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Companies Bill [Lords]

Let me consider for another time the idea put forward by the right hon. and leaned Gentleman. I do not dismiss it; it is a sensible suggestion. If we were currently in Committee, we might have had the opportunity to look into it in more detail. New clause 17 provides that an individual member may apply for a confidentiality order so that particulars of his name and usual or business address are not publicly available. Everything that I have said about new clause 16 applies to new clause 17 as well. Transparency about membership is one of the conditions that a company and its members must observe in return for the privileges that come with incorporation. It would be fundamentally wrong for it to be possible for any individual to hide the extent of his control of a company. That said, we intend to use the power in clause 861 to reduce the information about members that companies with share capital have to send to Companies House each year as part of their annual return. Subject to consultation, our intention in respect of public companies—the hon. Member for Huntingdon asked me to make a point of this—is to exempt them from the obligation to supply any details of those who hold less than 5 per cent. of any class of the company’s shares, and for private companies not to require the addresses of their members. That is a practical way of ensuring that the protection provided to registers of members by clause 117 is not subverted by the availability of this information from Companies House. By way of contrast, new clause 17 is in our view wholly incompatible with the concept of a public record.