Banking Bill
10:30 am
Mark Hoban (Shadow Minister, Treasury; Fareham, Conservative)
I welcome you to the Chair, Mr. Hood. We look forward to working under your chairmanship, and that of Mr. Gale and, for a brief spell, Mr. Illsley.
As the Minister said in his opening remarks, there was broad support for the Bill at Second Reading. There was also a commitment, on our part, to ensure that the Bill has a smooth passage through the House and the other place, to enable it to reach the statute book before the Banking (Special Provisions) Act 2008 expires in February 2009. We are grateful to the Minister for arranging the reordering of the consideration of the Bill, because we believe it is important that there is time to study the draft code of practice and the principal regulations underlying this Bill prior to the debate on part 1. It would be helpful if the Minister were to indicate when he expects the draft code and regulations to be published, because that would clearly impact on the speed of consideration in Committee.
Despite the broad support for the Bill, there are areas that we will want to probe in detail between now and 18 November. I am sure we can do that and ensure proper scrutiny of the Bill.