We are really pleased that the government listened to the case ProShare has been making consistently over the last few years and that the Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, included a full Call for Evidence on SIP and SAYE in his first Spring Budget.

Even without the broadening of the application of s172 of the Companies Act 2006, the power and reach of social media and the interconnectedness of societies as a consequence of globalisation has given all organisations the cause to reflect on their operational models, values and priorities.

Of interest to all involved in the arrangement of meetings.

On 16 October, the UK government announced it had withdrawn the draft Companies (Strategic Report and Directors’ Report) (Amendment) Regulations 2023, which were laid in Parliament on 19 July.

As mentioned in previous Technical Briefings, on 24 May, the Financial Reporting Council published its long anticipated consultation on the UK Corporate Governance Code, the intention of which is to focus on the legislative and governance reforms that the Government proposed in its May 2022 white paper “Restoring trust in audit and corporate governance”. These are designed, amongst other things, to “support the FRC’s transition into the Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority (ARGA).”

On 24 May, the Financial Reporting Council has published its long anticipated consultation on the UK Corporate Governance Code, the intention of which is to focus on the legislative and governance reforms that the Government proposed in its May 2022 white paper “Restoring trust in audit and corporate governance”.

Companies House published two stakeholder newsletters in December.

ICSA: The Chartered Governance Institute has today welcomed the Government’s response to last years’ consultation on Corporate Transparency and Register Reform, in which the Government looked at options to enhance the role of Companies House and increase the transparency of UK corporate entities.

According to a poll by ICSA: The Chartered Governance Institute and governance recruitment specialist The Core Partnership, the majority of companies are prepared for the UK to leave Europe with no trade deal in place. Some 71% of respondents, the majority of which hail from finance, commerce and industry, said that they are very prepared for a no trade deal scenario. Just 9% are not at all prepared and an additional 20% were unsure of how prepared their organisation was at the time the poll was carried out.