---

Companies Act 2006 (Consequential Amendments etc.) Order 2008

I thank noble Lords for their consideration of these draft instruments, detailed and technical as they are. I also thank the noble Lord, Lord Hodgson, for his enormous contribution to this epic Companies Act. There are still references in the order to the 1985 Act partly because the implementation timetable is phased and those references are a function of that phasing. The implementation timetable was decided after detailed discussions with business. Companies and their advisers made it clear that they needed time to prepare for the full implementation, but they also wanted to see the main deregulatory benefits—for example, in electronic communications—as soon as possible. The phased implementation of the Act reflects some complexity—greater complexity than perhaps a big bang implementation. However, we believe that it is the right approach and it has enabled us to bring in the major deregulatory benefits more quickly. For example, with the financial assistance that can be provided, it has been possible to repeal the current restrictions on private companies now without commencing the 2006 Act provisions prohibiting financial assistance which apply only to public companies. Instead, these provisions will be commenced in October 2009, along with most of the other parts of the Act dealing with share capital. We believe that that approach will be simpler and more straightforward. The noble Lord has asked a number of detailed questions about various other references to the 1985 Act which, if he will permit me, I shall explain in a note. With reference to the continued existence of the 1985 Act, there are no plans yet to repeal certain provisions in that Act—namely, those concerned with company investigations, orders imposing restrictions on shares following an investigation and provisions about Scottish floating charges and receivers—but the remainder of the Companies Act 2006 will be brought into force over a period of time in a phased implementation, as my predecessor, the Minister for competitiveness, Stephen Timms, put in a Written Answer earlier in November. I hope that satisfies the Committee.