HC Deb 11 March 1982 vol 19 cc495-6W
Mr. Squire

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many building societies have obtained the consent of the Chief Registrar of Friendly Societies to keeping their register of members at offices other than their chief offices;

(2) on what grounds consent has been granted under section 62(3) of the Building Societies Act 1962 to allow society registers to be kept elsewhere than at society chief offices; and whether safeguards exist to protect the interests of those members of societies who wish to inspect these registers.

Mr. Bruce-Gardyne

[pursuant to his reply, 9 March 1982, c. 378]: A full list and so the number of cases where consent has been given to building societies to keep their register of members, or parts of it, at offices other than their chief offices, is not readily available.

It remains exceptional, however, for registers to be kept other than at the chief offices of societies. Grounds on which consent to keep the register elsewhere has been granted in recent years include:

  1. (1) where a building society has sited computer facilities on which membership records are kept at an administrative centre separate from its chief office; and
  2. (2) where societies have merged or accepted a transfer of engagements and there were clear operational advantages in maintaining separate registers for a period of time.

Such arrangements should not cause significant difficulty for members in those cases where they have the right to inspect the register.

There is no such general right. A member can inspect the register in order to communicate with other members on subjects relating to the affairs of the society automatically only if the society is in the types of financial difficulty specified in section 63(1) of the Building Societies Act 1962. Otherwise, he can obtain a direction to do so from the Chief Registrar, under the procedure set out in section 63(2), the latter having to have regard in deciding whether to give such a direction to the interests of members as a whole and to all the other circumstances.