Financial Markets

My Lords, while heartily congratulating Her Majesty’s Government on the bold and decisive action that has been taken, which I hope will achieve the stability that is essential for banking in the United Kingdom and the global system of banking, I should like to ask about the trickle-down effect. It is hoped that these massive subventions to the banks will have an effect in the ordinary home, in the life of the ordinary employee and in the small business world. I have not had the opportunity to read the Financial Services Authority report, but will the noble Lord confirm that the most comprehensive and constant scrutiny will be kept up month by month to ensure that this trickle-down effect becomes a reality? Will specific performance indices be set for each bank? Will the take-up on the part of each bank be in tranches, perhaps month by month and based on the performance of the preceding month? In other words, will there be a certainty of these effects, which are so essential to the ordinary people of the United Kingdom?