Clause 183
Banking Bill
5:00 pm
Peter Viggers (Gosport, Conservative)
Indeed, Mr. Hood, but clause 183, which I have just read, gives the Bank power to publish details of a compliance failure. How is the Bank to get the information which, under clause 183, it will require to carry out those powers? I should have thought that the Bank would prefer, in preparation for the exercise of powers under clause 183, to have its own independent inspection. We have seen that under clause 181—I shall not refer to it again, Mr. Hood—the Bank does not itself have power to authorise an inspection. Instead, it has power only to
“require the operator...to appoint an expert”.
When he discusses clause 183, will the Minister explain how the Bank will pull together all the information it needs to enable it to publish details of a compliance failure? It does not have under its thumb or control the inspector who carries out the inspection into the bank under inquiry. I therefore would have thought that clause 183 would be much more powerful if preceding it there was a description of the detailed manner in which the Bank will pull together all the information it needs. How can the Bank produce details of a compliance failure if it has not had someone working specifically to produce the details for it? I hope that the Minister understands the point that I am making. It is a matter of concern that the Bank will not readily be able to exercise the powers in clause 183 without the all the background information that it needs to be clear and specific.