All-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) are informal, cross-party interest groups of MPs and peers who share a common interest in a particular policy area, country or subject. They provide a forum for parliamentarians to engage with external organisations and experts, raise awareness within Parliament and inform policy debates.

While APPGs are a common feature of parliamentary life, they are not official bodies of parliament and have no formal role in the legislative process. In recent years, they have been the subject of controversy regarding their funding, transparency and potential to be used as vehicles for improper lobbying and foreign influence.

This has led to a major overhaul of the rules governing their conduct, implemented in 2024 to improve transparency and mitigate the risk of abuse.

How APPGs operate

The primary purpose of an APPG is to bring together parliamentarians from different political parties to discuss a specific topic. They also provide a forum through which academics, charities, businesses, think tanks and campaign groups can engage with interested MPs and peers to share information and expertise.

APPGs can hold inquiries and produce reports. APPGs are entitled to use the term “parliamentary” to describe their activities, and to use the APPG Portcullis badge. They can book rooms on the parliamentary estate.

However, as they are not official bodies, their findings do not have the formal status of a report from a House of Commons select committee. APPGs also receive no taxpayer funding and are not provided with staff by parliament. Their administrative support is often provided by the officers’ own staff or through external sources.

To be officially registered, an APPG must have exactly four registered officers with at least one from the government party and one from the main opposition party. At least two officers must be from the commons, including the chair. A ​​co-chair could be from the House of Lords.

A member of the House of Commons can only be an officer on a maximum of six groups, and an APPG must have at least 20 members.

How many APPGs are there?

In the 2021-22 parliamentary session, there were a total of 762 APPGs; this decreased slightly to 758 and 722 in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 sessions respectively.

Some organisations have expressed concerns about the 2024 rule changes. Vanessa Hebditch, director of policy at the British Liver Trust, told PoliticsHome that while they don’t know the “full impact” of the reforms, early signs suggest it is now “more challenging to set up APPGs” and to “secure the necessary officers needed to meet the new requirements”.

The regulation of APPGs and the 2024 rule changes

Concerns over the operation of APPGs grew significantly in the early 2020s. A 2021 BBC News report cited concerns that APPGs were being used as a “back door” for commercial lobbying and for influence by foreign states.

Concerns led to a major review by the House of Commons committee on standards.

In its initial report, the standards committee argued that “if left unchecked, APPGs could represent the next great parliamentary scandal, with commercial entities effectively buying access to and influence of parliamentarians and decision-makers.”

In response to the committee’s final report, a series of major rule changes were all implemented in March 2024 to tighten regulations. The rules therefore applied from the beginning of the parliament elected in July 2024.

Operation: The aforementioned rules regarding the composition of APPGs were introduced as a consequence of the standards committee investigation. APPGs must also hold a minimum of two formal meetings per year, of which one must be an AGM (annual general meeting) at which officers will be elected. Minutes must be kept to demonstrate what meetings have been held.

Ban on foreign government funding: APPGs are now prohibited from receiving any funding or benefits in kind from foreign governments. This ban came into effect on the earlier date of 16 October 2023.

Increased regulation: For APPGs that receive outside financial benefits (or benefits in kind) over £1,500 in a calendar year, a quorum of eight parliamentarians is required for the group’s next AGM. The chair of the AGM is nominated by the commons speaker and must not be an officer or member of the group.

The group is also required to publish an annual report explaining its work and a due diligence statement in relation to foreign government funding. Moreover, the group’s four officers are considered as liable for compliance with these additional rules.

Increased transparency: All APPGs are required to publish an annual income and expenditure statement (which should also be provided to a group’s AGM). Where the rules provide that information relating to a group must be provided on request, this must be provided within 28 days.

All APPG reports are required to display a rubric on the front cover which clearly states: “This is not an official publication of the House of Commons or the House of Lords. It has not been approved by either House or its committees. All-party groups are informal groups of Members of both Houses with a common interest in particular issues. The views expressed in this report are those of the group.”

