Serious Crime Bill [HL]

We very much welcome the noble Baroness, Lady Noakes, to our company and look forward to her participation in all the parts of the Bill that are relevant to her expertise. It may help if I run through how we see this part working. Noble Lords will know that a potential consequence for a company, partnership or relevant body convicted for the breach of the terms of an order placed on it will be the winding-up of that body, as the noble Baroness said. A petition will be presented only if it is in the public interest for the winding-up to happen and the court can make an order for winding-up only if it would be just and equitable to do so. To provide for this, we have tapped into the Insolvency Act 1986, which, as the noble Baroness knows, already provides an established framework for the winding-up of a company. What constitutes a relevant body is set out in Clause 27(11) as: "““(a) a building society (within the meaning of the Building Societies Act 1986 (c. 53));""(b) an incorporated friendly society (within the meaning of the Friendly Societies Act 1992 (c. 40));""(c) an industrial and provident society; or""(d) such other description of person as may be specified by order made by the Secretary of State””." So it is a very familiar framework. Clause 27(6), which is mirrored by Clause 28(6) for Northern Ireland, gives an order-making power to allow the Secretary of State to provide the 1986 Act to apply, as the noble Baroness said, "““with such modifications as he considers appropriate, to a petition under this section for the winding up of a relevant body””." That allows modifications to be made as necessary in order for the 1986 Act to be made to work effectively for these bodies. We have kept within the structure that was already there and provided this power to make modifications in a way that would be consistent with the 1986 Act. Amendments Nos. 83 and 85 would remove that order-making power. I do not believe that that is what the noble Baroness wants—she just wanted the clarification that the 1986 framework, which has served us so well to date, would be the framework to which we would adhere. I can give her the assurance. As the noble Baroness knows, it is already the case that the Insolvency Act 1986 is applied to mutuals with modifications and mutuals are listed as the relevant body. For example, in Schedule 15 to the Building Societies Act 1986, similar amendments or modifications are likely to be needed for winding-up for convictions for breach of an order under this Bill. I hope that the noble Baroness will therefore be reassured that we do not propose to behave in a way that is outwith that which she would expect.