My Lords, I agree that the Government are making good steps in this area. I do not want to in any sense take away from them the change that they are introducing through their substantive amendment. I agree that the insolvency
processes in the UK generally are very good. They may be slightly better in Scotland, which is moving ahead with another Bill, and I hope that the lessons that Scotland is going to teach us are learnt in the processes in England and Wales.
It is really a question of whether it is appropriate to expose those who are trying to help companies get back on their feet and continue to operate to having to give a personal guarantee. On a very superficial level, it seems to be completely at variance with the overall process that we are trying to introduce. The fact that it may exist in legislation at present does not make it right. Given that the Government have legislated to make sure that these personal guarantees no longer exist in financial companies, it seems slightly odd that we are requiring them for SMEs and smaller companies, which often go into voluntary administration or some other form and then come out again. To hamper that by curtailing the willingness of an IP to get involved does not seem to be right.
However, there is a balance to be struck. I ask the Government to think very carefully about this and to look at it again. I am very happy to have further discussions if that would be helpful. At this stage, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.