European Central Bank (Hansard, 19 October 1992)

§ Mr. Cash
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what measures will he required to ensure uniformity of European central bank notes under article 16 of the protocol to the Maastricht treaty on European central banks.

§ Mr. Nelson
There is no requirement under article 16 for uniformity of bank notes, whether issued by the European central hank or other banks within the Community. Article 16 requires the ECB to respect as far as possible existing practices regarding the issue and design of bank notes.

§ Mr. Cash
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what rules and practices the Government propose to change in the field of statistical collection pursuant to article 5 of the protocol to the Maastricht treaty relating to European central banks; and what will be the role of the European central bank.

§ Mr. Nelson
No proposals have yet been made to ministers on the statistical requirements relating to the role of the European central bank. The role of the ECB in this area would be as set out in Article 5 of the protocol to the treaty on the statute of the European system of central banks and the European central bank.
184W

§ Mr. Cash
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans the Government have to make the Bank of England independent under article 7 of the protocol to the Maastricht treaty relating to European central banks.

§ Mr. Nelson
The Government have no plans at present to make the Bank of England independent under article 7 of the protocol to the Maastricht treaty setting out the statute for the European central banks. According to the protocol to the Maastricht treaty on certain provisions relating to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, article 7 would only apply to the United Kingdom if, at some future date, the United Kingdom were to notify the Council of Ministers that it wished to move to stage 3 of the European economic and monetary union.