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Banking Bill

We have now got to Part 6, for which we must rejoice. In moving Amendment 169, I shall speak also to Amendment 170. I have tabled these amendments in response to the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee's first report of the current Session, which we have already debated in part in this Committee. The Delegated Powers Committee pointed out that the power in Clause 212 for the Treasury to make regulations about banknotes is very wide indeed. We could, if we were so inclined, object to it on the basis that the Government should be more specific about what they want rule-making powers for. But I shall not pursue that line and recognise that at least the Government have conceded that regulations should be subject to the affirmative procedure. The Delegated Powers Committee pointed out that the arrangements for the allocation of provisions between regulations under Clause 212 and rules under Clause 213 are unsatisfactory. Under Clause 213, regulations can allow the Bank of England to make rules about banknotes, also on a very wide basis. In particular, Clause 213(2) says that regulations can provide that rules can do anything that regulations could do, thus neatly circumventing parliamentary control, because rules so issued would not be subject to any parliamentary process. The Committee recommended at paragraph 11 that, "““the power in clause 213 to make banknote rules should be narrowed, at the least to remove the power for banknote rules to impose unlimited penalties””." For today's Committee, I propose the removal of Clause 213(2) in Amendment 169. I invite the Government to accept that the regulations cannot confer that degree of power on the Bank of England's rules or, alternatively, to come up with some other restriction of the power. As an alternative, I have also tabled Amendment 170, which amends the financial penalty in Clause 219 so that rules cannot apply a penalty. There would be other ways in which to deal with this issue. I hope that the Minister will accept the DPRRC's recommendations and either accept my amendments or undertake that the Government will return with their own amendments.