[Dr William McCrea in the Chair]

Before we begin, I want to make a few preliminary announcements. Members may, if they wish, remove their jackets during Committee meetings. Would all Members please ensure that all electronic devices are turned off or switched to silent mode during Committee meetings?

The Committee will first be asked to consider the programme motion on the Amendment paper, on which debate is limited to half an hour. We will then proceed to a motion to report written evidence, which I hope we can take formally.

Motion made, and Question proposed,

That—

(1) the Committee shall (in addition to its first meeting at 8.55 am on Tuesday 19 March) meet—

(a) at 2.00 pm on Tuesday 19 March;

(b) at 11.30 am and 2.00 pm on Thursday 21 March;

(c) at 9.10 am and 2.00 pm on Tuesday 26 March;

(d) at 9.10 am and 2.00 pm on Tuesday 16 April; and

(e) at 11.30 am and 2.00 pm on Thursday 18 April;

(2) the proceedings shall be taken in the following order: Clauses 1 to 7; the Schedule; Clauses 8 to 20; new Clauses; new Schedules; remaining proceedings on the Bill;

(3) the proceedings shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion at 5.00 pm on Thursday 18 April.—(Greg Clark.)

Good morning, Dr McCrea. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship. I know how much you have come to enjoy these early morning starts. I appreciate that, after your swim in the Serpentine and run around Hyde park, this is late in the day for you.

We start the Bill’s Committee stage under something of a cloud, given that the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards, which undertook a lot of the pre-legislative scrutiny—hence the fact that we have no evidence sessions today—has only partly concluded its work. Although it is useful to have the Programming Sub-Committee resolution before us setting out the sittings at which we can scrutinise the Bill, the Opposition would like to put on record their deep concern that the Committee is being held at an inappropriate stage. After all, the Bill is, in many ways, merely a vessel that will be populated by secondary legislation, some, but not all, of which the Minister has taken the trouble to publish in advance. Furthermore, we had hoped by now to have some recommendations from the Parliamentary Commission’s laborious and extensive evidence sessions to inform us about the changes in standards, culture and governance that are necessary to improve the banking system.

The programme motion allows us a certain amount of time to discuss the shell of the clauses before us. The Opposition have also tabled a number of new clauses, which will obviously come up for discussion towards the end of our consideration—probably after we get back from the parliamentary recess in April. Looking through the programme motion and the Amendment paper, it is surprising that Her Majesty’s Government have tabled no amendments. That may be a good sign, and the Minister, having looked at the amendments tabled by Her Majesty’s loyal Opposition, may be so taken with them that he anticipates adopting them. He likes to cultivate a reputation as a listening Minister, and I hope that is, indeed, the case—perhaps that is the “glass half full” approach we should take. However, a number of responses to the Parliamentary Commission’s banking reform publication suggested the Government intended to table their own amendments in response to the Commission. I hoped that the programme motion would allow that iterative process, but the Government have tabled no amendments.

My general anxiety is that the Government are not showing sufficient respect for the Bill’s Committee stage in the House of Commons. First, they have truncated the process and tried to conclude it before we even get to see the Parliamentary Commission’s final conclusions. Now, they have not even tabled amendments in Committee so that we can properly look at their responses to the Parliamentary Commission. I sometimes feel as though the Government were treating this process as a bit of a rubber-stamping exercise and something that is just a parliamentary inconvenience. They think, “We have to get through the Committee stage process, so let’s just get on with it, put our heads down and we will sort it all out on Report and in the House of Lords.” It is absolutely vital, however, that in Committee, we take the opportunity to go through issues on a line-by-line basis and examine amendments in detail without having knives to truncate the debate.

I therefore look for some assurance from the Minister that, if the Government are going to bring forward amendments in response to the Parliamentary Commission’s recommendations that we have seen so far, they still intend to do that at the Commons Committee stage and not just dump them on the House in one fell swoop on Report stage after the Queen’s Speech under the carry-over process. We have a duty to ensure that we scrutinise matters properly.

Those are my anxieties about the programme motion. We do not particularly object to the time scales set out in it, but I thought it was important to put on the record our misgivings about how the Government have treated this process.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr McCrea. I welcome colleagues to an important and potentially historic Bill committee. As the hon. Gentleman said, we have had the benefit of advice not just from the Independent Commission on Banking, chaired by Sir John Vickers, but also from the Parliamentary Commission, whose work is ongoing.

