How special interests foot the bill for MPs to work, rest and play

IT WILL be the perfect antidote to the pomp and ceremony of Parliament's state opening. After a day with the Queen and the Lords, what MP could be forgiven for going to the dogs?

Better still, the members of the All-Party Greyhound Group will have their own animal to cheer on when they spend the evening of the Queen's Speech at the Wimbledon dog-track later this month. Parliamentarian, bought by the British Greyhound Racing Board on behalf of the MPs, has had a good run recently, winning a pounds 1,000 race at Romford last Friday.

The MPs do not pocket Parliamentarian's winnings, and any money left over after paying for his board and training is given to the Retired Greyhound Trust.

But while the greyhound racing board takes its 70 MPs and peers on twice- yearly trips to locations such as Walthamstow and Wimbledon, other groups go further afield.

Many of the 160 parliamentary subject groups run on a shoestring, but others are backed by major commercial interests. For instance, the Beer Club All-Party Group - whose members include such well-known beer-lovers as Kenneth Clarke, the former Chancellor - receives pounds 40,000 per year from major brewers and pub companies. Now Lord Neill's Committee on Standards in Public Life is being asked to look into the funding and running of the groups, as the next stage of its inquiry into parliamentary behaviour.

For the All-Party Motorcycle Group, a day out at the International Motorcycle Show in Birmingham later this week will be just a short hop. Last year some of its 70 members, all of them keen parliamentary motorcyclists, went on a trip to Germany to see the BMW plant in action.

The secretariat of the All-Party Motorcycle Group is run by an employee of the Citigate Westminster lobbying company, on behalf of the Motorcycle Industry Association. It operates quite unashamedly as a lobbying group for bikers' interests, and is currently calling for secure parking for motorcyclists as well as for access to priority traffic lanes such as bus lanes.

Members of the Energy Studies Group, for which CSM Parliamentary Consultants provides secretarial services on behalf of 160 MPs and peers plus a further 190 outside-interest groups, recently went to Kazakhstan to look at the country's gas and oil installations. So highly did the Kazakhs rate their visitors' importance that the Prime Minister himself was wheeled out to meet them, with the Foreign Minister.

But it is not all glamour and trips abroad in the busy world of the 160 parliamentary groups, which cover a range of interests from Aids to yachting. About half are run from MPs' offices without outside help, and a further fifth receive support from voluntary organisations such as Alcohol Concern and the National Children's Bureau.

But beyond those worthy and often struggling groups, and beyond those whose existence seems to be underpinned by a desire for some good fun, is a world in which big money is given a voice in Parliament.

The Transport Forum parliamentary group, for example, is funded by 11 outside organisations that each pay a pounds 400 annual membership.

They include the RAC - which also runs the secretariat of the Motoring All-Party Group - Railtrack, London Transport and the Road Haulage Association. The forum meets for regular lunches in the House of Commons, organised by Doug Smith of the Westminster Advisers lobbying firm. Mr Smith is paid pounds 100 a month for his work for the group, but he also runs the Export All- Party Group and the Built Environment All-Party Group free of charge. Mr Smith believes the groups offer a convivial opportunity for outside bodies to discuss matters of mutual interest with MPs and peers.

"It allows sponsoring bodies to get to know a group of parliamentarians interested in transport matters. How they use that afterwards is their business, not mine," he said.

One of the biggest and most long-standing groups is the parliamentary information technology group, Pitcom. It is run by Frank Richardson, a parliamentary consultant, on behalf of 110 parliamentarians, 140 information technology companies and 100 IT consultants.

In September 1997, members of the group went on a trip to Sweden, Finland and Germany, paid for by ICL and Siemens. In April this year they went to France, paid for by Bull Information Systems, to look at innovations in information technology.

Mr Richardson, who also runs the secretariat for the Space Committee on behalf of the United Kingdom Industrial Space Committee, sees no impropriety in groups being supported by outside organisations, so long as the parliamentarians remain in control.

When Parliament's Administration Committee investigated the parliamentary and all-party groups two years ago, Mr Richardson gave evidence.

"I did say there were apocryphal stories of groups being set up by businessmen who wanted to have dinner in the house twice a year and who got their local member to find other MPs to set up a group. But the rules are quite strict, and the committee accepted my recommendation that there should be 10 members from each side of the house," he said.