Company and Business Names (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2007

I share with the noble Lord, Lord Razzall, his admiration for that ability of the noble Lord, Lord Hodgson. Not being a veteran of the Companies Bill, now the Companies Act, I begin to see how it has marked all those who took part in its many days of consideration. The new powers are to be found in the Companies Act under Section 55, which covers company names, and the other section is—wait for it—Section 1,194, for business names. I hope that that answers the first question of the noble Lord, Lord Hodgson. On the question about retrospective effect, there is none. On transfer, the expression in the Section 2(2)(b) of the Business Names Act 1985 places no restriction on the meaning of the word ““transfer””. On most of the points made by the noble Lord about the Companies Act, I will write to him. I cannot promise to answer all the questions that he posed to me today, but we will have a good look at them to see whether we can help and of course we will distribute the letter that we write to him to the noble Lord, Lord Razzall, and other veterans of that campaign. The final implementation date of the Companies Act is 1 October 2009, so the noble Lord, Lord Hodgson, now knows which of the 365 days of that year has been chosen. I am not in a position to answer his other questions on the Companies Act; I do not think that he would expect me to do so.