Clause 18
Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Bill [Lords]
4:15 pm
Mark Hoban (Shadow Minister, Treasury; Fareham, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 31, in clause 18, page 9, line 26, leave out from ‘apportioned’ to end of line 33 and insert
‘on a per capita basis between England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland’.
I am bemused about why the Bill states that the money will be allocated between England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland in accordance with prescribed percentages that must add up to 100 per cent. That sounds fine, and it is good that the percentages will add up to 100 per cent.—I am not sure what we would say if they did not—but why does the Bill not state what the prescribed percentages will be or how the money will be allocated to the four countries of the United Kingdom? I do not understand why that is not made clear. The explanatory notes refer to the Barnett formula, but that is the Government’s position today and they may change their mind. All I am looking for is some certainty and clarity.
The Minister might argue that the amendment is not particularly well drafted. I am sure that I could have probably added more bells and whistles to it, but simply allocating money pro rata in accordance to the populations of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland would be the most obvious method. I do not understand why the Bill permits some uncertainty about what the prescribed percentages might be. [Interruption.]