§ [No. 35]
§ Clause 14, page 13, line 7, leave out ("wholly owned").
§ Lord KIRKHILLMy Lords, I beg to move that this House doth agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 35. This Amendment and the Amendment which follows, which will be moved separately, fulfils undertakings given to your Lordships to meet the spirit of Opposition Amendments which were designed to prevent the Agency from using non-wholly-owned subsidiaries to bypass the requirement to obtain the permission of the Secretary of State before acquiring shares which would enable the Agency to control 30 per cent. or more of the voting capital of a company or which would give them more than £2 million of its shares.
The deletion of the words "wholly-owned" means that if a subsidiary, whether wholly-owned or not, proposes to acquire more than 30 per cent. of the voting capital of a company or to spend more than £2 million on such an acquisition, it must obtain the consent of the Secretary of State before doing so. As a result, the Agency will not be able to evade the requirements of Clause 14 by operating through non-wholly-owned subsidiaries. Again, I would commend this to your Lordships as being in every way an improvement.
§ Moved, That this House doth agree with the Commons in the said Amendment.—(Lord Kirkhill.)
Lord CAMPBELL of CROYMy Lords, I recognise that the Government are here coming to meet a point that we raised when the Bill was considered in your Lordships' House. This is an improvement which will give some confidence to Scottish industry.
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.