New Clause 6 - Police directions stopping the harassment etc of a person in his home
Criminal Justice and Police Bill
6:00 pm
Mr Charles Clarke (Minister of State, Home Office; Norwich South, Labour)
The names of shareholders should be on the public record, but I am not familiar with all aspects of company law, so I shall be slightly guarded in my comments. The reason for the current law is to enable company business to take place; it is not specifically for lobbying, unless takeovers are thought to be lobbying issues. We are not trying to change the situation.
My hon. Friend the Member for South Thanet referred to the registration of directors. Existing proposed directors may apply for and obtain the protection of a confidentiality order. All subsequent filings will refer to the service address for the public record. Our difficulty is that existing records cannot be expunged. They are kept at Companies house in a variety of formats, including paper and microfiche image. Companies keep them in their registers of directors, which are publicly available. Given those various formats and the volume of documents filed over the years, we do not see how early entries could be removed simply by diktat. As my hon. Friend understands, the information is widely held by specialist business providers such as Dun and Bradstreet, ICC and Experian. It is also undoubtedly held by animal rights activists. Such a provision would initially benefit only new directors or directors who have moved house, although it would eventually offer wider protection. We do not see how we can challenge that situation more effectively, but I understand the point and if there was a solution, I would be in favour of it. However, history is history, and if a previous director has provided his residential address, it will remain on the public record. Someone who was, but is no longer and does not propose to be a director again, cannot benefit.
Shareholder names and service addresses are still on the public record with the number of shares held. The company law review is considering various related questions.
Those are my responses to various points raised on new clause 20. I am pleased that it has been generally welcomed, and I want to pay a personal tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for South Thanet who has campaigned energetically for the provision. We have had an energetic and full discussion with the Department of Trade and Industry, and I am glad that we have been able to introduce proposals at this time. As my hon. Friend knows, I was concerned about whether we could do so, but the pressure has been positive from that point of view.
On new clause 19, it is fair to say that the debate ran very wide indeed. I had not anticipated having to deal with blasphemy law in this Committee. We considered repealing the laws on blasphemy, but our consultation showed that that would raise difficult issues, which is no surprise to anyone, and there was no consensus on a way forward. I am advised that we should not attempt to revise the law at present. The hon. Member for Southwark, North and Bermondsey referred to the Home Office commissioned research by the university of Derby and the report on religious discrimination in England and Wales, which is intended to establish views on experiences of religious discrimination. I understand that it was published two weeks ago with the Hepple report on the wider implications of legislation on religious discrimination. Both reports are intended to stimulate discussion. They do not represent the Government's position, nor are they formal consultation papers, although of course we are interested in the responses to them. It is not an area that is within my specific remit at the Home Office, so I cannot speak with personal authority, but that is what I am advised is the position.
On the other points made about new clause 19, I was inclined to rest my case in urging the hon. Member for Southwark, North and Bermondsey not to press it when my hon. Friend the Member for South Thanet intervened and talked about how these matters should be dealt with. The hon. Member for Southwark, North and Bermondsey said, truthfully, that he was seeking a wider debate on some of the difficult and problematic issues that the new clause raised.
Both the sentencing review and the ultimate report are the best way in which to consider these issues. The hon. Gentleman is right to say that we focused on issues of racial aggravation explicitly and that we have not looked at the situation in the round. The discussions that I have had with certain organisations have reinforced our interest in a more holistic approach, and in that sense, I accept the spirit of what the hon. Gentleman is trying to achieve. I hope that he will acknowledge that the subject requires substantial consideration before something further is put on the statute book. For those reasons, I hope that the hon. Gentleman will not press the new clause.