§ Mr. Ian Lloydasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) whether specific application was made to the Bank of England by the football club concerned, or bankers acting on its behalf, to exceed the limit of £100,000 laid down in section C14 of the Bank of England exchange regulations applying to payments made abroad for services;
(2) what criteria are normally applied in considering requests for the remission of sums abroad exceeding £100,000 for services under C14 of the Bank of England exchange regulations: and how those criteria were applied to the decision to grant a sum of £700,000 for the payment of footballers' transfer fees.
§ Mr. Robert Sheldon, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 24th July 1978], gave the following information:
Specific application was made to the Bank of England in the case which I think the hon. Member has in mind, in accordance with the exchange control notice to which he has referred, since £100,000 is the limit of delegation to authorised banks for this purpose. The normal criteria were applied by the Bank of England, which was satisfied that the purpose of the payment was consistent with the applicants' normal activities and, from documentary evidence, that payment was due.