Many of the amendments that we will come on to discuss are, of course, from the PCBS. I am delighted that the hon. Gentleman has said that was taking a  “glass half full” approach. It is certainly my intention that, in Committee and in later stages, we should have a full opportunity to consider the responses of all of the eminent commissions that have reported on these matters and the views of members of the Committee.

The Bill is relatively unusual in the sense that it reflects the views of a Parliamentary Commission, which reported in December. The Government responded to the scrutiny of the Parliamentary Commission in February, the Parliamentary Commission then responded to our response and, in the days ahead, I will respond to its response to our response. It could be that, in our debates about its response to our response, I might feel inclined to respond further to its response as we go on. I am conscious that this could lead us into an infinite regress of responses—and who knows where that will end?—but I say that just to make it clear to the Committee and reassure everyone that the discussions that we have here are important and significant.

In my conduct in taking the Bill through the House, I intend to respond positively and constructively to sensible points that are made. I do not think that a matter of such importance should be railroaded through this House or the other place. It is in the interests of all of us to ensure that the Bill is properly scrutinised. I will ensure that the Committee and the House can express themselves. When we bring amendments forward in response to the current and future recommendations of the Parliamentary Commission, I will ensure that the Committee has an opportunity to consider them, and I will keep its members up to date with the progress of that. As the hon. Gentleman said, we have already published some of the secondary legislation, although I remind the Committee that the secondary legislation will itself be the subject of further parliamentary procedures when it comes to be considered.

As for the timing of the sittings of the Committee, we have a lot to discuss, but I think Members of all parties are confident that we can make sufficient progress. As you would concede, Dr McCrea, to a certain extent that is in our own hands. The hon. Member for Nottingham East is a veteran of these procedures, and I am sure he is able to calibrate his contributions to ensure that we can make the best possible progress and give the Bill the scrutiny that it requires.

I know we are talking about the programme of consideration of the amendments, but is it not a rather peculiar process for the Government to have relied on the Opposition to table the amendments recommended by the Parliamentary Commission? The Government certainly have not signed up to those amendments. If we had not tabled them, presumably we would simply be having Clause stand part debates throughout. Was it ever the Government’s intention to table amendments reflecting the aspects of the Commission’s suggested amendments that they agreed with?

The hon. Gentleman should perhaps express his thanks to the Commission for its unusual courtesy in drafting the amendments, saving himself and his colleagues a great deal of work. Since it has done so, we had a certain expectation that they might be tabled, if not by the hon. Gentleman then by certain colleagues other on the Committee.

It is clearly helpful to have the words and recommendations of the Parliamentary Commission available to us to debate in the Committee. The device that has been used is helpful to the Committee and to the whole House. The hon. Gentleman is moving some of the amendments and moving some of his own, and reflecting the recommendations of the Commission, as it were.

Question putand agreed to.

Resolved,

That, subject to the discretion of the Chair, any written evidence received by the Committee shall be reported to the House for publication.—(Greg Clark.)

Copies of the memorandums that the Committee receives will be made available in the Committee Room.

Before we come to our line-by-line consideration of the Bill, a brief reminder of procedure may be useful to the Committee. The selection list for today’s sitting is available in the room. It shows how the amendments selected for debate have been grouped together. Amendments grouped together are generally on the same or a similar issue. A Member who has put their name to the lead Amendment in a group is called first. Other Members are then free to catch my eye to speak to the amendments in the group. A Member may speak more than once in a single debate.

At the end of the debate on a group of amendments, I will call again the Member who moved the lead amendment, and before they sit down they will need to indicate if they wish to withdraw the amendment or seek a Division. If a Member wishes to press any other amendment in a group to a vote, they will need to let me know. I will work on the assumption that the Government wish the Committee to reach a decision on all Government amendments.

Please note that decisions on amendments do not take place in the order in which they are debated, but in the order in which they appear on the amendment paper. I will use my discretion to decide whether to allow a separate stand part debate on individual clauses and schedules following the debate on the relevant amendments.

As a general rule, I and my fellow Chair do not intend to call starred amendments, which have not been tabled with adequate notice. The required notice period in Public Bill Committees is three working days, therefore amendments should be tabled by the rise of the House on Monday for consideration on Thursday, and by the rise of the House on Thursday for consideration the following Tuesday. I hope that explanation is helpful. We now begin our line-by-line consideration of the Bill.