Banking (Special Provisions) Bill

If the Office of Fair Trading is looking at this, it is likely in any event that it will do so after the abuse has taken place, whether it does so in two months or in 13 months. The OFT will not in the first instance stop any abuse. That is why I have tried to explain to the Committee the various courses that we have taken. When the OFT reports—I cannot give the Committee a date on which it would, as that is a matter for the OFT—it would point out any abuses and by doing so make sure that they would not occur again. I am telling the Committee that the noble Lord’s noble friend on the Front Bench is proposing something with which we largely agree.