SPECIAL CONTRIBUTIONS AND POWER TO BORROW (Hansard, 14 February 1979)

§ Mr. Ian Stewart
I beg to move amendment No. 13, in page 26, line 37, leave out 'should' and insert may'. This was another point which occurred in Committee. It is not significant and it relates to a technicality. In Committee I suggested that there was an inconsistency in the wording between clause 26(5) and the preceding clause. The wording of clause 26(5) is: Any amount borrowed by virtue of subsection (3) above shall be disregarded in ascertaining whether the amount standing to the credit of the Fund is such that the Board should exercise their power to levy further contributions … Clause 25(1) says: the Board may, with the approval of the Treasury, levy further contributions … I was in error in Committee, because I was contrasting the word "shall" in the second line of subsection (5) with the word "may" at the beginning of clause 25 rather than "should" in the third line with "may". That may have been a simple error or it may have been a slip 1215 of the tongue. The Minister felt that it was not necessary to do anything about it and he was right, because I think that I must have made the wrong point. Let me now make the right point. It is "should" which should be altered to "may" in order to harmonise the two.

§ Mr. Moate
I congratulate my hon. Friends on the attention to detail which must have engrossed them in Committee if they had to concern themselves with the difference between the words "shall", "may" and "should". I am sure that they all have great implications, but they are a little difficult for some of us to follow.
I wish to ask a question that is in order in terms of the amendment and I do so because I think that a technical mistake may have been made in the Bill. The problem arises over the initial funding of the board. It is clear that the board can borrow substantial sums to supplement its funds and that the expenses of the board can be met not only from the initial fund but from subsequent levies or from the money that it can borrow, but where do the expenses come from when the board is initially established?
The board has to be in existence before it can make a levy on banks, send out requests and make assessments or borrow money. At some stage there will be initial expenses, and I can see no provision for them. I should hate there to be a slip-up on such a detail.

§ Mr. Denzil Davies
There is no problem about what the hon. Member for Faversham (Mr. Moate) has said. The fund is part of the Bank of England and all the expenses will be met through the Bank. There will be no levy on banks for expenses and no licence fees will be charged to banks by the board.
The hon. Member for Hitchin (Mr. Stewart), with his keen eye for the detail of the Bill, has made a good point, and, in view of the reasonable way in which he always moves amendments, I am happy to recommend that the House should accept the amendment.