Clause 49 - Evidence

Part of Financial Services Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 4:15 pm on 20 March 2012.

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Photo of Chris Leslie Chris Leslie Shadow Minister (Treasury) 4:15, 20 March 2012

I accept that this is not a question and answer session, but a stand part debate. However, when I see the Minister holding aloft a copy of the Bill and flicking through it, I sense that he might be busking a little in relation to why the provision has appeared in the Bill. It may have come as a consequence of FSMA, but why?

I thought the point of the architecture of the new regulators set up by the Minister was that they would be arm’s length bodies that would take on much of the detailed and, presumably, operational activity. I thought that he was telling the Committee that Her Majesty’s Treasury would be strategic and policy-focused, yet under the measure, it seems that he will get out his quill pen and sign a bunch of certificates. Perhaps in a dusty  corner of the Treasury there are some skilled civil servants whose job it is to make recommendations about property transfer certification. I did not think that the Treasury was quite so grand these days. I thought he was thinning down its operations and delegating matters to other bodies.

I am surprised that little light has been shed on the provision, and the lack of answers and elaboration leaves me in a dilemma. Do we go along with the measure, accept the Minister’s assurance and nod it through? Do we say, “It’s only another clause—let’s just let the thing roll,” or do we hope that inspiration will strike him at any moment and an answer will be forthcoming? I hope the latter. If that inspiration is of a strong calibre, he might want to intervene, but if he is not inspired, perhaps because the inspiration prompts more questions than it answers, he might not wish to do so. I should love to give him another opportunity if he can explain why the Treasury is retaining the function. I am grateful that he wants to intervene.