The Work & Pensions Committee has called for corporate governance rules and reporting requirements to be extended to private companies.
The demands follow the committee’s examination last summer of the collapse of BHS, during which it alleged that there was a severe lack of corporate governance at the failed department store, which allowed it to sink into administration.
MPs want large private companies, as defined by the government, or those that have more than 5,000 pension scheme members, to comply with public corporate governance rules.
They also recommend that company directors should have greater responsibility for pension members and believe that these changes would make another BHS-style collapse less likely.
Many retailers, such as Arcadia Group, Clarks, John Lewis, Matalan and River Island, would fall under these rules.
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