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Company Law: Reform
Baroness Pitkeathley asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What plans they have for the reform of company law.[HL900]
The Minister of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Simon of Highbury): My right honourable friend the President of the Board of Trade is today publishing a consultation paper, Modern Company Law for a Competitive Economy. The paper sets out her plans for a major review of company law and its relationship with corporate governance codes. The review will focus on the Companies Act 1985. Insolvency and Financial Services legislation will not in general fall within its scope.
The review is an important part of the Government's strategy to modernise the nation. While much of the relevant statute has stood the test of time, the review will ensure that company law statute can continue to underpin the growth, competitiveness and accountability of British companies into the 21st Century. It will, for example, consider whether, taking account of partnership law and the proposed Limited Liability Partnership, business has the right choice of legislative vehicles for growth. It will address the complexity of the current legislation, and ensure a structure that is clear to users; and it will seek a flexible framework of regulation which is cost effective for companies, and fair to all interests.
The review will be a considered, consultative and long-term process. A Steering Group, chaired by the Department of Trade and Industry, will manage the review process; and there will be a widely-based consultative committee to ensure active representation of all wider interests. Full public consultation will continue at the end of this year with the first report of a first expert working group, and will continue throughout the process.
The review will culminate in the publication of a White Paper on proposed company law reforms, towards the end of this Parliament.
Scottish Civil Service Jobs: Dispersed Locations
Lord Hogg of Cumbernauld asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What is the policy of the Scottish Office on the dispersal of civil service jobs from Edinburgh to other Scottish locations.[HL759]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Scottish Office (Lord Sewel): Scottish Office staff already work from a number of locations around Scotland. Staffing dispositions are kept under review to ensure continued efficiency and value for money. There are no present plans to make significant changes to existing staff dispositions. Future arrangements would be a matter for the Scottish Executive and the Scottish Parliament.
"Learning Age" Policy Documents: Press Launch Costs
Baroness Blatch asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they will give details of costings of the press launch of the "Learning Age" policy documents:
including the cost of press information packs.[HL819]
(a) A Renaissance for a New Britain;
(b) Higher Education for the 21st Century; and
(c) Further Education for the New Millennium,
The Minister of State, Department for Education and Employment (Baroness Blackstone): The cost of the press launch of the "Learning Age" policy documents was £66,991. This included the cost of press information packs as well as all the display and exhibition material, which will be reused at 13 regional consultation conferences.
Baroness Blatch asked Her Majesty's Government:
Baroness Blackstone: I can confirm that that is the case. I can also assure the noble Baroness that steps have already been taken to safeguard taxpayers' money. Following the decision reached by AGIT's management committee to wind up the organisation as it is no longer financially viable, it has been agreed that any cash balance in the final accounts should be paid to the department against the outstanding debt and that the
We have been concerned to ensure that AGIT should be wound up in a way which would best reinforce governor training while also protecting public investment and ensuring financial probity. We consider that best value for money will be achieved by ensuring that the substantial body of intellectual assets created by AGIT in the form of publications and training materials can remain available for school governors. Discussions as to how this can best be achieved are currently taking place.
Baroness Blatch asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: The answer can only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Lord Dormand of Easington asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: There are currently nine Royal Grace and Favour residences in the Royal Palaces, and 12 official residences occupied by Ministers on a similar rent-free basis.
Lord Freyberg asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: The works of art on loan from national collections to government departments are viewed by the wide variety of visitors to these buildings. Members of the public who have a particular need (for example relating to research or family connections) to see a particular work on loan can do so by writing to the Government Art Collection, which administers loans to government departments, including Nos. 10 and 11 Downing Street. The request is then forwarded to the appropriate department, with whom the final decision on granting access rests.
