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Banking Bill

Amendment 12 12: Clause 4, page 3, line 22, at end insert ““and to ensure that the expenditure of any public or private money is done in an economcally efficient manner”” Amendment 12 is a straightforward amendment to ensure that expenditure of any public or private money is done economically and efficiently when implementing the special resolution regime. It is difficult to imagine that there could be any objection to including the amendment. In another place, the Minister, while agreeing with the intention of the amendment, thought that the general mechanisms for monitoring government expenditure, including the work done by the National Audit Office, made it unnecessary to make economy and efficiency an objective of the special resolution regime. It would be helpful if the Minister could explain to the House how the National Audit Office would be effective in this role, as I believe that I am correct in saying that the main audit of the Bank of England is carried out by an independent firm of accountants. Examining what has happened after the event and saying that it could have been done better is not the same as it being a requirement in law that spending money under the special resolution regime should be done economically and efficiently. If there had been a resignation each time the National Audit Office had made a criticism of the Government, the Government would have run out of Ministers a long time ago. Very wide powers are being sought in the Bill, with a great deal of trust in how the powers are to be used. It could not be unreasonable to ask that there should be a requirement to use the powers in an economically efficient manner. I beg to move.