§ Mr. LoveTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what plans she has to introduce minimum standards of corporate governance; and if she will make a statement. [38375]
§ Mr. Ian McCartneyMy right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade made it clear when announcing the Government's plans for a major review of company law on 4 March 1998,Official Report, columns 636–37, that, while she did not rule out legislating to improve standards of corporate governance, she was in the first instance looking to companies and institutional investors to deliver improvements based on the best practice recommendations made by Cadbury, Greenbury, Hampel and others. The text of my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade's speech, which was made at a conference organised by Pensions Investment Research Consultants Limited (PIRC), is available on my Department's web site at http://www.dti.gov.uk/Minspeech/pircfin.htm.