirements.
	It changes the legal requirements for people or organisations who campaign in relation to elections but are not standing as candidates or as a registered political party.
	It changes the legal requirements in relation to trade unions’ obligations to keep their list of members up to date.
4.In relation to lobbying the Government’s initial proposals were published in January 2012 http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm82/8233/8233.pdf. The main purpose of the provisions on lobbying is to ensure that it is clear whose interests are being represented by consultant lobbyists who make representations to Government. The Act enhances transparency by requiring consultant lobbyists to disclose the names of their clients on a publicly available register and to update those details on a quarterly basis. Registering lobbyists will also be required to disclose whether or not they subscribe to a publicly available code of conduct and, if so, where that code can be accessed. The register will complement the existing transparency regime, whereby Government ministers and permanent secretaries of Government departments proactively disclose information about who they meet on a quarterly basis. The register will be hosted by the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists, who will be independent from the lobbying industry and Government.
5.In relation to campaigning by people who are not candidates or organisations who are not political parties, the Act changes the level of spending at which they are required to register with the Electoral Commission, and changes the limits up to which such people or organisations can spend in an election campaign. The Act also changes the way in which non-party spending above a specified level, which is targeted at achieving the electoral success of a political party, is treated for the purpose of party spending limits. The Act introduces limits on the amount that non-party campaigners can spend which has an effect in a particular constituency. The Act also increases transparency in relation to spending by non-parties by requiring them to publish and record more information about their spending, donations, accounts and board members. Lastly, the Act clarifies and extends the Electoral Commission’s duty to monitor and take all reasonable steps to secure compliance with regulatory requirements, including those inserted by the Act.
6.Part 3 of the Act introduces new statutory obligations on every trade union which is subject to the duty under section 24 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (“TULRCA”) to compile and maintain a register of their members and to keep this register accurate and up to date. These trade unions will be required to supply an annual membership audit certificate to the Certification Officer (CO) in respect of this requirement. Unions with more than 10,000 members are required to appoint an assurer who will provide a certificate stating whether, in the assurer’s opinion, the union’s systems are satisfactory for the purposes of complying with section 24 of TULRCA; other unions will self-certify. The CO has powers to require the production of documents where he thinks there is good reason to do so and can appoint an inspector to investigate whether there is a breach of section 24(1) TULRCA. The CO also has powers to declare that a union has failed to comply with these duties and to issue an enforcement order if the union is not compliant.  The declaration or order can be enforced as a declaration or order of the High Court or Court of Session in Scotland (“the court”). The CO also has power to issue an enforcement order if a union or any other relevant person has failed to comply with a requirement to produce documents or a duty to cooperate with an investigation. The order can be enforced as an order of the court.
7.Section 24(1) of TULRCA contains a union duty to maintain a register of members’ names and addresses. It provides that “a trade union shall compile and maintain a register of the names and addresses of its members, and shall secure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the entries in the register are accurate and are kept up-to-date.”
8.The CO is the Registrar of trade unions and is responsible for maintaining a list of trade unions. The CO is responsible for issuing certificates of independence. He also acts in a judicial capacity, for example in relation to breach of rule disputes. The CO’s decisions, as well as further information about the CO’s functions and annual report can be found on the website: http://www.certoffice.org/.
9.The current remedy for a union’s failure to comply with the existing duty in section 24(1) of TULRCA is by way of an application to the CO, or to the court, for a declaration to that effect. An application to the CO or Court can only be made by a member of that trade union. For the purposes of certain types of complaint (where, for example, the union refuses to allow a member to ascertain whether there is an entry about the individual member, or refuses to supply a copy of this entry, or charges unreasonably to do so), this remedy is appropriate. The position is more problematic as a remedy for failure to comply with the general duty to maintain the register. Under the current regime, the CO can only act where a member has made a complaint. Under the new regime, it will be easier for the CO to make a determination as to the accuracy of a register of members as a whole.
10.On 4 June 2013, the Government announced its intention to bring forward legislation to introduce a statutory register of lobbyists, and that a Bill (this Act) would also include measures regarding the appropriate assurance and certification of trade unions’ registers of members. The Government announced an intention to amend TULRCA to require trade unions to keep fully audited and up-to-date lists of their members by: