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847842

registered interest
date	23/02/2018
answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept id	201
answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
hansard heading	Company Accounts
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government for what reason, and by whose advice, the overriding true and fair view requirement of sections 226(2) and 227(3) was taken out of the Companies Act 1985 on the implementation of International Accounting Standards; why this was then reinstated as section 393 of the Companies Act 2006, and by whose advice; when section 393 of the Companies Act 2006 come into effect; and for what years that requirement was absent.
tabling member printed	Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted
uin	HL5819
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/03/2018 answer text <p>The Companies Act 1985 (International Accounting Standards and Other Accounting Amendments) Regulations 2004 introduced the amendments to the Companies Act 1985 needed to provide for the application of the International Accounting Standards Regulation. The regulations commenced on 1 January 2005. The Companies Act 2006 introduced section 393, which commenced on 6 April 2008.</p><p> </p><p>The 2004 regulations gave effect to the EU’s International Accounting Standards Regulation, which introduced the requirement to prepare accounts using EU adopted International Accounting Standards (IAS). The EU Regulation did not include the requirement that IAS accounts should give a “true and fair” view. The Regulation instead relies upon the fact that the framework supporting the standards requires a “fair presentation” of the company’s finances; that it does not require strict conformity with every technical accounting requirement in the accounting Directives; and that the auditor’s report should state whether the accounts give a true and fair view.</p><p> </p><p>The Companies Act 2006 consolidated the requirements of the Companies Act 1985 and the amendments to it and restated and reformed the requirements on the preparation of accounts. In line with the recommendations of the company law review following public consultation, the Companies Act 2006 introduced the “true and fair” requirement for all accounts in section 393.</p><p> </p><p>I am unable to provide further explanation of the Government’s justification in 2004 for not having also included an overarching requirement that IAS accounts must give a true and fair view. It is an established convention that Minsters of one administration cannot see the documents of a previous administration. I am therefore unable to provide the information requested by the noble Baroness.</p> answering member printed Lord Henley question first answered 05/03/2018 15:26:39 answering member 2616 label Biography information for Lord Henley
tabling member	4562 label Biography information for Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted

847843

registered interest
date	23/02/2018
answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept id	201
answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
hansard heading	Financial Reporting Council
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Henley on 21 February (HL5518), when each director of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) was informed that the FRC was a public body; how they were informed, and how this was documented; whether they will place in the Library of the House letters of appointment for each director at the date of each appointment, rather than the recent general letter of appointment dated 30 January; and whether they will set out how a public body can operate as a public body if the public has not been informed that it is a public body.
tabling member printed	Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted
uin	HL5820
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/03/2018 answer text <p>The terms of appointment for each director of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) mirror the terms of appointment placed into the Library of the House for my answer HL5518. I will ask the FRC to provide the letters of appointment for each director and will place these in the Libraries of the House in due course with appropriate redactions.</p><p> </p><p>The classification of the FRC in 2004 and the further considerations by the Office for National Statistics up to 2014 were published. The FRC is included in the whole of Government accounts pursuant to legislation.</p> answering member printed Lord Henley question first answered 05/03/2018 15:27:17 answering member 2616 label Biography information for Lord Henley
tabling member	4562 label Biography information for Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted

847844

registered interest
date	23/02/2018
answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept id	201
answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
hansard heading	Financial Reporting Council
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by Lord Henley on 20 February (HL5467), whether the Financial Reporting Council changed the wording after my question (HL4627) was tabled on 11 January; and why the Written Answer by Lord Henley on 1 February (HL5095) referred to a position with future effect, not the past and present position.
tabling member printed	Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted
uin	HL5821
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/03/2018 answer text <p>The fact sheet <ins class="ministerial">attached to the</ins> <del class="ministerial">placed into the Libraries of the House in</del> response <ins class="ministerial">given</ins> to question HL5095 used the word “requested” and is dated June 2017.</p><p> </p><p>My answer to question HL5095 stated the position as of 1<sup>st</sup> February 2018.</p> answering member printed Lord Henley question first answered 05/03/2018 15:27:58 question first ministerially corrected 26/03/2018 15:35:43 answering member 2616 label Biography information for Lord Henley previous answer version 44560 answering member printed Lord Henley answering member 2616 label Biography information for Lord Henley
tabling member	4562 label Biography information for Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted

