Financial Services Bill

Amendment 19 would require any additional meetings of the council beyond the quarterly ones to be covered by published minutes. In providing greater formality and transparency the Government have struck a balance between a public benefit of greater transparency and the need to maintain confidentiality in respect of operational matters relating to specific markets or firms. The proposals for the council, in particular the provisions for additional transparency and accountability, are therefore centred on the concept of the strategic quarterly meetings. The Government believe that transparency over the council’s forward-looking strategic discussions would be very much in the public interest. Agendas for these meetings are agreed in advance by the three participating members of the council. Therefore, it would be perfectly appropriate if one of the members of the council wished to put on the agenda something which had been covered in an intervening meeting but which they felt had strategic relevance and which should be part of the published minutes. The Government do not believe that it would be helpful to publicly minute all meetings. When the council needs to meet more regularly than every quarter it is likely that discussions will be dominated by operational matters that are likely to need to remain confidential. Minuting meetings that are dominated by confidential discussion would not be at all helpful. For example, publishing a minute which revealed nothing of substance could lead to damaging speculation about the stability of specific firms or markets. Such speculation may naturally be centred on firms or markets that are not in fact the subject of specific concern on the part of members of the council. The Government believe that transparency over the quarterly strategic discussions is much more beneficial. Hence, the distinction we make between the quarterly meetings and, when necessary, other meetings. I hope, therefore, that the noble Baroness recognises that this is a significant step forward in terms of transparency compared to previous arrangements. I urge her to withdraw her amendment.