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Financial Services Authority

My Lords, I am aware that the noble Lord, Lord James, has already written to the noble Lord, Lord Turner. I will certainly be drawing the attention of the noble Lord, Lord Turner, to Hansard. I will, to use a phrase used by the noble Lord, Lord Oakeshott, ask him to revisit and consider whether in the past the FSA may have taken too narrow a view of the case to which the noble Lord, Lord James, has drawn the attention of the House. However, I must leave that in the hands of the FSA. I think that I have answered a fair number of the questions from the noble Lord, Lord Howard of Rising, but I am conscious of the fact that we are about to be time-expired. I can only say in respect of a couple of other points that the FSA was not involved in promoting the HBOS-Lloyds TSB merger. We must remember that those were transactions endorsed by the shareholders and recommended by the board of directors. I have already dealt with the appointment of Sir James Crosby. I would be horrified if bonuses paid at the FSA were in any way related to fines. Wheel-clamping mentality is not the way forward. On the issue of employee numbers, I believe that this is a matter that the noble Lord, Lord Turner, will no doubt consider. However, noble Lords will perhaps reflect on the fact that the cost of any shortcomings in regulation is very expensive. Therefore, we have to weigh resource against risk. In closing, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord James, on an extremely good speech raising an important issue and stimulating a rather interesting debate, which I myself have partly hijacked to get certain things off my chest about Sir Fred Goodwin's pension.