Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Bill [HL]

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 4:00 pm on 29 January 2008.

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Photo of Baroness Noakes Baroness Noakes Shadow Minister, Treasury 4:00, 29 January 2008

My Lords, the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, has made a powerful case on behalf of the Unclaimed Assets Charity Coalition for her amendment. We completely agree that a register with good access arrangements is an essential part of the dormant accounts scheme. We understood a moment ago from the Minister that the voluntary arrangements will be launched tomorrow—only a month late. There are questions about whether those voluntary arrangements will be good enough. We certainly hope that they will be, but the Minister should be aware that there is scepticism amongst the charities about that, based on their experience to date in getting information about accounts.

With the Liberal Democrats, we thought long and hard about how to tackle this issue before we came to Report. We chose to table Amendment No. 13, which I shall come to later today. This amendment is designed to keep the parliamentary spotlight focused on dormant account schemes, and it specifically refers to reuniting schemes including those where wills are involved. It is designed to respond to the concerns that the noble Baroness raised. We felt that if the banks dragged their feet it would be possible for the parliamentary spotlight to be put on those unsatisfactory arrangements. The Government, whose powers of persuasion are capable of being very powerful in those situations, would then have a target to go for. It is not always necessary to have reserve powers. If there is a voluntary scheme which is not working, the Government—certainly under pressure from Parliament—could help to make it work better.

The noble Baroness's amendment refers to,

"the establishment of a register of dormant accounts".

It is my understanding that the charities want to search for accounts long before they have become dormant. An account does not become dormant under this Bill until at least 15 years has passed, possibly longer. The charities want access to accounts earlier. That is what I understand the banks and building societies are going to deliver. We want to focus on what they are going to deliver, and to ensuring that works well. I also gulped a bit at the sweeping powers being given to the Secretary of State by the noble Baroness's arrangement. We often criticise the Government when they seek to take such powers. We are trying to achieve the same things as the noble Baroness but without the heavy hand of an unrestricted power. We believe in giving voluntarism, which underpins this Bill, a chance to work. For those reasons, we cannot support the noble Baroness's amendment.