Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Bill [Lords]

Part of Orders of the Day – in the House of Commons at 5:58 pm on 6 October 2008.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Simon Hughes Simon Hughes Shadow Leader of the House of Commons, Party Chair, Liberal Democrats 5:58, 6 October 2008

These are important points to explore, but does my hon. Friend accept that the reason for the inclusion of the English provision in the Bill is presumably that there is not yet devolved government in England? Some of us wish that there was, and hope that there will be, but there is none yet. Secondly, would it not be unfortunate if the money that the Government had led people to believe would be used for youth provision were suddenly to be diverted from that area? This has been trailed for a very long time and there is no statutory guarantee of funds. I can assure my hon. Friend that many people and organisations firmly believe—the Bishop of Chelmsford made a good case for this in the other place—that revenue, as well as and probably more than capital funding, is needed to support good youth work, which is constrained because it does not have the funds to grow and deal with issues on the front line.