Jim Sheridan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Sheridan on 2014-06-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effect of his policy on binding votes for remuneration committees.

Jenny Willott

The Government’s reforms to increase the transparency of executive pay include a requirement that quoted companies put their remuneration policy to a binding vote of the company’s shareholders, at minimum, every three years.

Shareholders also have an annual advisory vote on the annual remuneration report, covering what has been paid. Where this is rejected, the company will be required to re-submit their remuneration policy to a binding vote at the AGM the following year.

It is too soon to form firm conclusions about the impact of the Government reforms, which only came into force in October last year.

The Government is monitoring the impact of the reforms and will be taking stock of their impact after the voting season is over.

The Government is keeping this policy area under review.