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Companies Bill [Lords]

With this it will be convenient to discuss the following: Government new clause 82—Enforcement of directors’ liabilities by shareholder action: supplementary. Government new clause 83—Trade unions. New clause 76—Expenditure on lobbying— ‘(1) A company must not in any financial year incur expenditure on lobbying activity in excess of the limit then in force, unless the expenditure has been authorised by a resolution of the members of the company. (2) The provisions of sections 372(2) to (5), 372(6)(b), 372(7), 373(1), 373(2), 373(4), 373(6), 373(7), 374 and 375 to 379 shall apply to a resolution under this section. (3) The Secretary of State shall have power to make regulations, which shall be subject to the affirmative resolution procedure, to— (a) set the limit, and (b) exempt, to any extent the Secretary of State sees fit, expenditure incurred by companies in responding to requests for information initiated by governmental or parliamentary bodies, but if the Secretary of State fails to set the limit, the limit shall be £1,000. (4) Companies must report expenditure on lobbying activity in excess of the limit in a form to be specified by the Secretary of State by regulations, which shall be subject to the affirmative resolution procedure. (5) Failure to comply with reporting requirements established under subsection (4) shall count as a violation of the duty to keep accounting records under section 392 and shall be punishable in accordance with section 393. (6) This section applies to overseas companies, as defined in section 1011, as well as to UK companies, and the powers of the Secretary of State in Part 34 shall be deemed to include a power to require overseas companies to report their expenditure on lobbying activity in excess of the limit. (7) ““Lobbying activity”” means any activity intended directly or indirectly to influence legislation or policy at any level of government in the United Kingdom.’. Amendment No. 687, in clause 372, page 168, leave out lines 34 and 35 and insert— ‘(3) Subsection (2)(b)(i) shall not apply where a company is a wholly owned subsidiary of a UK company.’. Government amendments Nos. 647 and 708 to 711. Amendment No. 376, in clause 380, page 173, line 12 [Clause 380], at end insert ‘provided that it satisfies the conditions set out in subsection (3).’. Amendment No. 377, in page 173, line 15, at end insert— ‘(3) The conditions are that the trade union currently has in force a political resolution authorising the trade union to apply its funds in the furtherance of political objects and such political resolution authorised donations or expenditure under one or more of the following heads— (a) donations to political parties or independent election candidates, (b) donations to political organisations other than political parties, and (c) political expenditure, in each case up to a specified amount in the period for which the resolution has effect; and for this purpose ““political resolution”” shall have the meaning set out in the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (c. 52) save that the reference in section 73(3) of such act to ““ten years”” shall be deemed to be ““four years””.’.