To go to the second part of your question first, there is currently no distinction.
With respect to your first question about friends and the distinction between friends and others, it's really important and it goes back to—forgive me for sounding like a broken record—the interest that reasonably might be thought by others to influence the actions of a member of Parliament.
There's also a different, broader point I'd like to make in response to that question, which is that entering into public service means you put the public interest ahead of your own private interests. Thinking about the perception of the influence of friends or acquaintances is an important part of that. It's not something that I'm aware we consider specifically, although members do register under “miscellaneous” anything else that might be considered to influence their thoughts or actions, and we give advice on that frequently. The registrar of members' financial interests gives advice frequently to members of Parliament on those issues.
