HC Deb 04 March 1953 vol 512 cc497-500
The Solicitor-General (Sir Reginald Manningham-Buller)

I beg to move, in page 3, line 11, at the end, to insert: (6) Before appointing a person to he the chairman or a whole-time member of the Board, the Minister shall satisfy himself that that person has no substantial financial interest in any undertaking of an iron and steel producer, and the Minister shall also satisfy himself from time to time with respect to the chairman and every whole-time member of the Board that he has no such interest; and any person who is, or whom the Minister proposes to appoint and who has consented to be, the chairman or a whole-time member of the Board shall, whenever requested by the Minister so to do, furnish to him such information as the Minister considers necessary for the performance by the Minister of his duties under this subsection.

Mr. Deputy-Speaker

I think that it will be for the convenience of the House to discuss this Amendment together with the Amendments to the Second Schedule, page 36, line 5, and page 36, line 11.

The Solicitor-General

I think it will be convenient for the House to consider these three Amendments together because, although they will appear, if accepted, in different parts of the Act, when it becomes an Act, they really relate to much the same topic. They appear in different parts of the Bill because the Schedule as originally drafted made a reference to disclosure, and it is convenient to have reference to the duty to disclose in the same place, namely, in the Schedule.

These Amendments meet, I hope to the satisfaction of hon. Members opposite, points raised in the course of our discussions in Committee, and the hon. Member for Rotherham (Mr. Jack Jones) will see that so far as the first Amendment is concerned it is in very similar form to the Amendment moved by the Opposition, but which went wider than the present one does.

The Amendment I have moved places fairly and squarely upon the Minister the duty to satisfy himself in relation to the chairman or a whole-time member of the Board, before he makes the appointment, that that person has no substantial financial interest in any undertaking of an iron and steel producer. We had some discussion in Committee on more than one occasion as to the exact meaning of the word "substantial," and I hope that we shall not have to embark upon a similar discussion now. I think we all know what the word really means.

The House will see that not only has the Minister the duty of satisfying himself on that matter with regard to the chairman or a whole-time member of the Board before appointment, but he has by this Amendment the duty of satisfying himself from time to time, with regard to the chairman or a whole-time member of the Board, that no such interest is held. I do not doubt that these parts of the Amendment will meet with approval, because they are almost the same as the Amendment moved in Committee by the hon. Gentleman.

Then we go on to give the Minister power to obtain such information as the Minister requires and considers necessary for the performance by him of his duties. That is to say, we give to the Minister a power to obtain information from someone whom he is considering appointing, so as to satisfy himself that that prospective chairman or whole-time member has no substantial financial interest in any such undertaking.

9.0 p.m.

Quite apart from the duties which the new subsection (6) casts upon the Minister, we are by the Amendments to the Second Schedule, in page 36, lines 5 and 11, putting upon every person, whole-time or part-time, the obligation not only of disclosing interests to the Minister before appointment, but also of disclosing to the Minister and to the Board any interests which come into their possession one way or another after appointment.

I suggested in the Committee that I thought that that would be an improvement. The hon. Member for Rotherham agreed, and I think that these changes go a long way to meet the views that were voiced and to secure that the chairman and people who sit on the Board as whole-time members have no financial interest which is likely to conflict with the performance of their duties, and that so far as all members are concerned there should be adequate disclosure, both to their colleagues on the Board and to the Minister, of any interest subsequently acquired.

Mr. Jack Jones

The three Amendments agree substantially with what we had in mind when we moved our own Amendments, and we are grateful to the Solicitor-General for introducing them. Indeed, they go a shade further than we originally asked or even anticipated; that is, in regard to the disclosure of other interests as well as direct interests in the iron and steel industry. We agree to the Amendments, and in doing so express our thanks.

Amendment agreed to.