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Banking Bill

My Lords, in Committee, the noble Baroness made several eminently sensible probing observations on the provisions. I promised to take them away and come back with amendments on Report. As promised, Amendments 99 and 100 will modify new Section 2C(2), to be inserted into the Bank of England Act 1998, to broaden the circumstances in which members of the FSC must disclose interests. That will lead to a member being unable to vote unless the committee resolves that there is no conflict of interest. Under the amendments, the member must now disclose any interests in a business or dealing that falls to be considered by the committee regardless of whether the interest is direct or indirect or a current or likely future interest. That is the appropriate scope of the provision and I am grateful to the noble Baroness for helping the Government to improve the Bill in that way. Last Monday in Committee, the noble Baroness also asked me whether subsection (3) was necessary. On consideration, with the amendments that I have just outlined, it overlaps to a great extent with the mechanisms just discussed concerning disclosure of interests. Subsection (3) goes further, in that it also requires a person to withdraw from debates on matters which touch or concern him or her, but that is simply good committee practice and the committee, as master of its own procedure, can adopt such practice if it wishes. Therefore, Amendment 102 will remove subsection (3). I am very grateful to the noble Baroness for bringing those two issues to our attention and I beg to move.