MPS have launched a review, which could curb or even end the so-called “Maxwellisation” process involved in public inquiries, after it took seven years to issue a report into the collapsed Edinburgh-based bank HBoS.
Maxwellisation, named after the late newspaper tycoon Robert Maxwell, involves giving those individuals criticised in a report the right of reply before publication. Indeed, there have also been references to double Maxwellisation or re-Maxwellisation, which prolongs even further public scrutiny.
The process of Maxwellisation was not only said to have been a key reason for the delay in the HBoS report but has also been given as the reason why the public probe into the invasion of Iraq, the Chilcot inquiry, has taken so long to publish its report. The inquiry’s findings are due to be made public in the summer, again some seven years after the investigation was begun.
Andrew Tyrie, the Conservative chairman of the Commons Treasury Committee, which has launched the Maxwellisation review, has written to Chancellor George Osborne setting out its terms. He said: “This review will establish what the law requires and the problems that may arise from Maxwellisation. It may also make recommendations for remedy.
“It took seven years for taxpayers - who had to foot the £20.5 billion bail-out of HBoS – to obtain a full explanation of HBoS’s failure.
“Serious management, governance and regulatory oversight failures all contributed to the bank’s collapse. The seven-year wait was prolonged by Maxwellisation. The public will want reassurance that Maxwellisation is fair and proportionate, and does not lead to unacceptable delays,” explained the Sussex MP.
He added: “The right balance needs to be struck. Maxwellisation was never intended to be a means by which interminable argument would develop about every last detail of a regulator’s report. To permit that would undermine confidence in the public review process. The Committee may have a lot to examine.”
Earlier this week, the Financial Reporting Council, Britain's accounting watchdog, said it aimed to publish a full report this spring into how HBoS was audited by KPMG before the lender collapsed in 2008 during the financial crisis.
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