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Legislative Reform (Insolvency) (Miscellaneous Provisions) Order 2009

My Lords, I apologise on behalf of my noble friend Lord Razzall, who is unable to be present today. However, it gives me an opportunity to dip my toe into the deep pool of insolvency legislation, although I am not sure whether I shall be taking it out at the end of the debate or taking the plunge. I have a couple of comments on issues coming from another part of the legislative woodwork, if you like. It is commendable that the order brings the rules up to date with how people want to do the business, which is not a situation in which we find ourselves in every last respect. For example, we recently debated bank note regulations under the Banking Act which make provision for the Bank of England to contact a bank by post, and they explain what sending a letter by first-class post is deemed to mean in terms of the number of days it takes to get there. It is much more sensible to recognise the reality that, in this day and age, no one does any business by post if they can get away with it because they want to move more quickly. This order will allow them to do that. It is also very sensible to allow remote attendance at meetings. It will be very interesting to see how that works in practice. Speaking to people with whom I work in a professional capacity, I have found a significant reluctance to get involved in video conferencing, even when the facilities are available, and even though it often saves time and money. I suspect that in the case we are discussing it might be more regularly used but it would be a welcome development in terms of efficiency, the environment and reducing carbon footprints. One is always telling companies to use these facilities more, not least because it enables them to reduce their carbon footprint rather than dashing around unnecessarily. I have a general question about remote attendance at meetings and the use of websites. How far do these provisions reflect the situation under the Companies Act in terms of the way in which companies are allowed to communicate with their shareholders and the extent to which remote access to meetings is legally allowable under the Companies Act 2006? It seems to me that we are looking at these provisions in respect of insolvency but they might have wider applicability. I say this in part because I am a minority shareholder in a small unquoted company and I have just had all the documentation from it on its AGM and its accounts by e-mail, which makes absolute sense. It had no intention of sending that to me in the post, but I wondered whether, technically, it was allowed to do that, or whether there is still a legal requirement for hard copies to be provided. I suspect not, but I would welcome reassurance from the Minister on that point. I always enjoy looking at the cost-benefit figures. I would love to see the detailed workings that have produced them as in a case such as this it is virtually impossible to know what the savings are. However, I am sure that the basic orders of magnitude are right in that the costs must be significantly outweighed by the benefits of doing all this. With that very much at the forefront of my mind, I am very happy to support the order.