Company Law Reform Bill [HL]

My Lords, we are grateful for the Minister's comments and for responding to our request to simplify as far as possible the procedure for forming a company. I am slightly disappointed about his response on the need to continue to give details of the subscriber because all too often the initial capital is committed by a company agent. Therefore, I am not quite sure what the measure achieves. Companies are rarely formed by the people who will operate them. Therefore, the people who the Minister is concerned may be acting fraudulently will not be on the register when the company is started. A company is usually started with a couple of people such as a solicitor or a company agent. I accept that the Government want some time to experiment, but I doubt whether the measure will achieve very much by providing the relevant names given the nature of the people who provide the initial capital. Overall, this is certainly a step in the right direction. On Question, amendment agreed to. Clause 10 [Statement of initial shareholdings]: