BHS

Baroness Burt of Solihull Excerpts

Monday 6th June 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Mendelsohn (Lab)]

My Lords, I draw attention to my registered interests, in particular my involvement with a distressed investment and restructuring vehicle.

I thank the Minister for her Statement on the collapse of the BHS chain in its entirety. We share the particular concern for staff and their families, and for the small businesses affected by this collapse. It is always difficult when a decision is made that the existing owners can no longer operate such a business, which must then change ownership. Huge difficulties are faced when trying to sell a loss-making business, especially—as in this case—when the business has a negative value. In these circumstances, it is not uncommon for its equity value to be nominal, the transactions supported by cash left in the business and by vendor loans. In that regard, we welcome the Insolvency Service investigation, once sold, into what transpired in the year or so of trading under Retail Acquisitions. We do not plan to continue a running commentary on this but it is a very important investigation.

I will focus on three issues and seek the Minister’s observations on these matters, which have a much wider significance. Certainly, with the collapse of Austin Reed and the problems with Tata Steel, this illustrates that there are problems with our current system of dealing with pensions, particularly defined pension schemes; in dealing with the administration and insolvency process, and the attempt to rescue as much of the business as possible; and, finally, in dealing with what can be done to transition 11,000 workers back into some sort of work and economic security.

On pensions, the current arrangements are really designed for a different era. In the post-financial crisis world, and as a result of quantitative easing, the return on gilts and low interest rates make the job of pension trustees to ensure a viable tracking strategy very difficult. Many of the schemes now in deficit had performed reasonably but are now very distressed. This has affected even our largest and most profitable businesses. In the case of BT, there are £47 billion of IAS 19 liabilities and a £6 billion deficit. This is a company with a £42 billion market cap. These conditions exist in many companies and in local authority pensions, too.

On BHS, the reports and statements confirm that extensive discussions have been going on for many years. We know that these discussions were going on in many different places. The Pensions Regulator said in its annual funding statement, released on 13 May, that the average company paid 10 times as much in dividends as it did in deficit recovery contributions. It went on to say that the increase in deficits could be in the region of 20% to 35%, depending on the scheme’s valuation date and hedging strategy. With this in mind and its own findings indicating that there is a wider problem than just that seen with BHS, what action is the Pensions Regulator taking to avoid another such crisis? Is the number of companies needing such discussions increasing? If so, are Ministers drawing up plans to deal with these problems?

Secondly, we have great concerns about the process of administration. Naturally, it is a great tragedy that the whole business unfortunately had to fold. It is certainly unfortunate that BHS was unable to seek supplier support and, therefore, the prospect of being able to sell the business became ever more difficult as the working capital requirement made it untenable for any bidder. In regard to this, we are also concerned that it seemed that the business was to be sold only in its entirety. Further activity and restructuring were not undertaken to save some of the business during the administration process.

For us, many of these issues are those present in a “creditor in possession” model versus a “debtor in possession” model. The Minister knows that we have a keen interest in these matters. While we do not propose to replace the “creditor in possession” model, this example certainly suggests that further consideration should be given to a “debtor in possession” model, one that would allow the company to operate and ensure that there were such regulations and laws so that suppliers were able to continue to support a business during restructuring and administration. Indeed, we proposed a model to the Minister some time ago. Certainly, it would not have been able to save such a business in these circumstances—it is very difficult to talk about a particular example—but it would certainly have given the administrators further time to look at restructuring the business and perhaps saving some or a portion of the jobs. We hope that the Minister will consider this.

Also in relation to the administration—we have also raised this with the Minister—recently there has been great concern about the position of creditors, certainly the seniority of creditors. Is it not time that we reconsidered the generous arrangements that allow bank loans always to be repaid first, and whereby taxpayer liabilities in the shape of VAT, national insurance and PAYE are always relegated to second position? We should also consider redundancy costs. Does the Minister consider that they should be paid first, in line with other secured creditors?

