As of 1st May 2016 all new and renewed government grants must include an ‘anti-lobbying’ clause to prevent public money being used to
lobby for new regulation or more government funding. Specifically, government grants cannot be used to
support activity intended to influence or attempt to influence Parliament, government or political parties… or attempting to influence legislative or regulatory action. Rt Hon Matthew Hancock MP, the Cabinet Office Minister responsible for the policy, has claimed the clause is necessary to prevent pressure groups from diverting taxpayers’ money to fund lobbying rather than the good causes or public services.
As matters stand, research council and HEFCE funding will be covered by this clause and hence academics will be faced by two directly contradictory pressures: the REF requirement to demonstrate research
impact and the ban on attempting to influence Parliament or government. This is an untenable position that the government must rectify immediately.
One of the successes of the REF has been to move impact to the mainstream of research culture to the benefit of wider society. Yet
informing government policy and
supporting Parliamentary scrutiny were the most common type of impact in the 2014 REF and the guidance issued with the clause makes clear that it extends beyond the UK to the European Parliament and foreign parliaments.
Clearly the new anti-lobbying clause has the potential of causing serious damage to the government’s own impact agenda. Yet it has not been debated in Westminster. A policy with far-reaching consequences for the country has been introduced without any form of democratic debate and the rationale for its introduction has not been subject to parliamentary scrutiny.
The Cabinet Office guidelines accompanying the clause allow for ministerial exemptions under exceptional circumstances but applying for ministerial exemption on a case-by-case basis will create considerable bureaucracy at a time when the government professes to be seeking to reduce the administrative burden on researchers.
The Political Studies Association joins the Campaign for Science and Engineering (CaSE), the Campaign for Social Science (CfSS) and many others in urging the Minister responsible, Rt Hon Matthew Hancock MP, to listen to the research community and exempt academic research from the clause.
