Clause 10 - Powers of governing bodies to form or
Education Bill
4:30 pm
Mr Stephen O'Brien (Eddisbury, Conservative)
I am most grateful to the hon. Gentleman for making that point. He is right. Nothing in the Bill deals with that, other than a presumption that the Secretary of State may exercise powers in order to intervene, in an unspecified and unpredictable way, when dealing with companies that are properly capable—whether private limited companies not on the stock market or any other free market that can do a deal in the event of a transaction on the shares, or a public limited company that, in the event of either a consensual or a hostile bid, might be on the receiving end of interest from another.
If the hon. Gentleman would be patient enough to wait until we discuss amendments Nos. 61 and 62, which relate to proposed new paragraph (vii), he will find that I have tabled an amendment to flush out that aspect. In order not to try your patience, Mr. Griffiths, I should not leapfrog to that amendment before we deal with these amendments, which are linked. I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for making that point, which previews what I hope will be a testing and rewarding challenge for the Government to come clean about the provisions.