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Debate on bill on Tuesday, 6 June 2006, in the House of Commons, led by Lord Darling of Roulanish. The answering member was Alan Duncan.

Company Law Reform Bill (HL)

Company Law Reform Bill (HL). Second reading debate. Agreed to on question. Programme motion for proceedings in Committee, on Report and Third reading agreed to on division (271 to 113). Money resolution agreed to on question (formal). Ways and means resolution agreed to on question (formal).

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
447 c122-223 
Session
2005-06
Department
Department of Trade and Industry
Legislative stage
Second reading
Procedure
Programme motions
Money resolutions
Ways and means resolutions
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Related items
Proceeding contributions
David Jones | 447 c203-5 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for the opportunity to participate in the debate on such an important measure. The Bil...
Jonathan Djanogly | 447 c208 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the Minister to her new role. I look forward to working with her in Committee over the com...
Show all contributions (157)
Justine Greening | 447 c205-8 (Link to this contribution) I want to concentrate on parts 15 and 16. Clause 399 deals with the business review. I think that t...
Baroness Kramer | 447 c197-8 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right. The hon. Members for Gower (Mr. Caton) and for Portsmouth, North (Sarah McC...
Ed Davey | 447 c197 (Link to this contribution) Is there not a danger that some companies might operate from abroad, reporting that they are meeting...
Baroness Kramer | 447 c198-9 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has read the same report by War on Want as me. We have a great deal of evidence o...
David Leslie Taylor | 447 c198 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady is making a powerful case on both named and unnamed companies. Asda Wal-Mart deploys m...
Baroness Kramer | 447 c195-7 (Link to this contribution) I will try to be brief because it is getting late and several other hon. Members wish to speak. I de...
Sarah McCarthy-Fry | 447 c192-5 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the Bill. It has been a long time in its gestation, but that is its strength. It covers ma...
Jonathan Djanogly | 447 c213 (Link to this contribution) I will—[Interruption.] The question is quite simple. Essentially, we feel that, following the huge m...
Ed Davey | 447 c212;447 c213 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman make it clear to the House whether, tonight, Conservative Front-Bench Member...
Jonathan Djanogly | 447 c212;447 c212-3 (Link to this contribution) I totally agree with my right hon. Friend. This country should take the lead. He explained earlier h...
Lord Deben | 447 c212 (Link to this contribution) I have great sympathy with what my hon. Friend is saying, but surely the situation is rather differe...
Jonathan Djanogly | 447 c212 (Link to this contribution) Yes. If the hon. Member for North Swindon (Mr. Wills) had heard some of the debate, he might have be...
Jonathan Djanogly | 447 c211;447 c212 (Link to this contribution) I have just explained that I see the primary way of advancing CSR as being through companies volunta...
Lord Wills | 447 c211;447 c211-2 (Link to this contribution) I have been listening to the hon. Gentleman’s case with great care. If he thinks that the Bill is no...
Jonathan Djanogly | 447 c208-11 (Link to this contribution) Indeed. It was also nice to hear the former Minister make a fine contribution to our debate. I also ...
Baroness Hodge of Barking | 447 c217 (Link to this contribution) I reiterate what I said a little earlier: I do not think that that is an issue for the Bill. I shal...
Colin Challen | 447 c217 (Link to this contribution) If the round table on sustainable palm oil does not succeed in its objectives—I hope it does—should ...
Baroness Hodge of Barking | 447 c216-7 (Link to this contribution) I hope that the right hon. Gentleman whose party, as we have seen in tonight’s debate, voted against...
Jonathan Djanogly | 447 c213 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has made his point, but I will give way one more time.
Jonathan Djanogly | 447 c213-4 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman totally misconstrues what Conservative Members did in that Committee. As the reco...
Ed Davey | 447 c213 (Link to this contribution) I thought it was important that the hon. Gentleman allowed me to intervene one more time because on ...
Lord Deben | 447 c216 (Link to this contribution) Does the right hon. Lady accept that a Government who ditched the OFR, who produced a Bill without t...
Baroness Hodge of Barking | 447 c214-6 (Link to this contribution) As other hon. Members have done, I remind the House that I have a registrable shareholding that is s...
Baroness Hodge of Barking | 447 c218 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman served on the Committee, he did not understand the Bill. It would deal with th...
Jonathan Djanogly | 447 c218 (Link to this contribution) I served on the Committee that considered that Bill.
