My Lords, this short three-clause Bill must seem a long way from the considerable documentation that must have been necessary when my noble friend's bank took over the Nat West, but I suppose that my noble friend must come down to these lesser but still important matters. As my noble friend explained, this issue entirely affects Scotland. It is unusual for the Scottish Members of your Lordships' House to come to your Lordships' House and suggest that perhaps the law in England is better than the law as it applies in Scotland, but that is what we are doing this evening. I even have a letter from the Law Society of Scotland which confirms that the attachment rule as far as it relates to cheques should be abolished and Scots law brought into line with that of the rest of the UK. As such a statement does not come often from the Law Society of Scotland, I thought it only right that I should acquaint your Lordships with it.

As my noble friend Lord Younger explained, this Bill seems a sensible, small measure which will get away from a very cumbersome procedure which I suspect not only causes problems for the banks but also causes problems for the customer and for the person who thought he was about to receive money by presenting the cheque.

I wish to raise only one issue. I understand the point concerning the case where there is one customer with a limited amount of money and suddenly four or five people turn up with cheques which come to more than the individual has in his bank account. Instead of the whole lot going away empty-handed, decisions are made about who will go away empty-handed and who will go away with the full amount. My noble friend Lady Carnegy asked a rather pertinent question in relation to that.

My question is similar but it is easier to explain by using an example of only one cheque. Let us suppose for a moment that somebody has a cheque for £100 and when he turns up at the bank, he discovers that there is only £90 in the account. I often wonder why we do not pay the £90 and argue about the other £10. It seems rather unfair on the chap who should receive £100 that he goes away empty-handed, when he could perhaps go away with £90 of the £100. Perhaps my noble friend will tell me whether this measure will indirectly affect that particular circumstance.

Having said that, on this side of the House, we are perfectly content with this measure. It seems a perfectly sensible reform and will--on this very unique occasion by bringing the law in Scotland into line with the law in England--improve the position in Scotland.