Company Law Reform Bill [Lords]
9:00 am
Margaret Hodge (Minister of State (Industry and the Regions), Department of Trade and Industry; Barking, Labour)
I beg to move,
That—
(1) during proceedings on the Company Law Reform Bill [Lords] the Standing Committee shall (in addition to its first meeting at 9.00 a.m. on Thursday 15th June) meet—
(a) at 1.00 p.m. on Thursday 15th June;
(b) at 10.30 a.m. and 4.30 p.m. on Tuesday 20th June;
(c) at 9.00 a.m. and 1.00 p.m. on Thursday 22nd June;
(d) at 10.30 a.m. and 4.30 p.m. on Tuesday 27th June;
(e) at 9.00 a.m. and 1.00 p.m. on Thursday 29th June;
(f) at 10.30 a.m. and 4.30 p.m. on Tuesday 4th July;
(g) at 9.00 a.m. and 1.00 p.m. on Thursday 6th July;
(h) at 10.30 a.m. and 4.30 p.m. on Tuesday 11th July;
(i) at 9.00 a.m. and 1.00 p.m. on Thursday 13th July;
(2) the proceedings shall be taken in the following order: Clauses 1 to 137; Clauses 253 to 361; Clauses 604 to 641; Clauses 676 to 680; Clauses 694 to 777; Schedule 4; Clauses 778 to 795; Schedules 5 to 7; Clauses 796 to 806; Schedule 8; Clauses 807 to 812; Clauses 821 to 846; Schedule 10; Clauses 847 to 849; Schedule 11; Clauses 850 to 871; Schedule 12; Clauses 872 to 881; Schedule 13; Clauses 882 to 893; Schedule 14; Clauses 894 to 901; Schedule 15; Clauses 902 to 919; Clauses 921 to 925; Clauses 139 to 238; Schedule 1; Clauses 239 to 252; Clauses 362 to 529; Clauses 642 to 648; Schedule 2; Clauses 649 to 675; Schedule 3; Clauses 530 to 603; Clauses 681 to 693; Clause 138; new Clauses; new Schedules; Clauses 813 and 814; Schedule 9; Clauses 815 to 820; Clause 920; Schedule 16; remaining proceedings on the Bill;
(3) the proceedings shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion at 4.00 p.m. on Thursday 13th July.
I welcome you to the Chair, Mr. Illsley. Having just looked you up, I find that you are now in your 20th year as a Member of Parliament. I am grateful to you for taking on this onerous task. I am told this is the longest Bill that has ever appeared before the House. We are hoping that your interest in football will inform our sittings—[Hon. Members: “Hear, hear.”]—and that we shall finish in time to watch the Sweden match. [Hon. Members: “It is next week.”] I am ahead of my time.
Mr. Illsley, you once called on the royal family to attend more football matches. I do not know what success you had with that. You are one of the few MPs who opposed televising the Commons, but I am sure that you do not oppose the facility of television in the Commons for those who want to watch things going on outside.
We had a good debate on Second Reading. The Bill is enormous and will grow during the course of our considerations as we try to consolidate more into it to put all the legislation has an impact on companies in one place. It will make an enormous difference to UK business and I hope that it ensures that people who wish to incorporate companies see the UK as the best place in which to do business. If we are to succeed in that, it is vital that we get the provisions right.
Hon. Members who have read proceedings in the upper House will see that the Government are very open-minded in our approach to the Bill. The provisions are in good shape, but we are always anxious to improve them. Certainly, during the discussions that I had in the past month with my officials, we found that there is always room for improvement in a Bill of such an enormous size. If we are persuaded that amendments will improve it, we will be happy to support them.
We tried to approach the development of the Bill in a truly collaborative and inclusive way, which is why it has attracted such broad consensus and support in the business community. Indeed, I am meeting various hon. Members to determine whether we can reach a consensus on one of the issues of contention, which is the clause on indirect shareholder interest. Those who read the debate in the other place will know that the Bill attracted a good deal of cross-party support. I hope that in this Committee all Opposition Members act in that collaborative and constructive way.
I hope that hon. Members will bear with us on the substance of the programme motion. We are proposing not to deal with the provisions in the precise order that they are laid out in the Bill. There are several reasons why that approach is sensible. I will be kindly supported by two ministerial colleagues who have better legal qualifications than I do. One of them is the Solicitor-General, who is unable to be with us today because of his involvement with the Fraud Bill. We want to defer parts 10, 11, 15, 16 and 24. He will lead on those in the most part lead, although I shall work through some of the clauses with him. As the Attorney-General took those through the House of Lords, it seemed sensible for the Solicitor-General to lead on them in the Commons Committee.
Parts 17 to 21, 26 to 33, and schedules 9 and 16 have been moved because they are where we want to introduce new consolidating clauses from previous legislation. Those will restate many of the provisions of the Companies Act 1985. As we speak, parliamentary counsel are drafting those parts. We want to defer them and discuss them later in our proceedings.
Finally, I alluded to consideration of part 9, which is the clause on indirect shareholders. We want to leave it to the end because I am trying to build consensus with all parties concerned on the proper way forward. After the first consultation meeting yesterday, I am optimistic that we will bring the parties together. That would be a much more satisfactory way of resolving the problem.