Baroness Hodge of Barking | 447 c217-8 (Link to this contribution) That is one of the aspects that we will consider when we examine the Bill clause by clause in Commit...
Stephen O'Brien | 447 c217 (Link to this contribution) When the right hon. Lady considers the matter again, I hope that she will not skate over it. If a co...
Anne Snelgrove | 447 c169 (Link to this contribution) I should like politely to put the hon. Gentleman right on the consultation that the Labour party und...
Lord Davies of Stamford | 447 c169-70 (Link to this contribution) I am not talking about consultations on a manifesto, and I do not want to get involved in that argum...
Martin Horwood | 447 c170 (Link to this contribution) I was interested to hear the hon. Gentleman’s declaration of interest as a director of a private com...
Jonathan Djanogly | 447 c173 (Link to this contribution) I have been enjoying my hon. Friend’s speech enormously and agree with most of it—until just then, w...
Lord Davies of Stamford | 447 c173 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that but, unfortunately, I find that I did not misrepresent the ...
Lord Davies of Stamford | 447 c170 (Link to this contribution) No, I would not. This is a question of proportionality, which is one of the criteria that we should ...
Lord Davies of Stamford | 447 c170-2;447 c170-3 (Link to this contribution) Since the suggestions that have come from that corner of the House have been so utterly unreasonable...
Justine Greening | 447 c175;447 c175-6 (Link to this contribution) I share my hon. Friend’s concerns. He may be interested to learn that in the other place subsection ...
Lord Davies of Stamford | 447 c173;447 c173-4 (Link to this contribution) Of course, I will give way to my hon. Friend, who is a distinguished company lawyer among other thin...
Stephen O'Brien | 447 c174 (Link to this contribution) There is a grave danger in this important discussion in not distinguishing between understanding the...
Anne Snelgrove | 447 c178-80 (Link to this contribution) We have had a good debate. It has been interesting to hear the points of agreement on the Bill and t...
Justine Greening | 447 c180 (Link to this contribution) I am interested in what the hon. Lady is saying, and I wonder whether she agrees with me about a ver...
Lord Davies of Stamford | 447 c176-7 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for my hon. Friend’s support. She has put me to shame by making it clear, modestly and...
Speaker | 447 c177;447 c177-8 (Link to this contribution) Order. I remind all hon. Members that quite a few Members are still hoping to catch my eye. Perhaps ...
Anne Snelgrove | 447 c180-1 (Link to this contribution) Many of the hon. Lady’s constituents work at Heathrow, so there will be differences of opinion among...
Lord Davies of Stamford | 447 c181 (Link to this contribution) There is all the difference in the world between creating an obligation for directors to have regard...
Anne Snelgrove | 447 c181-2 (Link to this contribution) I understand the hon. Gentleman’s concern, but I do not agree with it, because such an obligation is...
Anne Snelgrove | 447 c182 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. I am indeed interested in that idea, and I should l...
Stephen O'Brien | 447 c182-5 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to have the opportunity to take part in this debate. At the outset, I must declare my ...
Mike Weir | 447 c185 (Link to this contribution) I agree with much of what the hon. Gentleman says, but he referred to what many call ““mom and pop””...
Stephen O'Brien | 447 c185-7 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is entirely correct. The whole House agrees with the principles on which this Bil...
Martin Caton | 447 c187-9 (Link to this contribution) Notwithstanding what has been said from the Front Benches so far, I should like briefly to urge the ...
Hywel Williams | 447 c189-90 (Link to this contribution) I wish to say at the outset that we in Plaid Cymru subscribe to the principles promoted by the Trade...
Mike Weir | 447 c190 (Link to this contribution) We hear all about how people are working for low wages in the third world, but the flip side of glob...
Hywel Williams | 447 c190-2 (Link to this contribution) I agree with my hon. Friend, and, indeed, that will be the burden of some of my later remarks. Look...
Lord Deben | 447 c165-6 (Link to this contribution) Of course the Leader of the House can leave. I shall not detain him longer, but I cannot understand ...
Emily Thornberry | 447 c166-8 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the Bill, which is a major step towards establishing a fair, modern and effective framewor...
Lord Deben | 447 c165 (Link to this contribution) You are absolutely right, Madam Deputy Speaker, but it was fun, was it not? Before the Leader of th...
Jack Straw | 447 c165 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for his flattery, which was laid on so thick that even I c...
