CIPR responds to reports of MoD ‘cash for access’ scandal

The CIPR strongly condemns the notion that cash should gain access to policy makers. Good public affairs professionals know the limits of influence, and that engaging Whitehall and Westminster with well argued policy is far more effective than a word (or the promise of a word) in the ear with the Prime Minister. Access should be sought using the correct channels and can be achieved through hard work, a well considered argument and knowledge of how policy-making really works. CIPR members abide by the core principles of ethical practice and transparency in the Institute's code of conduct, when they offer professional counsel to their clients or employers. The CIPR has long argued for universal transparency for all those involved in lobbying activity, and did so in its formal written response to the Cabinet Office’s proposals to ‘Introduce a Statutory Register of Lobbyists’. With a new Minister in place at the Cabinet Office, the CIPR urges Chloe Smith to engage with the industry, following widespread condemnation of initial statutory register proposals, following widespread criticism that it would not include in-house lobbyists such as those retired MoD personnel seen on the Sunday Times film.