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Companies Bill [Lords]

I hope that the debate can be brief because the issues have been debated at length in both Houses over a long period of time. As I explained when the amendment was tabled in this House, the original wording was not about companies providing lists of suppliers or customers or any other people with whom they have or had a contract, but about reporting significant relationships that are likely to have an impact on the performance or value of the business. It is up to the directors to exercise their judgment about what should be incorporated in the business review. They need include only information to the extent necessary for the understanding of the development, performance or position of the company. The amendment does not impose a disproportionate burden on business and the costs, which are based on costings that the CBI provided to us when the operating and financial review was being considered, are minimal. However, in the discussions that have taken place in the past couple of weeks, I was persuaded by representatives of the pharmaceutical industry that there was a possibility that the information could be misused by animal rights extremists. Amendments were tabled in another place on that basis. The intention behind the revised amendments is to deal with legitimate concerns around animal rights terrorism. The amendment is framed, first, to exempt directors from disclosing information about a person if disclosure would, in their opinion, be seriously prejudicial to the interests of that person. The prejudice might be direct or indirect. Secondly, disclosure must also be contrary to the public interest. That requirement is to ensure that exclusion is not used to cover up wrongdoing on the part of the contractor. For example, if a supplier has supplied dangerous goods and may have been negligent in so doing, it is clearly not in the public interest to conceal his identity. We are not trying to exempt the directors from reporting information that would be prejudicial merely to the company. That would create an unjustifiable let-out. It is not necessary to do that to ensure that the interests that we want to protect are covered. The business review is an important matter. We have had long, lively debates on it throughout the Bill’s passage. Clearly, some have argued for more detailed prescription in the requirements but others—on the Opposition Benches—have argued for weakening the provisions. We have struck the right balance and I hope that we will agree today that we can put the matter to rest.