HL Deb 07 November 1989 vol 512 cc598-9

21 Clause 11, page 20, leave out lines 28 to 44.

22 Page 21, line 11, at end insert —

'Civil penalty for failure to deliver accounts.

242A.—(1) Where the requirements of section 242(1) are not complied with before the end of the period allowed for laying and delivering accounts and reports, the company is liable to a civil penalty.

This is in addition to any liability of the directors under section 242.

(2) The amount of the penalty is determined by reference to the length of the period between the end of the period allowed for laying and delivering accounts and reports and the day on which the requirements are complied with, and whether the company is a public or private company, as follows:—

Length of period Public company Private company
Not more than 3 months £500 £100
More than 3 months but not more than 6 months £1,000 £250
More than 6 months but not more than 12 months £2,000 £500
More than 12 months £5,000 £1,000

(3) The penalty may be recovered by the registrar and shall be paid by him into the Consolidated Fund.

(4) It is not a defence in proceedings under this section to prove that the documents in question were not in fact prepared as required by this Part.'.

Lord Strathclyde

My Lords, I beg to move that the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendments Nos. 21 and 22.

The amendments change the level of civil penalties to which companies are liable for the late delivery of accounts and reports. My honourable friend the Under-Secretary of State for Corporate Affairs brought forward the amendments in response to an undertaking given in Committee in another place. As was explained in a short, harmonious debate in Committee in another place, the Government were sympathetic to the view that the penalties proposed in the Bill were too low in relation to public companies.

The amendments therefore introduce different penalties depending upon whether a company is public or private, the level of penalty being substantially increased for public companies. There is one other change: a separate band of penalties for where accounts are filed less than one month late is removed. There is now merely a single band where delivery is not more than three months after the due date.

Moved, That the House do agree with the Commons in the said amendments.—(Lord Strathclyde.)

On Question, Motion agreed to.