Clause 18
Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Bill [Lords]
4:15 pm
Jeremy Browne (Shadow Chief Secretary To the Treasury, Treasury; Taunton, Liberal Democrat)
I promise that it was not my phone—it is like being a teacher in a classroom. I rise briefly to share the bewilderment expressed by the hon. Member for Fareham about the fact that, although the Government have concluded that the total amount allocated to the four constituent parts of the United Kingdom should come to 100 per cent., which seems an entirely sensible percentage to arrive at, no formula is indicated for how that should be divided between the four component parts.
One could come up with many different formulae and make a case for them all. A formula could be based on population, the number of bank accounts held in each country or the dormant revenues within the bank accounts in those countries. The latter would give Scotland a higher proportion than if the allocation were made purely on the basis of population. One could argue for each of those different formulae, but it is strange that the Government appear not to specify any of them.
I have some reservations about the amendment. If I had to pick a formula, it would be based not on the population of each country, but on the formula used for the lottery funds, which attempts to make some assessment of social need that goes beyond a straightforward head count. I suspect that it would come quite close to being a per capita formula, but it would perhaps be more satisfactory for assessing which communities would most benefit from the allocation of funds.
Although I have reservations about the amendment and would not be inclined to support it in a Division, the motivation behind it seems entirely reasonable.