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Companies (Disclosure of Address) Regulations 2009

My Lords, I thank the Minister for introducing the regulations. I shall deal first with the Companies (Trading Disclosures) (Amendment) Regulations 2008. We all, I think, understand that these regulations introduce two exceptions to the requirement on every company to display its registered name at each of its premises. The first exception is in the case of insolvency, as I understand it. The second relates to the protection of sensitive locations. We understand these exceptions and are, I think, broadly happy with them. I have one minor question, which relates to the second exception. That exception specifically does not extend to the company’s registered office or inspection place for its records. I may be missing the point, but perhaps the Minister could inform your Lordships how, if the company’s business is considered sensitive enough for it not to be required to display its registered name at its other premises, it is proposed that those locations—the company’s registered office or inspection place for its records—which are not covered by the exception should be protected. We understand that the Companies (Disclosure of Address) Regulations are principally about protecting those who are involved with companies that might, for instance, be targets of militant animal rights groups. Of course, we all agree with that aim. However, your Lordships will be well aware that there are people, effectively serial company directors, who regularly establish or take on directorships of companies which then fail and whose creditors lose everything that they are owed, only for those directors to repeat the process time and again. This is likely to be an increasing feature of our commercial world as we go further into recession. Perhaps the Minister could inform your Lordships what procedures are in place to prevent such people from sheltering behind the procedures envisaged in the regulations to avoid the responsibilities of a director of a limited company. My second point is related. It is claimed by those who will be directly involved in the process that the regulations could make the process of banks lending to business even more difficult than it is now, first, because of the additional steps required in the process of verifying financial standing—address checking being a key part of that process—secondly, because of the additional obstacles that will be put in the way of banks’ fraud detection teams and, thirdly, because this will clearly hinder the detection of money-laundering. All this seriously risks slowing down, yet further, the credit approval process at precisely the time when we and the Government want the banks to speed it up. Much of this, we think, could be resolved with a very simple adjustment to what is laid down in the regulations. The credit reference agencies, which are permitted access to the restricted register for very specific purposes, and the other, mainly government-controlled agencies, such as Companies House, could be permitted to confirm an address on the restricted register to a named party if, and only if, the director in question consented in writing. Those who are going to have to work with these regulations are convinced that the current drafting does not allow that. I therefore ask the Government to consider their position on this. It is not a matter for party politics, and I know that the Government share with us a strong desire to make the process of banks lending to business easier rather than more difficult, while of course protecting individual directors. I do not want to detain your Lordships now but I have more information on the specifics of the perceived problems and suggested solution which I should be pleased to share with the Minister if that would be helpful. In the mean time I—and, I sense, a large number of lenders—await the Minister’s response with great interest.