THE NATIONAL ENTERPRISE BOARD (Hansard, 22 October 1975)

§ Mr. Kaufman
I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said amendment.

§ Mr. Speaker
With this amendment we are to discuss Lords Amendments Nos. 3 and 4.

§ Mr. Kaufman
In Committee in this House the Government resisted the suggestion that the minimum number of Board members should be increased from six to eight. We pointed out that, unlike most public corporations, the National Enterprise Board will build up its activities progressively. Provision had been made deliberately for a relatively small Board at the beginning which would then build up as the Board's activities expanded. At that time Rolls-Royce (1971) Limited was the only major shareholding to be vested in the Board. The situation has now changed. The NEB will have responsibility for the Government's major investment in British Leyland as well as Rolls-Royce. That being so, we feel it right to accept the amendment.

§ Mr. Kaufman
I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said amendment.

§ Mr. Speaker
With this amendment we are to discuss Lords Amendments Nos. 6 and 17.

§ Mr. Kaufman
These were Government amendments inserted in another place to improve upon a Government amendment dealing with the constitutional position of the NEB which was made on Report stage in this House. The Bill has always provided that the NEB would not normally be a servant or agent of the Crown, but without explicit provision it would not have been wholly clear that actions taken by the Board under Clause 3 on the direction of the Secretary of State were taken by the Board as principals as was intended. However, the amendment made in this House on Report that the board is not to be regarded…as the servant or agent…of any Government department went rather too wide and could have been unduly restrictive. It might have been held to prevent the Board ever acting as the agent of the Department of Industry. For example, it would have prevented the Board acting as the Department's agent in conducting an examination of an industry or company such as the sort of work undertaken by Lord Ryder in his report on British Leyland. Such a restriction was not intended, and this amendment is designed to clarify that.

§ Mr. Tom King (Bridgwater)
Is the Under-Secretary satisfied that the new amendment covers the point contained in the Government's new clauses inserted in the Lords under which the Board could act as agent for the Ministry of Overseas Development?

§ Mr. Kaufman
Yes.

§ Mr. Kaufman
I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said amendment.

§ Mr. Speaker
With this amendment we are to discuss Lords Amendments Nos. 8, 23, 181, 182 and 183.

§ Mr. Kaufman
Hon. Members will recall that when the Government accepted an amendment on Report to provide for the registration of the financial interests of NEB members, it was made clear that the provision would probably need to be tidied up in another place. The hon. Member for Rochdale (Mr. Smith), whose presence today I note, acknowledged that it would be necessary if I accepted his amendment for us to look at it again in another place.
The amendments that we have found it necessary to make are small. The Government feel that it is more appropriate for the Secretary of State than for the Board itself to maintain the register, since it is the Secretary of State who has to satisfy himself under the provisions of Schedule 1(1) that members have no financial interests likely to affect prejudicially the performance of their functions as members.
It also seems appropriate that the register of interests should be published to Parliament each year. There is therefore provision for it to be annexed to the Board's annual report which must be laid before both Houses of Parliament by the Secretary of State.