George Young (North West Hampshire, Conservative)

I have another short intervention on loans that are guaranteed by the Secretary of State. The Minister said that in an earlier life he was an auditor. That means he has removed the excuse of ignorance for the question that I am about to put to him. Will the guarantees given by the Secretary of State under this clause score so far as the public sector borrowing requirement is concerned? Will they form part of the calculation towards the golden rule? The clause makes it quite clear that if the Secretary of State gives a guarantee, Parliament has to be told about it, so the information will be in the public domain. It would be helpful to know whether the guarantees given under this clause will go towards the total liability of the Government and therefore score against the PSBR and the Chancellor’s golden rule?

Robert Syms (Poole, Conservative)

As we discussed under clause 22, the HCA can give guarantees or indemnify the projects. Under clause 25 would this be under the financial limit of £2,300 million or above it? In other words, it is possible to have a cash borrowing limit for the HCA but have additional liabilities on its balance sheet. How would that be treated?

Iain Wright (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Communities and Local Government; Hartlepool, Labour)

I will answer the hon. Gentleman first because that is the easier question. The £2,300 million is the absolute limit. Everything is contained within that. In respect of the right hon. Gentleman’s question, I was a very bad auditor which is why I had to become a Member of Parliament. I cannot provide a great deal of clarification on his very pertinent point about the golden rule. If he allows, I will look into that and try to find inspiration in the short to medium term and then respond to him and provide information to the Committee.