Companies Act 2006 (Commencement No. 2, Consequential Amendments, Transitional Provisions and Savings) Order 2007

My Lords, like the noble Lord, Lord Hodgson, but unlike the Minister, who took office afterwards, I have Company Law Bill 2006 on my heart, rather like Mary did with Calais, but the Minister was either fortunate or unfortunate—he would say unfortunate—not to have the opportunity. Nevertheless, in the view of the noble Lord, Lord Hodgson, and myself, we ended up with a very good Bill as a result of the conduct of proceedings in both this House and the amendments that the Government took on board to what was, I think, the largest Bill ever presented to either House of Parliament. As the noble Lord, Lord Hodgson, indicated, the Statement from Margaret Hodge, the relevant Minister in another place, indicated when the various pieces of legislation come into effect. My instinctive reaction has been to ask why some of them need to take so long. Industry and the professions have taken on board the Bill’s implications, but I am not entirely sure why it needs to take until 1 October 2008 to bring into effect many of the provisions. However, that is obviously what the Government have decided and that is what will happen. I want to draw attention to a point about the regulations. I am more worried that the Minister in another place has indicated in her Statement that there will be a consultative document on the policy issues related to the secondary legislation that will need to be made under the Act and on transitional and savings provisions. I am concerned that we should not become bogged down in the detail; in particular, the corporate law files that seem to have applied particularly to Article 11(2) of the order. If that is the extent to which practitioners are expected to understand what the Government are saying, I draw attention to the Explanatory Memorandum on Article 11(2). The Minister is probably too young to remember the Hoffnung story about the bricks and the rope but the noble Lord, Lord Davies, sitting next to him, will remember it because he is older than I am. The Explanatory Memorandum states that: "““Article 11(2) relies on Section 1296(1) of the Companies Act 2006 to save the application to limited liability partnerships (““LLPs””) of a provision of the Companies Act 1985 which it had been intended should continue to apply to LLPs despite the repeal of that provision in its application to companies. Because of an error in the Companies … Order, this was not achieved. ""The Department considers that this saving is effective notwithstanding that the repeal has already come into force, because its effect is not to reverse the repeal but to save the application of the repealed provision to LLPs and thus to cause it to apply again from the coming into force of the Companies Act 2006 … Order 2007. The Department does not consider that savings under section 1296(1) have to be made at the same time as the commencement to which they relate.""““It has been suggested that the vires ought to be found within sections 15 to 17 of the Limited Partnerships Act 2000. They could not, however, have been relied upon in this commencement order, because the power there is to make regulations. There seems to be, in any event, no difference between what could have been achieved had separate regulations been made under section 15(b) of that Act and what has been provided in the Order under section 1296(1) of the Companies Act 2006””." I know that the noble Lord, Lord Davies, is a man of distinguished ability, perspicacity and brilliance. If even he is prepared to stand up and explain what that gobbledegook means, I bow to him with the estimation that I always show him, but if this is the quality of consultation that will apply to future orders, I worry for the future of consultation.