Clause 27 - Commencement
Child Trust Funds Bill
2:45 pm
Mr David Laws (Yeovil, Liberal Democrat)
The hon. Member for Tatton has made a most powerful and persuasive case for delaying the introduction of the child trust fund until September
2005. Perhaps this is another Government policy that the Minister might reconsider. Obviously, the effect of new clause 11 would be slightly different from that of the hon. Gentleman's amendments, although it makes a similar criticism of the CTF proposals: specifically, that the timing appears to coincide with the anticipated date of a general election. It is, no doubt, pure coincidence that the additional payments also appear to coincide with future general elections.
It is certainly unlikely that any rational voter would allow their vote to be bought off by a Government proposal to borrow a large sum from the financial markets and pay it into accounts that cannot be touched for 18 years. Clearly, the borrowings that the Government take out on voters' behalf will neutralise the effect of the money that is paid into the CTF account.
I am sure that the Minister would not want it to appear that there is a connection between the election date and all the cheques for CTF accounts from 2002 to 2005 going out in one wodge. In any case, there is a serious danger that people will not take up the Chancellor's scheme. Many means-tested schemes are unsuccessful on take-up, and we would not want the launch of this new scheme to be affected by the restrictions on advertising during a general election period.
The Cabinet Office has released and regularly updates a paper entitled, ''Information Activities during a General Election''. It specifies the limitations that ought to apply in general election periods. It begins:
''The general principle governing information activities during a General Election is to do everything possible to avoid competition with Parliamentary candidates for the attention of the public.''
I am sure that hon. Members would agree that that is important. The paper continues:
''In addition, it has always been recognised that special care must be taken during the course of an Election since information material produced with complete impartiality which would be accepted as objective in ordinary times, may excite criticism during an Election period when feelings are running high.''
Clearly, that would be the case with the child trust fund payments, which may be made during an election period.
Hon. Members may also be aware of the further details that are given in the second part of the Cabinet Office note under the title ''Paid Media''. Section 10.g states:
''New advertising campaigns will in general be postponed and running campaigns closed. However, some advertising (for example recruitment, health and safety) might be specifically approved to continue by the Head of the GICS, in consultation with Central Secretariat, Cabinet Office.''
There is a real concern that the Government could get themselves into trouble if they were to begin their advertising campaign and start sending out cheques in the middle of an election campaign. Either they would be put in a position where they were subject to criticism from other political parties and the press, or the launch of the policy would be ruined. The information that the Minister and the Chancellor want to send out would not go out and the public advertising campaign would not go ahead.
New clause 11 offers a sensible way of getting around that problem by confirming that there will be no advertising of the child trust fund during a general election campaign. If the Minister does not want to go for that solution to her problem, she could go the way suggested by the hon. Member for Tatton and delay the introduction of the child trust fund for months.