Finance: Equity Markets

Viscount Hanworth Excerpts

Monday 23rd April 2012 Lords Chamber

Asked By

[Viscount Hanworth]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the findings of the Kay review of United Kingdom equity markets and long-term decision-making; and whether they intend to take any consequential action.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Baroness Wilcox)]

My Lords, the Kay review’s interim report, published in February, presented a discussion on a wide range of issues highlighted by respondents to the review’s call for evidence. It did not include any firm conclusions or recommendations. We expect Professor Kay to make the recommendations in his final report in the summer and it would not be appropriate for the Government to prejudice Professor Kay’s findings ahead of the final report.

[Viscount Hanworth]

I am surprised by the Minister’s appraisal of the Kay report. However, will she concede that the rules of corporate government in the UK are in need of drastic revision? Does she not recognise the virtue of restricting the voting rights to shareholders who have long-term interests in companies in which they have invested, and is it not clear to her that the advisory role of shareholders on remuneration gives them insufficient powers to constrain the exorbitant executive awards that we have seen in recent times?

[Baroness Wilcox]

My Lords, as the noble Viscount will know, the review forms a key part of the action taken following the department’s A Long-Term Focus for Corporate Britain: A Call for Evidence, which was published in October 2010. We are exploring the issues of economic short-termism in the UK alongside executive pay and narrative reporting. Of course we are concerned. We have put forward this independent investigation by Professor Kay so that the very points that the noble Lord has mentioned will be addressed.