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Company Law Reform Bill [HL]

There may be a misunderstanding. We are not suggesting that if the directors of the subsidiary company fail to get authorisation, they would not equally be liable in these matters. Of course the directors of a subsidiary company need to go only one company up the chain to get that authorisation, which is why we need to bind in the top UK-holding company to these processes. If we bind that top UK-holding company into the processes, it seems fair that the directors are held to account if they fail to do that. I think that as a practical issue there should not be a problem because if something happens, and the directors of a holding company are genuinely unaware that it has happened, there is relief from any issues which otherwise might be visited on them. So I really do not understand the problem.