§ Mr. Gouldasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what has been the change in the Bank of England's stock of commercial bills since the reply of 21 July 1983, Official Report, column 178; and whether short-term monetary interest rates are now above or below the level appropriate to the Government's monetary policy.
§ Mr. Ian Stewart[pursuant to his reply, 10 December 1984, c. 372]: Figures for Issue Department transactions in commercial bills are published in "Financial Statistics", table 11.5. Quarterly changes in Bank of England holdings 458W of bills are published in a table in the article on the operation of monetary policy which appears in each issue of the Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin.
The bank's operations have prevented money market shortages from driving up short-term interest rates to an inappropriate level.