Company Law Reform Bill [HL]

My Lords, for anyone who has not participated in the Grand Committee on a Bill, there should be a good deal of caution about intervening on Report, because an immense amount of work has been done by those noble Lords who were able to participate in Grand Committee. However, I found that my strength of association, feeling and support for what my noble friend Lord Lea is endeavouring to achieve in this amendment was so strong that it could make a nonsense of the Report stage if I were not simply to put on record how warmly I feel towards his argument. My noble friend Lord Whitty has referred to social cohesion and he has referred to respect. This is not just a matter of cohesion within a particular enterprise and the spirit of a particular enterprise. I do not understand how in the long run a successful enterprise can be sustained unless there is a feeling of fairness and reasonableness and a basis for respect coming from the leadership of that enterprise. I have been a chief executive, albeit not in a company in the normal sense; my role has been in the sphere of social responsibility and social policy. It seems to me that it is crucial for stability and success within an enterprise for fairness not only to be present, but to be manifestly present. There is a wider social context. We are spending a great deal of time at the moment talking about the need for more respect in society. We are being cautious in our deliberations about reflecting some of the feelings present in society as a whole. Those feelings may be fair or unfair, but there is a strong feeling about greed and opportunism. The very reasonable terms in which this amendment has been tabled are irresistible. If there is a sound basis for the way in which remuneration decisions emerge, and if there has been proper consideration of what that remuneration should be and it is clear to everyone that there has been a process that stands up to scrutiny and reflects what should happen not only for the success of the company but in relation to the responsibility of the company to society as a whole, that is great. But if that is not the case, there is a problem. All that the amendment does is request that what should happen should manifestly be seen to happen for all. I really cannot see how the logic of that position can be resisted.