Written question asked by Lord Myners (Labour), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Sassoon (Conservative) on Monday, 19 December 2011.

Banking: Levy

Question: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assumptions they have made about the response of banks to the bank levy, including the incentive effect on banks to reduce their outstanding loans.

Answer: The behavioural changes expected as a consequence of the introduction of the bank levy are described on pages 18 and 19 of the Budget 2010 Policy Costings document, published by HM Treasury in June 2010. A link to the full document is given here: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/junebudget_costings.pdf It was announced alongside the Autumn Statement that the full rate of the bank levy would be increased to 0.088% from 1 January 2012 onwards. The further behavioural changes expected from that are included on page 15 of the 'Autumn Statement 2011 policy costings' document. A link to the full document is given here: http://cdn.hm-treasury.gov.uk/as20l 1 policy_costings.pdf

Secondary information