Baroness Barker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Barker on 2016-04-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what meetings or other communications took place between Mr Sheridan Westlake, Special Adviser to the Prime Minister, and Mr Chris Snowdon of the Institute of Economic Affairs relating to government funding of voluntary organisations in the 12 months prior to the announcement on 6 February of the new clause in grant agreements restricting the use of government grants for lobbying purposes.

Lord Bridges of Headley

The Institute of Economic Affairs’ written research into the misuse of government grants was acknowledged at the time that the clause was first introduced by the Department of Communities and Local Government before the last general election, and also by the Cabinet Office when it published its guidance on the new clause.

Details of Cabinet Office Ministers’ meetings, and those of the Cabinet Office Permanent Secretaries, are centrally collated and routinely published in transparency returns available on the Gov.uk website.

Information relating to the meetings and communications of Cabinet Office civil servants, including special advisers, is not routinely collated and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.