Clause 2 - Eligible children
Child Trust Funds Bill
10:00 am
Mr George Osborne (Tatton, Conservative)
This is arguably the most important series of amendments. My Liberal Democrat colleague will speak to amendment No. 142: it verges on being a wrecking amendment but I will leave it to the Minister to argue that. With the exception of amendment No. 104, which I will come to at the end, my amendments would extend the child trust funds to children born after 31 August 1992. In other words, it would allow people to open child trust funds for older children.
I make it quite clear from the beginning that I would not expect an initial Government contribution or indeed any Government contribution. I do not seek to spend more public money. I merely seek to allow parents to open child trust funds and to have all the benefits of being able to save for their children, putting in amounts of up to £1,200 a year and having a tax free sum at the end. The amendments would change the date from 2002 to 1992. I chose 1992 because I thought that that would be sensible. We could have an earlier date, but I am talking about anyone who is not a teenager. Given that it will be a year or so before the funds are up and running anyway, people are more likely to save for their younger children—children who are not teenagers—although I am happy to listen to arguments to extend the provision to teenagers. To achieve my objective, I would amend the date from 2002 to 1992. With amendment No. 34, I would amend clause 8 to make it clear that the initial contribution from the Government would be zero in respect of a child trust fund held by a child born before 1 September 2002.
I do not propose that it should be compulsory to start a child trust fund; I do not suggest that everyone should do so. I am merely saying that we should
provide parents with an opportunity to open a child trust fund for older children. I have a personal interest in this, as has the Minister. One of my children is eligible for a child trust fund; the other is not. As I intend to put money into the child trust fund for my young daughter on a yearly basis, I would like to do the same for my son.