Thorncliffe today called for Harry Rich, The Registrar at ORCL – the government’s lobbying body, to set a standard or template for an industry code of conduct.
Richard Patient, managing director of Thorncliffe, said: “The template code can only be set by the government’s lobbying body – not by self-interested membership organisations, if it wants to support proper compliance with the lobbying industry.
“At Thorncliffe, we’ve had our own continually revised code of conduct since 2005, and last year, our code was given full independent approval by ORCL – the Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists. It’s one of the best in the industry, precisely because it is fits our needs.”
“We accept independent adjudication for our code from an Adjudicator who is a member of the Bar Council or Law Society. We’re grateful to ORCL for guiding us last year on how to obtain approval for this externally-enforced Code of Conduct.”
“It’s really important that ORCL are the authority on codes of conduct. The actions of membership organisations – examples of which we’ve passed to ORCL, have shown in the past that they treat ORCL with a lack of respect so they are not best placed to bring unity to the industry.”
Key points within our code are:
- Conduct within the code is overseen by an Independent Adjudicator, who is a member of the Bar Council or Law Society.
- Thorncliffe’s Code of Conduct is part of all colleague’s employment contracts and has been operating since 2005, albeit continually being revised.
- We have our own register to monitor our communications with national politicians and the UK Government
- Our triple-lock means colleagues have to adhere to the law, their council code (if they are also councillors) and the company code.