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Banking Bill (Money)

I was about to respond to the hon. Gentleman's question, before making a couple of further comments to the right hon. Member for Wokingham. We want to be as open and transparent as possible in reporting Government spending and Government liabilities, and we will seek to be so. We also consider it important for sufficient information to be provided by the Bank of England about its activities. The right hon. Member for Wokingham asked about the removal of the requirement for the Bank to produce a weekly return. That does not mean that the Bank can provide financial assistance without any reporting. As my noble Friend Lord Myners said in the other place, the Bank will consult on what form of reporting will replace the weekly return. The aim of this provision and others like it in the Bill is to provide for a limited delay for disclosure of assistance to allow enough time for that assistance to be effective. That is similar to what we are saying about Government transparency. The right hon. Gentleman also described a number of important processes for the Government to undertake when injecting share capital into a bank. We are very familiar with those processes, which we followed to the letter in the recapitalisations of the Royal Bank of Scotland, HBOS and Lloyds TSB. I fundamentally disagree with the right hon. Gentleman if he is suggesting that he did not consider recapitalisation to be necessary at that time. We welcome the acknowledgement by the hon. Member for Fareham that the Government have been listening both in Committee in the Commons and in the Lords. Transparency is important, and we consider that our amendment strikes the appropriate balance. I hope that the House will support it, and all the Lords amendments except Lords amendment 83. Lords amendment 83 disagreed to. Government amendment made in lieu of Lords amendment 83.