§ 15. Mr. Hugh Jenkinsasked the President of the Board of Trade whether, in view of the fact that the intention of Section 17 of the Companies Act, 1967, is being nullified in many cases by failure of directors to differentiate between the various classes of businesses of their companies, he will now introduce legislation to clarify how these differences should be recognised.
§ Mrs. Gwyneth DunwoodyI will consider this suggestion when the time comes to prepare further companies legislation.
§ Mr. JenkinsWould not my hon. Friend agree that this is very necessary, because it is not much use having the legislation on the Statute Book unless there is some means of enforcing it? Whenever I have drawn a case to the attention of my right hon. Friend he has required that firm to carry out the provisions of the Act as in the case of Slater Walker and, now that I have pointed out the case of Metal Box this afternoon, no doubt he will be required to do this. Have I to go through the entire company list, one by one to get the law carried out? Should not more effective action be taken?
§ Mrs. DunwoodyI am grateful to my hon. Friend for bringing information to the attention of the Board of Trade. I would point out that although the Monopolies Commission recommendation could be appropriate to conglomerates, it could also mean that we might get less information about companies with less clearly diversified activities. It is something which we want to examine first, not just leap forward.