We are concerned that the Government should do what they can to support the workers in finding new employment. We welcome the fact that their attention extends to the workers at Austin Reed as well. We hope that the preparations they have made will be activated more quickly than appears to be the case from the Statement. We would be grateful to the Minister if she would give us more of an idea of when the intervention will occur. What more can be done actively—as opposed to plans in preparation—to allow jobcentres to contact the company more broadly? Will the Government consider appointing somebody to “hub” the activity on behalf of the department and all the different agencies of government? In relation to the Minister’s observations about the rapid response service being on standby, on what basis will this be activated? Does she consider that such a test has already been met and that it would be worth while activating the service immediately?

[Baroness Burt of Solihull (LD)]

I, too, thank the Minister for repeating the Statement. Our thoughts are with the staff and their families. We welcome the support that has been given and the Government’s ongoing investigations. The Labour spokesperson has just commented on the position of creditors, which has irked me for some time. However, the Government’s complacency and short-term approach is very concerning. Eight thousand jobs have been lost and there are 3,000 in the supply chain. However, the Statement says that,

“the retail sector as a whole is resilient”.

What does the Minister make of the British Retail Consortium’s forecast that 900,000 retail jobs will be lost by 2025? We need a retail strategy, just as we need a manufacturing strategy. Why do the Government wait for disaster to strike? We have seen it three times now, with British steel, Austin Reed and British Home Stores. The people affected need to be retrained to do different jobs. They need lifelong learning and continuous professional development as part of a working life they enjoy and in which they can take pride. If we had a retail strategy, we could look at making the high street a destination of choice—somewhere that people want to visit as well as being able to order goods online. However, at the end of the day, if you lose your job to a computer, you had better learn how to programme one.

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe]

I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Mendelsohn, that this is a very important matter. As he said, we face the potential loss of 11,000 jobs, some of which are in the supply chain.

In answer to the noble Baroness, Lady Burt of Solihull, the retail sector, of which I used to be a member, does have a certain resilience. The Statement rightly referred to the way it has come back from the recession. With Woolworths—and I was a retailer then, not a government Minister—we found that other retailers were quick to buy the properties and adapt them to new uses. We found some of our best people from ex-Woolworths staff. I hope that the Jobcentre Plus process, which I will come on to describe, will be able to build on things in a similar way. Everything is difficult but the high street is changing, as are consumers. In our towns and cities, we need to think about that and about what other sources of employment and customer pleasure can come through. That will, of course, include things such as restaurants and catering as well as retail, and online stores as well as conventional shops.

Our approach involves the regulatory framework, and I will start with pensions. The pensions legislation was strengthened by the previous Labour Government in 2005 with anti-avoidance provisions. There are provisions for dawn raids and the regulator has strong powers. Trustees have quite strong powers, too, but I think they are always a little worried about precipitating insolvency if they move ahead too fast. As the noble Lord, Lord Mendelsohn, said, this is not an easy area, but the Insolvency Service is undertaking an investigation and I will come back to that. The Pensions Regulator is engaged and we look forward to its report. I am sure we will be looking to make sure that trustees and regulators have the right powers in future. In the new world of lower interest rates, which the noble Lord rightly described, things are obviously much more difficult.

We are worried about this case, but it is different from steel, which was a whole sector facing unparalleled pressure. I take the point that retail is facing pressure, but I do not think it is on quite the same scale and it is not so concentrated in particular communities. It is tough for those whose jobs in town centres are lost when BHS closes but, as I said, I am hoping that, with the help of Jobcentre Plus, we can ensure that people either get jobs using their experience and training or get the opportunity to retrain. Jobcentre Plus is on standby and in contact with the administrator to plan the support. The administrator will, of course, have to make funds available for redundancy. The rapid response service will be activated and has been in contact with BIS since the administration started. I am pleased that we have had such a timely Statement and are able to update noble Lords.