Clause 5 - Opening by responsible person
Child Trust Funds Bill
9:45 am
Mr David Laws (Yeovil, Liberal Democrat)
I shall not repeat the hon. Gentleman's comments on the first amendment, since they were designed to probe the Government's intentions for the time period that will be set out in regulations and the Bill. I shall briefly comment on the second issue that he raised, which was the means of contributing to the child trust fund, and whether that should be restricted to vouchers and cash amounts, or whether the Government should consider electronic payments.
Amendment No. 166 to clause 12, which sets out subscription limits, would require the Inland Revenue to publish proposals for subscriptions to be made to child trust funds by electronic means. Under clause 12, there is a restriction to ensure that contributions can be made only in monetary form and not with other products, such as equity products. However, as the hon. Gentleman indicated, the Government have
been reticent about embracing new technologies available to facilitate payments into child trust fund accounts.
The initial voucher payment made in paper form by the Inland Revenue may help consumers understand that a new product is being launched. The Minister is nodding and I hope that she will still be nodding after my second comment. She has a tendency to nod and then say something contradictory later. I accept that a voucher might be helpful when setting up the child trust fund, so my moderate amendment merely asks the Minister to consider publishing proposals to allow future subscriptions to child trust funds to be made electronically. Given the amendment's extreme moderation, I hope that she will back up her nodding by making constructive proposals and assuring us that the Government are not luddite on contributions to child trust funds and will help to stimulate payments by other means, including electronic means.