Clause 21 - Scope of emergency regulations
Civil Contingencies Bill
2:30 pm
Mr John Horam (Orpington, Conservative)
I follow my hon. Friend by requesting an elaboration on the definition of financial institutions. Money has been dealt with elsewhere and I understand why the Government would want to be able to take emergency powers to deal with it; its survival is crucial to an ongoing society and it should not be disrupted unnecessarily by an emergency.
''Institution'' is a rather peculiar word; ''organisation'' may be better. What is a financial institution? Are we talking about the stock exchange, LIFFE and those organisations that one can legitimately call institutions? On the other hand, if one is considering money, there are holes in the wall at supermarkets and cheque-cashing shops that are clearly not institutions; they are organisations and financial media, which have sprung up over the past few years to enable people to use their credit, obtain cash and so forth. That, in a way, is more important than any institution.
There seems to be a curious dichotomy, which may not be that important in the wider scheme of things, between institutions and money-giving organisations, which may be quite small and local. One can hardly believe that they would be involved in an emergency situation. There has been some slack thinking.
''Financial institutions'' is a phrase that someone has included because it is an obvious one, thinking that if we include financial institutions as well as banks, we have covered everything. I am not sure that we have; perhaps financial organisation may be a better term.