To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what conditions govern the payment of (a) dividends and (b) bonuses by banks and financial institutions which have received financial support from the public purse; and if he will make a statement. (197720)

The remuneration of the majority of staff of commercial undertakings is a matter for the boards of the organisations concerned. The normal practice for Executive Board remuneration is for the company's Remuneration Committee, formed of non- executive directors, to put forward proposals for shareholder approval where any bank is in receipt of financial assistance, whether or not it is in public ownership.

I refer the right hon. Member to what the Chief Secretary to the Treasury said in the House on 31 March, Official Report, 585.