Company Law Reform Bill [HL]

My Lords, I thank my noble friend for that detailed response to the amendment. I appreciate hearing from him yet again his commitment to the ideals that lie behind this amendment: the social obligations that he feels that companies should accept and so on. I am sorry that it has not been possible to accept the ideas behind our amendment because it seems to me, as my noble friend Lord Judd has said, that it presents a possible way of ensuring that the objectives that everyone seems to agree on are adequately met. The idea was to produce a mechanism that has not been considered before, as far as I am aware, whereby those objectives could possibly be met. It would also mean that there would be a continuous requirement for consultation with appropriate outside organisations with some concern and some responsibility for social issues. In view of what has been said, I shall beg leave to withdraw the amendment. I shall read with some pleasure what the Minister said about the commitment at least to the objectives lying behind the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. Clause 409 [Form and contents of summary financial statement: quoted companies]: