Company Law Reform Bill [HL]

The Government agree in principle that the costs of the independent supervisor’s supervision of the Auditors General should be published. We agree that it would seem appropriate to do so in the annual report that is envisaged in this clause. However, I am not sure that it is necessary to set this out in detail in this primary legislation. Indeed, it would be unusual to do so. Most legislation specifies that accounts should be in such form as the Treasury directs, for example. That allows for adjustments to requirements over time, without the need to alter primary legislation. In my view, the requirement to provide financial information relating to the supervisory arrangements could, and indeed should, be included in the order under Clause 825, which we debated a short while ago. So I agree that this is what we want to achieve, but I do not believe it is necessary to include it specifically as suggested.