UK: Financial Services Bill - Committee stage deliberations begin

The Financial Services Bill reached the Committee stage in the House of Commons on Tuesday this week. The record of the first day's proceedings - which took place in two sittings - can be read here and here (or watched here and here on Parliament TV). The record for all sittings of the Committee will be available here.

Amongst the matters discussed in the first sitting was the governance of the Bank of England. In the course of debate the Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Mark Hoban MP) stated that the proposed Oversight Committee of the Bank would be able to "look at the substance of policy making ... I think the oversight committee will provide an effective challenge, and because it will have the power to commission both internal and external reviews, it will be able to scrutinise and hold to account the Bank’s executives and its committees in a way that represents a major step forward in accountability" (see column 16 here). The emphasis on substance appears to go beyond the process focussed role envisaged for the Oversight Committee by the Bank: see here (pdf).

The Committee meets again this morning.