Financial Services Bill

In response to the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth, throughout its life the tripartite arrangement involved regular meetings at deputy level. The number of meetings attended by principals may well have been two; the noble Lord advises me that that is the case and I have no reason to believe it is not. Perhaps it is not altogether surprising: it was during a period of extraordinary growth. The Governor of the Bank of England described it as the "nice" decade—non-inflationary consistent expansion. The deputies—that is the deputy governor, the chief executive and the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury; senior people leading their organisations—did meet very regularly. It would be wrong to suggest that the governor, the Chancellor and the chairman of the FSA did not meet regularly. Even last week I attended two meetings involving the governor, the Chancellor and the chairman of the FSA. They meet very regularly outside the formality of the old informal tripartite structure. We are now giving the structure much more formality. I hope there is not confusion there. In answer to the question from the noble Lord, Lord Newby, about expense being incurred, I think I am on solid ground in saying that no material expense has been incurred in anticipation of legislation being passed. It is of course necessary for these bodies to contemplate a piece of legislation that is going through Parliament, and to plan for what that legislation would mean. It is an entirely good thing to communicate to the people involved in consumer affairs in the FSA, for instance, that if this Bill is passed this is what will happen, and it would be atrocious not to respect people by sharing that with them. However, no commitments have been made, no legal agreements entered into, no new leases written, software commissioned or computer boxes acquired in anticipation of this legislation. I do not even think we have printed any special paper for the minutes of the CFS meetings. This is a very low-cost response to an enhanced superior product.