Banking Reform Statement
17th June 2010
Following the Financial Secretary to the Treasury's announcement on the creation of a Financial Policy Committee in the Bank of England, Harriett Baldwin asks the Minister if its minutes will be published openly and how it will deal with concerns about a specific institution.
Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con): I very much welcome that direction of travel, just as I welcomed the decision of the right hon. Member for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath (Mr Brown), in 1997, to set the Bank of England free to make decisions on interest rates. Will the Minister clarify whether the Financial Policy Committee will publish its minutes openly and on a regular basis, and how it will deal with a situation in which it is concerned about a specific institution?
Mr Hoban: It is important that the Financial Policy Committee is transparent in its dealings. It is a great strength of the Monetary Policy Committee that it is transparent and that it can be held to account by the public for its decisions. We need to ensure that similar arrangements are put in place for the FPC, respecting, as my hon. Friend has pointed out, the confidentiality of individual firms.
