Clause 50

Part of Banking Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 5:45 pm on 11 November 2008.

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Photo of John Pugh John Pugh Shadow Minister (Treasury) 5:45, 11 November 2008

On the face of it, the clause seems innocuous. It simply says, “supplemental”. However, when I studied it I had some concerns, which I need the Minister to clear up before I can be completely happy with the clause. Although the clause is supplementary, it is wide-ranging. I draw attention to the fact that the independent valuer can publish and disclose information—which we would expect—but can also withhold information. Yet, subsection (8) states:

“Records of an independent valuer are public records for the purpose of the Public Records Act 1958.”

I am not sufficiently learned in the law to know whether that makes an exemption from a freedom of information request. I could imagine that if in certain circumstances a valuer was deemed to withhold crucial and important information, more than one interested party would wish to get hold of that information. They might have a right to do so, particularly if the information concerned the disbursement of an ailing bank and resources being allocated in one direction or another. The clause appears to create that sort of exemption and make it immune from any legal challenge, so that if people want information that an independent valuer has, primary legislation says that he has the right to withhold it. That exemption seems to be created. It may not, as a result of being created, be challengeable in law, but it may not be consistent with the principles of natural justice.

My other concern is more a matter of amplification. Subsection (3) states that jurisdiction may be conferred on a court or tribunal, and subsection (6)(b) states that there can be an appeal to a court. A number of courts are referred to, and I would simply like to know which courts we are thinking of—courts that exist and can be identified, or courts to be created for the specific purpose.

I have a similar question on subsection (3)(d), which states that at some future date a criminal offence might be created by a statutory instrument. That is not a most desirable way to create a criminal offence. I imagine that the offence would be along the lines of withholding information from an independent valuer. I wish that the Minister could give us an inkling as to what types of offences the Treasury has in mind.

Dotted through the clause are areas where clarification is required. Let me rehearse them again. First, will the clause create an exemption to freedom of information requests for information from independent valuers? Secondly, where courts or tribunals are referred to, precisely which are they? Are the appeal court and the court upon which jurisdiction is conferred one and the same? Thirdly, are we creating a new kind of misdemeanour, or the possibility of one, and if so what will it look like?

That is a complex and detailed set of questions. If the Minister wants to reply in writing, that is great by me, but if he can give amplification straight away, that will be equally acceptable.