Moreover, where an APPG report has been compiled or funded by an external organisation, the rubric must make this clear through wording such as “This report was researched by [organisation] and funded by [organisation]”.

APPGs: recent developments, impact and criticisms

In January 2022, MI5 issued a rare warning that an alleged Chinese agent had infiltrated parliament to interfere in UK politics. Christine Ching Kui Lee was said to have “established links” for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) with current and aspiring MPs. The parliamentary director of security, Alison Giles, later told the standards committee that Lee had been “instrumental” in the establishment of the Chinese in Britain APPG.

Giles said: “As far as the Chinese in Britain APPG is concerned, Lee was instrumental in setting it up. She attended meetings of that group and would have participated in discussions. As you are aware from news coverage, she funded the parliamentary staff of the chair of that group, to the tune of approximately half a million pounds over a period of years…

“In 2013, there was the one occasion when she directly funded the APPG, and she paid for the then chair to go on an all-expenses-paid trip to China for four days.”

In January 2023, research by Sky News and Tortoise Media found that APPGs had received over £20 million in funding from external organisations since the 2019 general election.

A Byline Times report, published in July 2025 after the recent package of reforms, highlighted ways to “skirt the rules and avoid scrutiny”. The publication reported that it is “impossible to know how much a company is giving to an APPG when they are funding the secretariat, but not the APPG directly.”

Despite the stricter regulations and concerns, however, APPGs continue to be an active part of parliamentary life.

For example, in May 2025, the APPG for Beauty and Wellbeing launched an inquiry into UV safety, and the APPG on Osteoporosis published a report into patient care.

In 2008, an APPG on Gurkhas’ rights was constituted under the chairmanship of Labour MP Martin Salter. The group played a central role in the commons defeat of the Gordon Brown government over the right of former Gurkha soldiers to settle in the United Kingdom.

In November 2024, the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) for fair elections – a cross-party group of MPs and peers that campaigns for electoral reform – was established. The group’s stated aims include replacing the first past the post (FPTP) voting system with a form of proportional representation. The APPG was supported by former Conservative cabinet ministers Rory Stewart and Amber Rudd among others upon its launch.

The APPG is backed by over 130 MPs.

In September 2025, the APPG for fair elections published a “ready to go” blueprint for an independent review of the FPTP electoral system. The group’s chair, Labour MP and former frontbencher Alex Sobel, described its proposal as “a ready to go plan to independently review how parliament is elected, promote a national conversation, and build consensus on a way forward”.

Quotes

“This [the funding APPGs received from external organisations] is the next big scandal, and I think we need to take action now before it further develops. We need to know when people are producing reports that they’re speaking for members of parliament and not for the lobbyists. By and large, the all-party groups are fairly harmless. They perform in a niche in which particular members of parliament are interested. But for a number of them, the secretariat comes from professional organisations or lobbying groups and from organisations that have a political axe to grind. And I don’t think there is sufficient transparency in terms of why they’re doing.” – Lord Pickles, chair of the advisory committee on business appointments, speaking to Sky News (January 2023).

“Parliament always has, and always will be a target for hostile foreign states and improper commercial interests. But with better regulation and transparency around these informal all-party parliamentary groups, we can harness their positive contribution to our democracy while mitigating any risks.” – Chris Bryant, chairman of standards committee, commenting upon the publication of new proposals to regulate APPGs (April 2023).

Additional resources

• UK Parliament: https://www.parliament.uk/about/mps-and-lords/members/apg/
• UK Parliament – Register Of All-Party Parliamentary Groups: https://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/standards-and-financial-interests/parliamentary-commissioner-for-standards/registers-of-interests/register-of-all-party-party-parliamentary-groups/
• ‘Westminster Accounts’ by Sky News and Tortoise Media: https://news.sky.com/story/westminster-accounts-the-next-big-scandal-informal-interest-groups-of-mps-are-little-known-by-the-public-yet-are-huge-business-12783075