REPEALS AND REVOCATIONS (Hansard, 19 February 1987)

§ Mr. Hanley
There has been no opportunity for me to raise one small point. I shall hold the House back for about one minute. I welcome the Bill wholeheartedly. However, may I ask my hon. Friend the Minister whether, under clause 79—which deals with information that is passed by the Bank of England on to other people and the restrictions that are imposed on the disclosure of that information—information that is passed by the Bank to an auditor will stop the auditor from qualifying his audit report as a result of that information, unless he has previously obtained permission from the Bank of England? I understand that this is not the most sensible time to raise this matter, but it is the only time. I should be happy if my hon. Friend would write to me on that matter.

§ Mr. Cash
I take this opportunity to thank my hon. Friend the Economic Secretary to the Treasury for the patient and skilful way in which he has helped us to conduct our way through the Bill. The Bill may not have attracted all the attention in the world, but it is a vital measure, in that confidence in the City of London will depend on the stability of the banking system. The skill with which my hon. Friend has steered the Bill through, and the way in which he has reacted to proposals that we 1148 have put forward, such as reciprocity, audit committees, non-executive directors and the like, is indeed very welcome and we are most grateful to him.

§ Mr. Ian Stewart
I do not wish to detain the House for long at this stage. I shall write to my hon. Friend the Member for Richmond and Barnes (Mr. Hanley) about the point that he made.
I should like to take this opportunity to thank those officials who have assisted me with the preparation of this legislation and who have looked after my requirements and the requirements of the Committee and the House during the Bill's passage through those stages. I include in those thanks representatives of the Bank of England, who made themselves available to help on a number of matters that were of interest to hon. Members in the Committee and in the House.
I should also like to thank my hon. Friends, the other Conservative Members, the hon. Member for Thurrock (Dr. McDonald) and other Labour Members who participated in the Committee proceedings and who have contributed this evening for the generally constructive way in which the Bill has been handled. I appreciate the way in which the hon. Member for Thurrock has looked after the Bill on behalf of the Opposition.
The Bill completes a trilogy of substantial Bills that we have dealt with over the past three years. Although this Bill is not one of the most dramatic or politically contentious of this Session or of this Parliament, it is nevertheless important. It represents a significant improvement and strengthening of the system of banking supervision. The City of London and its banking systems are very important to the United Kingdom's economy and it is important, with the widening of markets and the internationalisation of business, that the City of London should be properly supervised and regulated. The Bill will take its place alongside the Financial Services Act 1986 and the Building Societies Act 1986 as part of a trio of legislation that will give a better regulatory and supervisory system in this country then in any other financial centre in the world.
The Bill's passage through the House has led to a number of changes on the Board of Banking Supervision, on the question of significant and controlling shareholders, on reciprocity, on deposit protection, on banking names, on non-executive directors and on a number of other matters. During its passage the Bill has been considerably improved, but it leaves the House in good order. I hope that it will not be too long before it is on the statute book.

§ Dr. McDonald
I do not intend to detain the House but I should like to express our gratitude to those officials and draftsmen who have been responsible for the Bill. It was a great pleasure not to have to consider a large number of drafting amendments during the passage of the Bill through Committee. I should like to thank the Economic Secretary for having responded to several of the points raised in Committee, sometimes by the Opposition and sometimes raised, shall we say, by one and a half sides of the Committee acting in concert. It has improved the Bill.
It is important that the banking sector functions well. Therefore, having been given new powers of supervision in the Bill, I hope that the Bank of England will use to the 1149 full to supervise the banks and to ensure that we do everything possible to avoid the sort of scandals that have emerged over the past year.