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Companies Bill [HL]

My Lords, I wish to speak to this amendment and to Amendment No. 245D in my name. The two are interrelated, as the noble Baroness has indicated. Noble Lords who have followed the debate through the pages of the financial press over the past two or three weeks will realise that considerable heat has been engendered, not so much on the issue but on the timing of the Government introducing this amendment at a late stage. These issues are not new. For many months, a number of NGOs have argued for such an amendment. It is easy to complain about process when in reality people are against the substance. I am pleased to hear that, notwithstanding the extravagant remarks of the noble Lord, Lord Hodgson, in opening this debate, it appears that the Conservative Opposition have seen sense and will not oppose the issue that Commons Amendment No. 245 should be disagreed with—whether that is grandstanding for the benefit of his Back-Benchers, many of whom are no longer in their places, I do not know. In the presence of the right reverend Prelate, I am always pleased to see the sinner that hath repented. What has been lost in this debate in the media is that the often lamented OFR contained similar provisions. When industry was preparing itself forthe introduction of the OFR, sadly denied them at the last minute by the instigation of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, I do not remember that there was much agitation about a similar provision. I believe that significant heat has been engendered into the process from people who really are against the substance, which does not include the Liberal Democrats because we support the principle being introduced by the Government. In the course of the debate, a number of NGOs have felt that it would be appropriate for this element of the business review to be both subject to audit and subject to reporting standards. We on these Benches do not go that far but we accept the arguments that to impose an audit obligation would be potentially extremely expensive for companies and quite difficult to perform. However, we support the NGOs in believing that the Government—not only for the reasons indicated by the noble Baroness, Lady Noakes—ought to give some indication of what the standard reporting practice should be, which they have the power to do by regulation. The whole purpose of this is not only to obtain the disclosure of information itself, but also to provide a measure by which a number of ethical investors, or those who wish to invest within an ethical framework, can obtain comparisons between different companies. It would be difficult for those ethical comparisons to be made without some element of standard reporting practice which I feel can come only from the Government.