Lord Davies of Stamford | 447 c168-9 (Link to this contribution) I should like to start by declaring my interests. I am a director of a small private underwriting co...
Lord Darling of Roulanish | 447 c123 (Link to this contribution) As I understand it—I may be wrong—the timetable was agreed through the usual channels, though they a...
Ed Davey | 447 c123 (Link to this contribution) I confirm that the Liberal Democrats certainly support the proposals for consolidation that the Gove...
Lord Darling of Roulanish | 447 c123 (Link to this contribution) I am not the usual channels, but I will give way again to the hon. Member for Kingston and Surbiton ...
Lord Darling of Roulanish | 447 c124 (Link to this contribution) Wherever discussions between the usual channels may be held, it is probably best that they do not ta...
Ed Davey | 447 c123-4 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that the Secretary of State will not fall foul of the usual channels on his side, because ...
Lord Darling of Roulanish | 447 c122-3 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time. In a world of change and competition, the G...
Stephen O'Brien | 447 c158 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Austin Mitchell | 447 c156-8 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Lady does not mind, I will not, because with my back condition, I feel that if I sit dow...
Austin Mitchell | 447 c154-6 (Link to this contribution) When a Government Bill is praised with faint damns by the Conservatives representing the vested inte...
Lord Deben | 447 c159-62 (Link to this contribution) It is almost impossible to follow the hon. Member for Great Grimsby (Mr. Mitchell), who is the authe...
Austin Mitchell | 447 c158-9 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry, I must decline to give way. I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman wants me to advise ...
Stephen O'Brien | 447 c162 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend is setting out a powerful argument. It is ironic that notwithstanding the misgi...
Lord Deben | 447 c162-5 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady ought to read the debates carefully and see the basis on which Members of the House of...
Speaker | 447 c165 (Link to this contribution) Order. I think that the right hon. Gentleman is going rather wide of this Second Reading debate. Per...
Anne Snelgrove | 447 c162 (Link to this contribution) Does the right hon. Gentleman accept that there are also two Conservative parties—one in the Chamber...
Lord Deben | 447 c146 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Member for Cardiff, South and Penarth (Alun Michael) may think that, but do not most ...
Ed Davey | 447 c146 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman’s ultra-loyalism has been tested and has met the test, not for the first ti...
Jonathan Djanogly | 447 c148 (Link to this contribution) Has the hon. Gentleman given any thought to the fact that a responsible attitude towards the environ...
Ed Davey | 447 c147-8 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. I did not mean to make light of the point. I think tha...
Ed Davey | 447 c148-52 (Link to this contribution) Of course that is the case. There are many ways of pursuing environmental policy. This one has the s...
Ed Davey | 447 c152 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is exactly right. He is something of an expert in this area and we intend to table an...
Stephen O'Brien | 447 c152 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman may recall that the former Secretary of State called OFRs the last piece in the j...
Ed Davey | 447 c152-3 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is exactly right, although he has given a clear indication to the House of how th...
Jonathan Djanogly | 447 c153 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend the Member for Rutland and Melton (Mr. Duncan) did not mistake the position. Section ...
Ed Davey | 447 c153-4 (Link to this contribution) We may have seen the first of many U-turns by the Conservatives in this House from the position take...
Ed Davey | 447 c146 (Link to this contribution) It is good to follow the right hon. Member for Cardiff, South and Penarth (Alun Michael). The House ...
Alun Michael | 447 c143-6 (Link to this contribution) Without any gritted teeth whatever, I am happy to agree with the right hon. Gentleman and to say tha...
Lord Deben | 447 c143 (Link to this contribution) Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that it was a pity to hear the CBI on this morning’s radio attac...
Alun Michael | 447 c141-3 (Link to this contribution) I am pleased to be able to use the freedom of the Back Benches to commend the Bill to the House and ...
Alan Duncan | 447 c140-1 (Link to this contribution) The other danger, though, is that the winners from the new procedure might well end up being not sha...
Lord Darling of Roulanish | 447 c140 (Link to this contribution) There are two points here. First, it is already possible to bring such an action; the difference is ...
Alan Duncan | 447 c140 (Link to this contribution) We will see. No doubt it will be discussed in Committee. Nevertheless, the provision opens the door ...
Ed Davey | 447 c140 (Link to this contribution) I am surprised by the hon. Gentleman’s remarks, because I thought that his colleagues in the other p...
