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Company Law Reform Bill [HL]

I am surprised by that. Is the noble Baroness proposing that the Takeover Panel, which has an essential position in our overall regulation of financial services, should not be permitted in any case to disclose information? She indicates that she is not saying that. She recognises that there are obviously cases where it is right that the Takeover Panel should be able to disclose information. What would happen if the Takeover Panel, in the course of dealing with a bid, sees information which appears, on the face of it, to disclose the provision of a serious criminal offence? Is it not right that it should be permitted to pass that information across to an investigator—the police or a prosecuting authority? Once one recognises that, and given that there will be an overriding obligation on the panel not to disclose information unless it is permitted by gateways—as we would all prefer—then it is right to identify the gateways. If I have misunderstood the noble Baroness’s point, I am happy to give way to her again.