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Banking Bill

Can the Minister explain why the senior executive directors with responsibility for financial stability are excluded from the group? It might help the Committee if he could also explain how the Government see this committee working. He was at pains to emphasise that this group would be at the heart of the bank, yet it is to have four non-executive members of court on it. If it is at the heart of the bank, does that mean it will meet often? Will non-executive members of court become semi-executive, in the way that MPC members become virtually full-time? It is a little unclear how the Minister sees this. He seemed to articulate a strong, active and ongoing role involving non-executive members, but was simultaneously trying to position it within court and the kind of things that remuneration and audit committees do. Remuneration and audit committees meet, in the ordinary course of things, perhaps four times a year—probably not much more that that unless there is a real problem. Can the Minister say more about how this committee will look when it is working?