The Government Art Collection does not administer loans of paintings from national collections to the Lord Chancellor's Residence. Discussions are currently under
Lord Acton asked Her Majesty's Government:
The Minister of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Gilbert): Afloat storage is not time limited and is safe. However, space at Devonport Naval Base and at Rosyth Royal Dockyard is finite and is expected to reach its capacity some years before any Deep Waste Repository may become available. As a result, the MoD is now investigating other options, including interim land storage and other sites for storage afloat. Safety to the public and to the environment will be of paramount importance when considering the way forward.
Lord Rea asked Her Majesty's Government:
The Minister of State, Department of Health (Baroness Jay of Paddington): The information requested is not available centrally in the form requested, but the following tables give some indication of the pattern of fundholding and non-fundholding practices in the United Kingdom for the categories requested.
Table 1 shows how many fundholding and non-fundholding practices received deprivation payments in each of the last four years, indicating how the profile has changed over time. General medical services (GMS) deprivation payments are made to general practitioners for each patient on their list classified as living in underprivileged areas (UPA). Arrangements for assessing entitlement to these payments are based on the Jarman score for UPA as the measure of deprivation. This index is constructed from census variables weighted according to GP's perceptions of their influence on GMS workload. The
Table 2 shows the percentage of the registered population covered by GP fundholders (GPFH) in each English health region and in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in each of the last four years.
Source:
Enhanced GP census 1 April. Scottish Health Service and Department of Health and Social Services in Northern Ireland.
Source:
Enhanced GP census 1 April.
Note:
Data on deprivation payments to practices in Wales do not distinguish between fundholders and non-fundholders.
Source:
Returns from Regional Offices and Scottish Health Service, Welsh Office and Department of Health and Social Services in Northern Ireland.
Whether Action For Governors' Information and Training (AGIT) has received in error a grant of £34,000 twice from the Department for Education and Employment; and if so, whether AGIT should be told to return the taxpayers' money it has been overpaid.[HL821]
Whether they will give the number of public presentations by all government departments since
1 May 1997 and their costings.[HL820]
How many grace and favour homes there are.[HL462]
What public access arrangements have been made to view paintings and works of art on loan from national collections to government departments, including
Nos. 10 and 11 Downing Street and the Lord Chancellor's Residence.[HL699]
What is the impact of the delay to the Deep Waste Repository on the afloat storage of decommissioned nuclear submarines.[HL919]
In respect of fund holding and non-fundholding general practice partnerships:
(a) what is the mean level and range of deprivation of the practice populations of the two groups (using Under-Privileged Area (Jarman) (scores);
(b) what is the distribution of inner city, urban, semi-rural and rural locations in the two groups;
(c) whether there is any difference in the geographical (regional) distribution of the two groups; and
(d) whether successive waves of general practice fund holding have had any impact on the above distributions.[HL657]
Number of practices in receipt of deprivation payments Number of practices not in receipt of deprivation payments Total
1993
GPFH 707 647 1,354
non-GPFH 6,007 3,181 9,188
Total 6,714 3,828 10,542
1994
GPFH 1,220 1,043 2,263
non-GPFH 5,472 2,799 8,271
Total 6,692 3,842 10,534
1995
GPFH 1,542 1,297 2,839
non-GPFH 5,065 2,587 7,652
Total 6,607 3,884 10,491
1996
GPFH 2,586 1,568 4,154
non-GPFH 4,405 1,892 6,297
Total 6,991 3,460 10,451
Number of practices in receipt of deprivation payments Number of practices not in receipt of deprivation payments Total
1993 292 251 543
1994 305 240 545
1995 306 232 538
1996 337 195 532
Percentage of registered population covered by GP fundholders
1994-95 1995-96 1996-97 1997-98
Region
Northern & Yorks. 34 37 52 59
Trent 43 47 55 59
Anglia & Oxford 39 41 51 56
North Thames 27 36 49 54
South Thames 38 41 49 55
South & West 30 31 45 56
West Midlands 41 50 60 62
North West 34 37 53 57
England total 35 39 51 57
Scotland 22 37 46 --
Wales 33 39 49 56
Northern Ireland 25 30 45 54