Ed Davey | 447 c146 (Link to this contribution) I shall give him a chance to do so now.
Alun Michael | 447 c146 (Link to this contribution) I think that my wry smile of amusement must have been prompted by the hon. Gentleman’s speech rather...
Alan Duncan | 447 c139 (Link to this contribution) I imagine that if Miles Templeman were standing in my little shoes at this moment, he would robustly...
Lord Darling of Roulanish | 447 c138 (Link to this contribution) Clause 158 states that directors must have regard to the matters set out there, but it adds ““amongs...
Alan Duncan | 447 c138 (Link to this contribution) That is a red herring—the Government removed that provision, and we will probably take steps to rest...
Lord Deben | 447 c138-9 (Link to this contribution) I am following my hon. Friend’s argument with great care. Mr. Templeman does not want the present la...
Alan Duncan | 447 c138 (Link to this contribution) The problem is that there are about 650 ““other matters”” which have built up over time as considera...
Lord Darling of Roulanish | 447 c134-5 (Link to this contribution) We are already holding discussions with sections of the industry, and there will be discussions in t...
Jonathan Djanogly | 447 c134 (Link to this contribution) Will the Secretary of State please clarify what he is proposing? Is he proposing to amend or scrap t...
Ed Davey | 447 c137-8 (Link to this contribution) I am surprised by the position that the hon. Gentleman’s noble Friends took in the other place. Is h...
Alan Duncan | 447 c135-7 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the Secretary of State to his first Second Reading debate in his new role. I had the pleas...
Lord Redwood | 447 c139 (Link to this contribution) Is my hon. Friend suggesting that, in the case that I put to the Secretary of State, if a business s...
Alan Duncan | 447 c139-40 (Link to this contribution) No. To be fair, the Secretary of State answered that and, however reluctant I might be to do so, I l...
Lord Darling of Roulanish | 447 c131-2 (Link to this contribution) I do not accept that. I agree that many members of the public want to make informed decisions as to ...
Mike Weir | 447 c132 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State talks about private companies. Concerns have been raised with me about the pr...
Lord Darling of Roulanish | 447 c130 (Link to this contribution) I do not think that it does. As I said at the outset, a director’s duty is to the company and theref...
Jo Swinson | 447 c131;447 c130-1 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State seems to accept that many people increasingly take social and environmental f...
Lord Darling of Roulanish | 447 c133 (Link to this contribution) I think that I acknowledged the fact that the secretary of a company performs an extremely useful fu...
Baroness Burt of Solihull | 447 c133 (Link to this contribution) Will the Secretary of State explain why the Government are trying to improve their own cash flow at ...
Lord Darling of Roulanish | 447 c132 (Link to this contribution) We did consider that, and came to the view that the right distinction was between private and public...
Stephen O'Brien | 447 c132 (Link to this contribution) For the purposes of dealing with company secretaries, I declare my registered interests. The answer ...
Lord Darling of Roulanish | 447 c133 (Link to this contribution) Again, we thought that that was the right thing to do. Perhaps I will come back to the hon. Lady if ...
Lord Darling of Roulanish | 447 c134 (Link to this contribution) If there is a feeling that we need to do more to help companies in such circumstances we will, of co...
Mike Weir | 447 c129 (Link to this contribution) To return to the point made by the hon. Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire, North (Jim Sheridan), i...
Lord Darling of Roulanish | 447 c129 (Link to this contribution) I would be very reluctant to encourage widespread litigation in the UK courts simply because remedie...
David Howarth | 447 c129 (Link to this contribution) I accept much of what the right hon. Gentleman has just said, but I want to return to the contents o...
Lord Darling of Roulanish | 447 c129-30 (Link to this contribution) A business review produced under clause 399 by an oil company working in Nigeria, for example, would...
Lord Darling of Roulanish | 447 c130 (Link to this contribution) Clause 399 will legally oblige directors to say why they are omitting information. When the Committe...
Lord Darling of Roulanish | 447 c130 (Link to this contribution) I have dealt with only two of the Bill’s 950 clauses, and must move on. However, first I shall give ...
Baroness Kramer | 447 c130 (Link to this contribution) A moment ago the Secretary of State said that the information in the business review would be a valu...
Lord Darling of Roulanish | 447 c128;447 c127-8 (Link to this contribution) If the right hon. Gentleman looks at clause 399, which deals with the reporting requirements, he wil...
