Company Law Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. A100A:"Page 284, line 33, leave out from ““section”” to ““is”” in line 35 and insert ““586 of this Act””" The noble Lord said: We move seamlessly to Part 20, which concerns transfer of securities. In moving Amendment No. A100A, I wish to speak also to Amendments Nos. A110A and A111A. The amendments concern, respectively, Clause 585 entitled,"““Transfer of securities: power to make regulations””," Clause 586, entitled,"““Transfer of securities: extension of powers””" and Clause 587, entitled,"““Transfer of securities: supplementary provisions””." The Minister will not be surprised to hear that this is another consolidation issue which has been raised with us by lawyers at Travers Smith, the City legal firm. Amendment No. A100A is a trigger amendment. Amendment No. A110A is the guts of the group and is a big redraft. Amendment No. A111A is consequential. There seems to be no good reason why the Government intend to retain Section 207 of the Companies Act 1989. As we have said on many occasions before, it would be far easier for companies and their advisers if all the relevant legislation were in one place. These amendments seek to introduce further consolidation that is currently lacking in the Bill by repealing Section 207 and restating it in the Bill with the changes as proposed by the current Clause 586; for example, the omission of subsection (3) of Section 207, which allowed the Secretary of State to ensure that the regulations contained safeguards to protect investors. The Minister and I share the deregulatory buzz. I am sure that he will understand the benefit of this simple piece of consolidation and, I dare to dream, accept this simple little amendment. I beg to move.