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.

Current rules

The current Rules for All-Party Parliamentary Groups were agreed the House of Commons, on 19 July 2023. The rules came into force on 16 October 2023, subject to some transitional arrangements.

The rules have applied in full since the beginning of the 2024 Parliament.

The new rules take a two-tier approach, as recommended by the Committee on Standards in April 2023 (PDF):

APPGs which do not receive external financial benefits would continue to have relatively light-touch requirements; but APPGs which receive external financial benefits or benefits in kind over a set threshold [set at £1,500] would have additional requirements to enhance transparency and ensure that such Groups, and their finances, are subject to appropriate governance and oversight.

Role of the Committee on Standards

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

When those rules were agreed, the House also agreed that the Committee on Standards would have the power to update the Guide to the Rules for All-Party Parliamentary Groups and to make minor changes to the rules.

The committee oversees the work of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards that relates to the Code of Conduct APPGs.