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Banking Bill

I reassure the noble Baroness that this part of the Bill and the areas that relate to the stabilisation powers and secondary legislation on safeguards are the subject of ongoing consultations. We are interested in developing the Bill in a way that interested parties should continue to welcome. The noble Baroness has already indicated that the expert panel, which has been subject to consultation, has done good work. It is a precursor of the Banking Liaison Panel and we are sure that it will continue that excellent process. The process of consultation has not been set out in the Bill and nor, as a general rule, do we think that it should be because it is already covered by the relevant Cabinet Office and better regulation guidelines on the development of secondary legislation. The process of consultation, which all government departments observe, follows well established guidelines which largely meet the noble Baroness’s objectives, which we share—namely, that on certain aspects of the Bill, particularly with regard to secondary legislation, adequate consultation should be a precursor to the instruments being refined and then laid. Throughout the process of producing the Bill and its supporting documents, we have engaged very fully with interested parties. We intend to continue to follow Cabinet Office guidelines in producing and consulting on the new secondary legislation and other documentation supporting the special resolution regime. I recognise that there is interest in the code, as testified to during our earlier debates. That is why we published a draft for consultation and sent a prior version to the expert liaison group. As I said, I am pleased that the noble Baroness felt able to express approval for the panel’s work. I assure her that the consultation will continue in future on the code’s development. Therefore, in terms of the way in which we have handled this process—not only in relation to the Bill but also through the guidelines on the development of secondary legislation that now obtain—we do not think her amendment necessary. However, we entirely agree with her objective of ensuring that appropriate consultation takes place before such instruments are presented to the Houses.