847845

registered interest
date	23/02/2018
answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept id	201
answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
hansard heading	Company Accounts
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Henley on 12 February (HL5280), what were the circumstances that led to the UK voluntarily adopting International Accounting Standards (IAS) for separate, company-only, accounts by invoking the option under Article 5 of the IAS Regulation 2001; and whether, prior to the UK invoking that option, the Financial Reporting Council or Department for Trade and Industry had anticipated the difficulties that this option would create for the use of separate accounts for capital maintenance purposes.
tabling member printed	Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted
uin	HL5822
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/03/2018 answer text <p>The Department for Trade and Industry consulted on the adoption of “International Accounting Standards” in 2002 (URN 2002/1158). The consultation considered whether the UK should exercise the Member State option under Article 5 of the IAS Regulation and, in particular, whether to extend the application of the Regulation to the individual accounts of publicly traded companies.</p><p> </p><p>The consultation stated that:</p><p> </p><p>“There may be good reasons to exercise this option in order to help internal consistency and comparability of accounts within the same group and assist in preparation of consolidated accounts. There is the additional advantage that the current practice of presenting entity financial statements of the parent with the group accounts as one package could continue. With no extension the practice would probably have to change, as it would be cumbersome and confusing to have to explain two different bases of preparation. We estimate that this would affect around 2700 companies.”</p><p> </p><p>The Government considered the responses to the consultation and conducted a full assessment of the costs and benefits of the various approaches to implement the IAS Regulation. Following this consideration the Government concluded that it would implement the option in the regulation, including to extend the application of the Regulation to the individual accounts of publicly traded companies.</p><p> </p><p>The Companies Act 1985 (International Accounting Standards and Other Accounting Amendments) Regulations 2004 (SI 2004 / 2947) provided for the application of the International Accounting Standards Regulation. The impact assessment accompanying the regulations sets out the Government’s assessment of the costs and benefits. It concluded that the Governments resulting policy on taking up the option in Article 5 overall had the following benefits:</p><p> </p><p>“Parent companies and building societies and subsidiaries in groups will be able to prepare their accounts to one framework of accounting standards. Companies and building societies that do business or seek capital across borders would be able to prepare their accounts to adopted IAS for ease of comparison. Comparability of accounts will assist, shareholders, analysts and other users of accounts.”</p> answering member printed Lord Henley question first answered 05/03/2018 15:29:38 answering member 2616 label Biography information for Lord Henley
tabling member	4562 label Biography information for Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted

847846

registered interest
date	23/02/2018
answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept id	201
answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
hansard heading	Banks: Company Accounts
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government when the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) first became aware of any problems with International Accounting Standards for the capital adequacy of particular banks; by what means the FRC found out about such problems; which banks any such problems applied to; and how the FRC responded to any identified problems.
tabling member printed	Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted
uin	HL5823
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/03/2018 answer text <p>The Prudential Regulation Authority is responsible for regulation of the capital adequacy of banks. Prior to 2013 this was the responsibility of the Financial Services Authority. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) was not aware of the contribution that certain features of the International Accounting Standards made to the problem of the capital adequacy of the banks until the problem was a matter of public knowledge. The FRC has engaged with UK Government, Europe, internationally, and with the International Accounting Standards Board since then to develop reforms to the standards, which address the concerns that have been identified.</p> answering member printed Lord Henley question first answered 05/03/2018 15:40:59 answering member 2616 label Biography information for Lord Henley
tabling member	4562 label Biography information for Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted

847847

registered interest
date	23/02/2018
answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept id	201
answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
hansard heading	Company Accounts
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Henley on 12 February (HL5214), on which issues does the Financial Reporting Council now accept the position set out by Mr Bompas QC; and in particular whether section 831 of the Companies Act 2006 is one such issue.
tabling member printed	Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted
uin	HL5824
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/03/2018 answer text <p>As stated in the reply given to the noble Baroness on 12<sup>th</sup> February 2018 to question HL5214, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) sought advice on a range of matters from Martin Moore QC and accepted the advice it received. This includes the advice relating to the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 that determines distributable profits. Section 831 forms part of those requirements. The FRC has not changed its views on those matters.</p> answering member printed Lord Henley question first answered 05/03/2018 15:30:45 answering member 2616 label Biography information for Lord Henley
tabling member	4562 label Biography information for Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted

