§ 15. Mr. Jayasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will introduce legislation to amend the Companies Acts so as to limit the amount of expenses and pension contributions which may be allowed for individual directors.
§ Mr. P. ThorneycroftI do not think that amendment of the Companies Act would be an appropriate way of dealing with these matters.
§ Mr. JayDoes the President really think it reasonable that amounts as great as £9,000 and £11,000 annually should be paid to individual directors as pension contributions and expenses free of tax, and does he not really think that there ought to be a little more public accountability for these public companies?
§ Mr. ThorneycroftThere is, of course, accountability to the shareholders.