Banking: Government Shares

Lord Peston Excerpts

Monday 13th June 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Sassoon]

My Lords, I could be churlish or be fair to other noble Lords who might want to ask about the subject of this Question, which is the Government’s plans to sell shares in the publicly owned banks. We seem to be straying rather far from it. Project Merlin, agreed between the Government and the banks, means that the banks have put aside considerably more lending capacity this year for SMEs than last year. We have transparent reporting and a range of other initiatives to which the banks have committed to ensure that lending flows. We have also put money into a new equity fund for smaller businesses. These were things that the previous Government did not do but which have only peripheral relevance to the subject of this Question, which is about the sale of shares in the banks.

[Lord Peston]

My Lords—

[Lord Newby]

My Lords—

[Noble Lords]

This side!

[Lord Peston]

No.

[Baroness Anelay of St Johns]

My Lords, it is a courtesy. The Question was posed from the Labour Benches. It might be helpful to hear from a different Bench, just for the moment.

[Lord Sassoon]

My Lords, I can confirm to my noble friend that UK Financial Investments will be considering retail participation in the distribution of the shares. That does not, of course, necessarily mean quite what he said, which is some form of distribution but, yes, mass participation in some form is very much to be considered. Value for money is also one of the considerations that UKFI is required to take into account.

[Lord Peston]

My Lords, particularly as the Minister used the phrase value for money, is not the Government’s prime duty in determining when to sell making sure that the taxpayer gets the maximum proceeds from the sale of the shares? Is that not clear-cut? Is it not also clear-cut that the one group that should not be allowed to bid for the shares is the bankers who got us into this financial mess in the first place?

[Lord Sassoon]

My Lords, the obligation on UK Financial Investments is to provide advice to the Government on the time and form of sale. Value for money, as widely defined, is very much a consideration. The Government do not intend to be a permanent investor in the banks, but the timing of any disposals will take account of many considerations, including market conditions at the time.