Following months of pressure from the Conservative Party and ICSA (Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators), next week Margaret Hodge MP plans to file amendments to the Companies Bill (formally the Company Law Reform Bill) that will safeguard the role of Company Secretaries in private companies. The Shadow Minister for Company Law Reform, Jonathan Djanogly MP said:
"We are glad that the Government has finally agreed to accept our calls to ensure that if a private company wishes to have a company secretary then they will have the same status as a company secretary in a public company. There are many large private companies who wouldn't dream of operating without a company secretary and it is only right that their role is protected in this Bill. As I have said on many occasions in the past, company secretaries play an important role, especially in promoting good corporate governance.
"We will be calling for the Government to reconsider a number of other amendments we have proposed to the Companies Bill during its Report Stage later this month."
In June, during the Bill's Committee Stages, Jonathan Djanogly MP said:
"Company Secretaries should be valued as essential officers of larger companies. Whilst I support the concept that smaller companies should not be required to have a Company Secretary, the Government's differentiation between private and public companies is becoming increasingly redundant in the age of large private companies who clearly require Company Secretaries. This is just another example of how the Government have failed to recognise the needs of businesses as well as the vital role company secretaries play in promoting corporate governance. On the Company Law Bill Committee, we have tabled amendments to the Bill to ensure that all public and large private companies still require a company secretary, while small private companies are exempt."