Banking (Special Provisions) Bill

I share completely the demand of the noble Lord, Lord Oakeshott, for an independent audit. Among many other things, it should unearth the information so many noble Lords have been demanding on Granite. We also need a full review of the loan book. Amendment No. 10, tabled in my name and grouped here, is a simple one and seeks to make good on a government commitment to the recommendations laid out in the 2001 report in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Sharman, entitled Holding to Account. The National Audit Office’s audit of public bodies provides Parliament and the public with impartial, accurate information about how public money is committed and spent, and as the Sharman report pointed out, such information contributes to accountability, transparency and public confidence. While no one is suggesting that the NAO should audit Northern Rock, there is a clear need for the Comptroller and Auditor-General to have the powers to go into such a company to appropriate evidence for its audit of the Treasury. The C&AG already has the right to investigate and report on the accounts of a large number of non-governmental bodies which receive government funding. This amendment would simply add any nationalised bank and building society to that number. I hope very much that the Minister will continue to support the basic principles of the Sharman report and accept this amendment. In so doing, the Government will provide the public with the much-needed reassurance that their money is being appropriately spent on Northern Rock by the Treasury.