Clause 82
Company Law Reform Bill [Lords]
2:00 pm
James Brokenshire (Hornchurch, Conservative)
The clause deals with the Secretary of State’s ability to make provisions by regulation to require companies to display specified information, to state specified information in certain documents and communications and to provide relevant information on request to those they deal with in the course of their business. To a certain degree, the provisions go further than the Companies Act 1985 and the Business Names Act 1985 as far as companies trading under their registered names are concerned. It is also unclear whether the existing requirements will be added to as a consequence of the regulations that are referred to in the clause. Will the Minister therefore provide some guidance on whether additional requirements not made under existing law and practice will be added to as a consequence of the clause and the regulations that will be applied to it?
Will the Minister also clarify the specified information that is to be provided to persons with whom a company deals? Further to my earlier comments, I think that there will be a slight extension of the requirements on companies trading under their corporate name rather than a trading name. Will she tell us why it was felt necessary to change the ambit in relation to such companies?
To what extent will there be further reviews of the regulations? The clause could be applied in a way that would make the system more regulatory and bureaucratic. Given the assurances on the deregulatory approach, I am sure that that is not the intention, but I am concerned that without some background or clarification on what the regulations are likely to include—we have not had sight of the regulations—we cannot look at the clause in much context. We need to know precisely what is intended and whether any further steps or requirements are being contemplated. Given the liability set out in clauses 83 and 84 for a failure to make the necessary disclosures, we must ensure that we do not set difficult or inappropriate targets and requirements on companies.