COMMONS AMENDMENT (Hansard, 23 July 1973)

§ THE EARL OF LIMERICK

My Lords, I beg to move that this House doth agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 21. Perhaps we may also consider No. 26. Clause 13 was not included in the original text of Clause 12(4) as a power which could be exercised solely on the ground that the company had recently been authorised or brought under 1573 new control. This was because the power to restrict, that is effectively ban, acceptance of new contracts, can at present be applied only to the whole of the company's insurance business and such a restriction would be prima facie irreconcilable with the issue of an authorisation or approval of a change of control. The situation will, however, be altered by the Bill in that the power to restrict business will be applicable selectively to a particular description within a class of insurance—for example, motor fleet policies or "Road Traffic Act only" policies. There may therefore be cases in which it makes sense to issue an authorisation for a class of business or approve a change of control subject to a restriction upon the undertaking of a particularly hazardous description of risk within a class.

The question arises, however, whether the procedure of giving a company notice and the opportunity to make representations regarding the contemplated imposition of a restriction is appropriate in the particular circumstances covered by Clause 12(4). The conclusion reached is reflected in the second Amendment. This modifies Clause 22, so that, first, the procedure of notice, and so on, is not necessary where a restriction is to be imposed at the same time as an authorisation is issued; and, second, in the other circumstances covered by Clause 12(4), that is to say during the five years following an authorisation and at the time of approval of a change of control or during the five years following, the procedure of notice and opportunity for representations is retained, but particulars of the grounds are not required to be stated since the ground is the simple one of Clause 12(4), that the company is recently authorised or that control has recently passed.