The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) has published a new white paper calling on the Ethics and Integrity Commission to go further in its recommendations than its predecessor, the Committee on Standards in Public Life did, as part of its review of Westminster's lobbying laws. The paper - Easy Wins, Empty Gains - examines each of the nine recommendations on lobbying reform made by the Committee on Standards in Public Life in their 2021 Upholding Standards in Public Life - Standards Matter 2 review. It assigns a red, amber, or green rating to each recommendation depending on how effective it would be at delivering transparency. Only four of the nine recommendations are rated as green. The paper is published as the Ethics and Integrity Commission is undertaking its lobbying, disclosure and access to government review, as instructed by the government. CIPR CEO, Alastair McCapra commented: "This review presents a unique opportunity to bring about real and meaningful change to Westminster's ineffective lobbying laws. We have been encouraged in our correspondence with the Ethics and Integrity Commission and hope that this paper demonstrates the importance of bringing about the wholesale changes needed to deliver real and effective change. Treating the recommendations from five years ago as a solution is not the answer."  The paper forms part of the CIPR's continued campaign to improve transparency in Westminster's lobbying laws and follows new polling that reveals an overwhelming support for the Institute's position from the industry. The Committee on Standards in Public Life was replaced by Ethics and Integrity Commission in 2025. The CIPR refers to the CSPL recommendations made in 2021 as a "missed opportunity" and emphasise that "this review must not repeat that mistake". In the white paper, The CIPR call for:

A unified register covering all lobbying activity, not just consultant lobbyists An expanded scope that, at minimum, covers ministers, special advisers, and senior civil servants Removal of the VAT threshold which allows well-connected individuals and foreign interests to lobby with no obligation to register Removal of the incidental lobbying exemption, widely regarded as unworkable Meaningful disclosure requirements to include the date, who lobbied, on whose behalf, who was lobbied, and the subject matter All channels of communication brought into scope, with disappearing messages on official matters prohibited A statutory code of conduct with meaningful sanctions Stronger enforcement, with fines actually levied and brought closer in line with peer nations A free and simple digital registration system to avoid disproportionate burdens on smaller organisations

The recommendations marked in red by the CIPR include recommendation 26 to 'collate all departmentaltransparency releases in one searchable, centrally managed database'. Amongst other issues, the CIPR state that this would mean in-house lobbyists remain entirely out of scope. The CIPR also scrutinise recommendation 27 to 'set stricter minimum standards for meeting descriptions and ensure departmental compliance'. They claim that this would place all responsibility on government, not lobbyists, and that there would be no obligation on the lobbyist to disclose what was discussed. The final recommendation the CIPR mark up in red is recommendation 28 to 'publish transparencyreturns monthly'. The CIPR address that more frequent publication of incomplete data is still incomplete, that this recommendation does not address the structural gaps in the system, and that it is meaningful only if the scope of disclosure is also broadened. The CSPL recommendations that the CIPR support are: to include meetings with director generals and directors in transparency releases, include meetings with special advisers in transparency releases, to clarify that informal lobbying via WhatsApp, Zoom and similar channels should be reported, and to revise the categories of published information to close the loophole by which informal lobbying goes undisclosed in departmental releases....