Corporate Governance

Debate between Baroness Wilcox and Baroness O'Cathain

Wednesday 7th December 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Wilcox]

There is no doubt that shareholder engagement should—and, I hope, will—be improved. After all, it is shareholders who can, as is only right and proper, hold the company’s feet to the fire on the day they are asked to put up the salary of the chairman and the chief executive. They are not doing their job well, particularly the very big shareholders—the big pension funds and so on. I myself have sat on boards and have experienced these big shareholders not turning up at the shareholders’ meeting, instead having another meeting at another time. Usually, small shareholders turn up and make very good suggestions, but then in come the proxy votes—and there are millions of them. We are doing everything we can to see whether we can get shareholders to take the responsibility and the power that they have to put this right.

[Baroness O'Cathain]

My Lords, can the Minister go a little further on shareholders and their involvement with boards? As we all know, the major shareholdings are held by big institutional investors—namely, pension funds—and the problem with that is that they never have taken their responsibility seriously enough. Instead of hammering on about worker representation and women’s representation, they ought to get right down to the bottom of the issue and find out what the responsibilities of these pension funds are.

[Baroness Wilcox]

My noble friend has expressed it extremely well. We would like to think that this will happen voluntarily, but in the mean time the Kay review is examining proposals for tackling potentially damaging short-term economic behaviour in the markets. We will also be looking at the actions of the shareholders and seeing what recommendations are made there.

Jobseeker’s Allowance: Interns

Debate between Baroness Wilcox and Baroness O'Cathain

Wednesday 30th November 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Wilcox]

There is fair and equal access to internships. We will watch to make sure that we continue it. We have made it clear through updated guidance what internships must provide to comply with the law. As the noble Lord knows, guidance for employers is at businesslink.gov.uk; and guidance for individuals is at direct.gov.uk. There are plenty of places where people can go to make sure that they have got the right information.

[Baroness O'Cathain]

My Lords, will my noble friend consider a proposition that my noble friend Lord Lucas and I have discussed in our office? We propose that if people were brought into an internship, the payment they would get would be equivalent to the benefits that they would receive if they were not working. That would probably be an answer to everybody. If, for example, the benefits were about £40 a week and if that could be transferred to pay them as an intern, there would be a win-win situation for everybody.

[Baroness Wilcox]

I am interested in what my noble friend says. I am sure that if she writes to me, I will be able to have a proper exchange with her on this.

Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill

Debate between Baroness Wilcox and Baroness O'Cathain

Monday 13th June 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Wilcox]

I have no doubt that as the Bill goes through, the noble Lord will stand up and put these points to me. I am absolutely sure that everything will be considered. At the moment that is exactly what we are doing: looking at every possible way of getting this right for our country.

[Baroness O'Cathain]

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Kennedy, made a point about bananas. Almost all the major supermarkets now have Fairtrade bananas. Is there anything we could learn from the organisation of Fairtrade bananas in this country that we could copy for dairy, pork, sausages or anything else?

[Baroness Wilcox]

My noble friend makes a very good point. I am quite sure that other areas will be looking at the way in which Fairtrade and other such organisations have chosen to supply.