845387

registered interest
date	20/02/2018
answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept id	201
answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
hansard heading	Company Accounts
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord Henley on 12 February (HL5215 and HL5281), what role they played in commissioning and approving the legal opinion provided by Martin Moore QC, in the light of a Freedom of Information request (BEIS/FOI2016/15803) recording a Department for Business and Industrial Strategy (BIS) official stating that: “I agree; we will need to jointly commission with the FRC an opinion from an eminent QC which could be published" and the Financial Reporting Council later stating to an official that: “We have now developed the Martin Moore opinion to an advanced stage and I thought it would be useful to share it with you to see whether you would like to discuss any points or seek the inclusions of any points”; and whether they will publish any instructions provided to Mr Moore and any insertions added to the legal opinion that he produced.
tabling member printed	Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted
uin	HL5587
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/03/2018 answer text <p>Although initial consideration was given to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) commissioning an opinion jointly from counsel, it was later agreed that the FRC would commission the opinion from Martin Moore QC independently.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Henley question first answered 05/03/2018 15:39:34 answering member 2616 label Biography information for Lord Henley
tabling member	4562 label Biography information for Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted

845388

registered interest
date	20/02/2018
answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept id	201
answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
hansard heading	Company Accounts
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Henley on 12 February (HL5281) which stated that “the FRC has to form its own view, for the fulfilment of its regulatory functions, of what it considers the law to be. The statement above is an example of the Government and the FRC working together to confirm such an interpretation”, whether the legal opinion by Michael Moore QC, published on 8 October 2013, was dependent upon the Ministerial Statement published by BIS on 3 October 2013, or whether the Ministerial Statement was dependent upon the Moore opinion.
tabling member printed	Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted
uin	HL5588
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/03/2018 answer text <p>The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) received a draft copy of the legal opinion by Martin Moore QC on 19 September 2013. The statement from Jo Swinson MP about accounting standards, published on 3 October 2013, was based on discussions held with the Financial Reporting Council and consideration by BIS’s own legal advisers.</p> answering member printed Lord Henley question first answered 05/03/2018 15:39:01 answering member 2616 label Biography information for Lord Henley
tabling member	4562 label Biography information for Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted

845389

registered interest
date	20/02/2018
answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept id	201
answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
hansard heading	Company Accounts
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Henley on 12 February (HL5212) which stated that “The Financial Reporting Council published a statement in June 2014 confirming that the true and fair requirement remains of fundamental importance in the preparation of accounts”, whether they have identified any mistakes in the description of requirements deriving from section 393 of the Companies Act 2006 within the June 2014 FRC statement; and when any such mistakes will be corrected.
tabling member printed	Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted
uin	HL5589
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/03/2018 answer text <p>The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has not identified mistakes in the description of requirements deriving from section 393 of the Companies Act 2006 in the June 2014 Financial Reporting Council (FRC) statement. The FRC is an independent regulator.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Henley question first answered 05/03/2018 15:36:49 answering member 2616 label Biography information for Lord Henley
tabling member	4562 label Biography information for Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted

845390

registered interest
date	20/02/2018
answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept id	201
answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
hansard heading	Company Accounts
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Henley on 12 February (HL5280) which stated that “the Government has stated previously that it does not consider that the Companies Act requires the accounts of the company to state the company’s distributable profits”, what assessment they have made of the Financial Reporting Council guidance on section 837 of the Companies Act 2006 which states that “A disclaimer of opinion on the financial statements as a whole would be material as the auditor would be unable to form an opinion on the amount at which the company’s distributable profits are stated”.
tabling member printed	Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted
uin	HL5590
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/03/2018 answer text <p>That assessment was set out in the reply given to the noble Baroness on 12<sup>th</sup> February 2018 to Question HL5280: The determination of the distributable profits and of a distribution by a public company must be based on the profits of the company as set out in the company’s accounts. These must be prepared in accordance with the accounting standards, with the overriding requirement that they must give a true and fair view of the company’s finances. However, the Government has stated previously that it does not consider that the Companies Act requires the accounts of the company to state the company’s distributable profits.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Henley question first answered 05/03/2018 15:36:22 answering member 2616 label Biography information for Lord Henley
tabling member	4562 label Biography information for Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted