REUTERS/Luke MacGregor
- The chair of Westminster's lobbying watchdog is under investigation for alleged breaches of transparency rules.
- Eric Pickles, a Tory peer, declared he is the director of Oakworth Services, a consultancy firm.
- House of Lords rules require peers to describe the company's business, which Pickles did not.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
The chairman of Westminster's lobbying watchdog is under investigation over an allegation he breached transparency rules when disclosing ties to a consultancy firm he runs.
Eric Pickles, a member of the House of Lords and a former Tory minister, is the chair of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACOBA).
ACOBA is responsible for applying rules that forbid former ministers, senior civil servants and senior special advisers from lobbying after they leave the government.
Pickles, along with his wife, is a director of Oakworth Services Ltd. The firm's entry on Companies House describes Pickles's occupation as a "Consultant".
Pickles's entry on the House of Lords register of interests says only that Oakworth Services Ltd is a "consultancy", providing no further details on its work, openDemocracy reported on Thursday.
On Friday, the House of Lords Commissioners for Standards announced that Pickles's registration of an interest was the subject of an inquiry.
The rules of the House of Lords require peers to "give a broad indication of the company's business, where this is not self-evident from its name".
Margaret Hodge, the Labour MP and former chair of the influential Public Accounts Committee told openDemocracy: "There is a problematic lack of transparency in the Lords".
Pickles told Insider that the company had not received any income since he became chair of ACOBA.
He also said that he had given up all paid outside interests since becoming chair and that all previous clients were declared separately.
Pickles, along with the other peer on ACOBA, also gives notably less forthcoming disclosures as part of his work on the committee.
In ACOBA's register of interests, both Pickles and Labour peer Larry Whitty, refer to their entries on the House of Lords register of interests, which deal only with their personal affairs.
Meanwhile the seven other members of ACOBA also disclose the interests of close family members, such as the jobs of their spouses and children, as well as their past paid work.