§ Mr. ColmanTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will require the Financial Services Authority as the new competent authority for listing to ensure that questions of environmental risk are in future contained in all listing particulars as recommended by the Advisory Committee on Business and the Environment. [96896]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonThe London Stock Exchange, as Competent Authority, has in the last two years reviewed the statutory requirements to report provisions and disclose contingent liabilities and the accounting rules for disclosure of environmental risks. These do require companies to address, among other things, their environmental liabilities. But, in the absence of clear, recognised disclosure standards, it has not been considered appropriate to introduce a listing rule specifically covering environmental risks. The Financial Services Authority may wish to consider the position afresh when it becomes the Competent Authority, but this will be for the Financial Services Authority to decide.