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Banking Bill

I shall speak also to Amendment 21. However, Amendment 20, moved by the noble Lord, Lord Eatwell, is certainly the better option, and I should like to express my support for it. His argument for allowing the banks to achieve legal certainty is extremely strong. But if the Government are not minded to accept his amendment to make the code of practice legally binding, I would ask the Minister to consider strengthening the code by making it compulsory for bodies to explain why they have not complied with it. Amendment 21 does not cover the ground as well or comprehensively as Amendment 20 does but it might go some way towards ensuring that the code is properly observed. As currently set out in the Bill, the Treasury, the Bank of England and the FSA are obliged only to ““have regard”” to the code. That will not give much comfort to anyone. Amendment 21 requires that a full and prompt explanation be given for why guidance in the code has been ignored. The purpose is to ensure that proper attention is given to the code and that its requirements cannot easily be disregarded, which is as it should be. There is no point in having a code that, for practical purposes, can be ignored. However, I say to the Minister that the amendment of the noble Lord, Lord Eatwell, is superior.