Have your say on the Bank of England and Financial Services Bill

UKParliament

Have your say on the Bank of England and Financial Services Bill by submitting your views to the House of Commons Public Bill Committee which is going to consider this Bill.

Read the text of the Bill in full on the Parliament website.

Submit your written evidence to the Committee before 5pm on Tuesday 23 February. Please note that when the Committee reports it is no longer able to receive written evidence and it may report earlier than the expected deadline.

Aims of the Bill

The Bank of England and Financial Services Bill 2015-16 introduces provisions to amend governance and accountability arrangements at the Bank of England, expand the scope of and make changes to the Senior Managers and Certification Regime, permit the extension of the Government’s Pension Wise service, and allow for some flexibility to change which legal entities are authorised to issue commercial banknotes in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Purpose of the Bank of England and Financial Services Bill

1. To amend the membership of the Bank of England’s Court of Directors, abolish the oversight committee, and allow the Court of Directors to assign responsibility of the Bank’s financial stability strategy to the most appropriate sections of the Bank (clauses 1–5).
   
2. Change the membership and procedures of the Bank’s Financial Policy Committee (FPC) and the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), including a reduction in the MPC’s number of meetings a year (down from twelve to eight), and alterations to the MPC’s publishing requirements (clauses 6–8).
   
3. Introduce new auditing and information-sharing requirements upon the Bank, which will give HM Treasury and National Audit Office greater oversight of the Bank’s operation and performance (clauses 9–11).
   
4. Confer upon the Bank the role of Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), ending the existence of the current external body acting as the PRA and introducing a Prudential Regulation Committee within the Bank to take responsibility for these duties (clauses 12–15).

Progress of the Bill

You can follow the progress of the Bill on the Parliament website.

You can also read the explanatory notes to the Bill, which aim to explain what each part of the Bill will mean in practice; provide background information on the development of policy; and provide additional information on how the Bill will affect existing legislation in this area. They are not, and are not intended to be, a comprehensive description of the Bill.

This Bill has been committed to a Public Bill Committee which is expected to hold its first meeting on Tuesday 9 February. Further dates will be agreed once the Bill Committee has met, although Bill Committees usually meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

The Public Bill Committee is expected to finish and report the Bill to the House by Tuesday 23 February 2016.