My Lords, the purpose of the consultation is clearly to consult, and when we have consulted and had all the responses we shall give careful thought to them. We shall decide the appropriate way forward from there.

The noble Lord said that the regulations were not having any impact. On the contrary, it is clear that there has been a major impact. In the shareholder voting that has taken place, there have been some mammoth votes against directors' remuneration reports. In one case they were overturned, but in others there have been figures of 49 per cent against, 34 per cent against and 40 per cent against. Indeed, the average dissent is about 16.8 per cent. Directors will, I hope, take very seriously those votes of dissent and will take appropriate action in future to bring remuneration in line with what their shareholders believe is appropriate.