Treasury legislation to ensure financial stability and a fair society

The Government is committed to maintaining the resilience and strength of the economy, which is central to creating a fair society where there is opportunity for all.

Today's Draft Legislative Programme announces measures to build a more prosperous Britain and a fairer Britain - and contains two Bills from the Treasury, on Banking Reform and encouraging saving.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, said:

"Countries cannot insulate themselves from the global economic challenges, and we have seen over the last few months that the Government has committed to maintaining stability, supporting families and ensuring fairness in the economy".

As part of the commitment to supporting financial stability, HM Treasury, the Bank of England and the Financial Services Authority (FSA) recently consulted on a range of proposals to strengthen depositor protection and deal with banks that get into difficulties. The Government will bring forward legislation on these issues later this year.

The key areas on which the Government intends to legislate include:

Improvements to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) to facilitate faster pay-out;
Introducing a 'special resolution regime' to allow the Authorities (HM Treasury, Bank of England and FSA) to intervene when a bank gets into difficulties. This includes the introduction of an insolvency regime for banks;
Revising the framework for the provision and disclosure of liquidity provision; and
Providing the Bank of England with a financial stability objective and amending the size and composition of the Bank's Court.

Together these measures will allow the UK Authorities manage any risks to financial stability, protect consumers, and minimise the impact on the economy overall.

Central to increasing fairness and opportunity for all is ensuring that every British family has access to financial services, financial education and is invested with the ability to save money for the future.

In line with this aim, the Treasury will also introduce a Bill this Parliamentary session to legislate for the creation of the Saving Gateway - a saving scheme for up to 8 million individuals on lower incomes. This will see the Government providing a financial incentive to save and promoting financial inclusion through making a contribution for each pound that people save into the scheme.

Notes for editors

1. Today, the Government has published Preparing Britain for the Future-the Draft Legislative Programme 2008-09, which sets out the UK Government's plans for legislative and key non-legislative action in next year's Parliamentary session.

2. The Government wants your views on the draft programme.

3 More information about the Treasury´s legislative programme for the coming year.

Non-media enquiries should be addressed to the Treasury Correspondence and Enquiry Unit on 020 7270 4558 or by e-mail to public.enquiries@hm-treasury.gov.uk.

This Press Release and other Treasury publications are available on the HM Treasury website. For the latest information from HM Treasury you can subscribe to our RSS feeds or email service.

Media enquiries should be addressed to the Treasury Press Office on 020 7270 5238.