Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town on 2016-03-02.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the new Cabinet Office guidelines that no government grants may be used to lobby for new regulation or more government funding would preclude academics at publicly funded universities, or charities in receipt of grants for specific work, from giving evidence to parliamentary select committees drawing on such publicly funded research.

Lord Bridges of Headley

The new clause will not prevent recipients from performing activities that are part of the intended purpose of the grant. It makes sure that taxpayers’ money is not diverted from their intended purpose and wasted on political campaigning and political lobbying.
As indicated at the House of Lords Science Technology Committee, BIS and Cabinet Office are looking into how this new clause will apply to academic research.