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Company Law Reform Bill [HL]

My Lords, I shall deal first with the important point raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Noakes, on the cross-referencing of material. I hope that I have dealt with that by saying that any material that is cross-referenced is subject to the same statutory requirements applying to the business review. That will include, for example, that cross-referenced material be subject to the same auditors’ report requirement as parts of the directors’ reports, and that cross-referenced material be circulated to every shareholder of the company and others who are entitled to receive the annual report and accounts. I think that that covers the point. Yes, it can be in separate material but it has to take the same account of issues.