Clause 3
Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Bill [Lords]
11:15 am
Ian Pearson (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform; Dudley South, Labour)
We identified, in consultation with the industry, the £7 billion limit as a credible threshold to define small locally based institutions, and it is enshrined in clause 3. The amendment asks us to use the affirmative procedure rather than the negative power in the Bill. I say to the hon. Member for Taunton that we recognise the concerns that were expressed in the other place about the suitability of the £7 billion limit, and we have recently discussed those concerns.
There is provision in the Bill for the asset limit to be adjusted by Government order, so that it can continue appropriately to identify small and local institutions in the future, which is its purpose. The most likely reason for changing the limit would be a technical matter, such as inflationary adjustment. We therefore consider that a negative power is appropriate, given the scope of the power and the interest that it is likely to raise.
The Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee confirmed that a sufficient case had been made for the power, and it did not consider the power nor the scrutiny that we are proposing—the negative procedure—to be inappropriate. For those reasons, we believe that the hon. Gentleman’s amendment is unnecessary, and we will oppose it.