Regulation of All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs)

All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs) are informal, bicameral, cross-party groups on topics of mutual interest. They are not official parliamentary bodies. Although they are bicameral, members of the House of Lords cannot be the chair of an APPG and the House of Commons has always taken the lead in the regulation and registration of APPGs.

The current rules for All-Party Parliamentary Groups were agreed by the House of Commons on 13 May 2014.

In October 2020, the Committee on Standards launched a wide-ranging inquiry into APPGs. The review highlighted fresh concerns about the governance and regulation of APPGs.

In April 2022, the Committee on Standards published the outcome of its review (PDF) and set out a series of possible reforms for consultation.

In April 2023, following the consultation, the Committee published its final proposals (PDF). It proposed a “two-tier approach”. It set out proposed changes that would apply to all APPGs and an additional set of changes that would apply to APPGs that received registrable financial benefits. These “additional rules” would apply to Groups that received outside financial benefits totalling over £1,500 in a calendar year.

The Government’s response (PDF) to the Committee final proposals was published by the Committee on 6 July 2023.

The Government agreed with the proposed two-tier approach to regulation. However, it thought further consideration should be given to extenidng the ban on foreign provision of secretariat support or funding is to all foreign organisations.

On 6 July 2023, the Leader ofthe House announced that the Committee on Standards’ report on APPGs would be debated on Wednesday 19 July 2023.