Lord Darling of Roulanish | 447 c128 (Link to this contribution) I give way first to my hon. Friend the Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire, North (Jim Sheridan), wh...
Lord Darling of Roulanish | 447 c127 (Link to this contribution) I will give way to all Members who are standing, but I want first to answer the points that have alr...
Lord Deben | 447 c127 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State is of course right to say that directors have a duty primarily to their share...
Alun Michael | 447 c126-7 (Link to this contribution) If I am successful in catching your eye later, Mr. Speaker, I should like to develop the following p...
Lord Darling of Roulanish | 447 c127 (Link to this contribution) I should say at the outset that the broad objectives of the Trade Justice Movement, particularly the...
Lord Darling of Roulanish | 447 c128-9 (Link to this contribution) No, it would not. The requirement is for the director, in reaching a decision, to have regard to all...
Jim Sheridan | 447 c128 (Link to this contribution) May I bring my right hon. Friend back to the environment? It is somewhat ironic that taking place to...
Lord Darling of Roulanish | 447 c124 (Link to this contribution) I am not in a position to give that assurance. Even if the programme motion is moved, if it turns ou...
Stephen O'Brien | 447 c124 (Link to this contribution) Will the Secretary of State give way?
Lord Darling of Roulanish | 447 c124 (Link to this contribution) Not if the hon. Gentleman wants to discuss procedure. I should like to begin dealing with the Bill i...
Stephen O'Brien | 447 c124 (Link to this contribution) My point arises from the discussion that has just taken place. Clearly, consideration in the other p...
Alan Duncan | 447 c124 (Link to this contribution) Members on both sides of the House genuinely want to maintain the consensus. In view of that, and gi...
Lord Darling of Roulanish | 447 c126 (Link to this contribution) There have been wide-ranging discussions both within Government and between Government and many of t...
Lord Darling of Roulanish | 447 c125 (Link to this contribution) As I have said, we want, where possible, simply to restate the law in what we hope will be the 2006 ...
Jim McGovern | 447 c125 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State mentioned the new codification of the responsibilities of a director. Can he ...
Lord Darling of Roulanish | 447 c125-6 (Link to this contribution) We decided on that after a great deal of consultation. We are trying to put into statute something t...
Martin Horwood | 447 c152 (Link to this contribution) The Accounting Standards Board put a great deal of work into developing accounting and audit standar...
Jonathan Djanogly | 447 c213 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman starts from the wrong point—[Laughter.] He does. As my hon. Friend the Member for...
Ed Davey | 447 c213 (Link to this contribution) I think that that was clear. My interpretation of what the hon. Gentleman has said is that he is no ...
Ed Davey | 447 c134 (Link to this contribution) We totally support those moves, although we will suggest in Committee that the Government need to go...
Dawn Butler | 447 c130 (Link to this contribution) I want to ask another question about the business review outlined in clause 399. The transparency re...
James Brokenshire | 447 c199-203 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for the opportunity to take part in the debate. I should say at the outset that I have...
Baroness Hodge of Barking | 447 c219 (Link to this contribution) Indeed. It is also an important Bill that comes to us after a long process of thought and reflection...
Lord Davies of Stamford | 447 c174-5 (Link to this contribution) With respect to my hon. Friend, I think that the Bill adopts precisely the opposite of a ““tick-box”...
Lord Deben | 447 c162 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend, who has considerable professional experience of these matters, is right. I hope he w...
Lord Redwood | 447 c128 (Link to this contribution) I am with the Secretary of State on what he is trying to do to strike the right balance. I am a comp...
Lord Darling of Roulanish | 447 c128 (Link to this contribution) I am not sure that I would quite share my hon. Friend’s view, but when he has a chance to look at th...
Philip Hollobone | 447 c126 (Link to this contribution) On the point of the world Trade Justice Movement, I, along with many other hon. Members, have receiv...
Mike Weir | 447 c182 (Link to this contribution) In connection with what the hon. Lady was saying earlier about companies being sued, does she not ag...
Subjects
Disclosure of information Accountability Audit Accountancy Company law Company accounts Companies Directors Conduct Consolidation bills Animal experiments Fraud Finance Liability Environment protection Harassment Ethics Protection Staff Private companies Working conditions Registration Small businesses Regulation Trade Sustainable development Research Shareholders
Legislation
Company Law Reform Bill (HL) 2005-06
Link
View this Parliamentary proceeding on www.publications.parliament.uk