Report from a partial evaluation of the Lobbying (Scotland) Act 2016

Image: Figure 1: The Lobbying (Scotland) Act performs better than the lobbying laws in the United Kingdom and Ireland on measures of transparency, integrity and equality of access …

Image: Figure 2: The Lobbying (Scotland) Act 2016 met all the criteria for best practice in oversight of the lobbying registration system and sanctions for non-compliance …

Image: Figure 3: The Lobbying (Scotland) Act 2016 captures a wide range of lobbyists and outperforms the UK and Ireland on public access to the Lobbying Register …

Image: Figure 4: The number of registrants has increased since 2019 …

Image: Figure 5: Health and social care is the largest sector on the Lobbying Register …

Image: Figure 6: The number of returns has increased each year since 2019 …

Image: Figure 7: The number of nil returns has increased each year since 2019 …

Bar chart showing the number of returns for each sector during the 2022 annual report period.

Image: Figure 8: Health and social care produce the most returns on the Lobbying Register …

Image: Figure 9: Trade unions are the registrant type with the highest average number of returns …

Image: Figure 10: The average number of returns published on the Lobbying Register is increasing every year and in every sector …

Image: Figure 11: Charities, trusts and advocacy bodies produce a disproportionately high number of returns …

Image: Figure 12: Registered organisations tend to perceive the process of submitting returns to the Lobbying Register as manageable …

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