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Scottish and Northern Ireland Banknote Regulations 2009

I am sorry. I apologise to the noble Duke. This is not the first time that I have made such a calamitous mistake. I want to reassure him that, with regard to costs, the position being adopted is eminently defensible. We are involved in an exercise of great importance as far as the Bank of England and other banks are concerned and the calculations are based on reasonable assumptions. I am all too well aware that aspects of this submission are difficult for the Committee, not least because we are talking about regulations which relate to rules that the Bank of England is to draft. The rules have to be supervised, vetted and authorised by the Treasury, but they are not part of these regulations. That is because these rules go down to such elements of detail as to make them not suitable for detailed parliamentary scrutiny. We are concerned with the regulations which govern the whole process.