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Banking Bill

In this case, the noble Baroness has taken the analogy with the Monetary Policy Committee a little too far. I quite understand that in proposed new subsection (2) she rules out matters that might, as she put it so well, be part of the problem; none the less, the nature of the deliberations of the Financial Stability Committee are unlikely to arrive at definitive conclusions, unlike the Monetary Policy Committee, whose conclusions are announced immediately, so that the minutes simply reflect the rationale behind them. It is likely that the deliberations of the Financial Stability Committee will involve a lengthy development of strategy and tactics to deal with particular issues, and the publication of minutes, even given the qualification that the noble Baroness has put forward in proposed new subsection (2), could later, unexpectedly, create problems. It would be inappropriate to require such publication on the timescale that the noble Baroness proposes. An annual report would be much more appropriate.