Indeed, I hope that this does not qualify as his honeymoon, and that he enjoyed a more companionable honeymoon with his wife.

It is a pleasure to respond to the new clauses tabled by the hon. Member for Kilmarnock and Loudoun. They concern an important part of the confidence that we all want to see in the financial services sector, which is underlined by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. The events in Cyprus in recent weeks show the great importance of confidence. When confidence in savers’ protection is knocked, the consequential worry and the leakage of confidence in the whole system are great.

Let me deal with new clause 2 first. I have a great deal of sympathy with the motivation behind it. The hon. Lady is well known in this House as a powerful advocate of the interests of the victims of Farepak. Many of  those victims are her constituents, but she has gone beyond that. As she said, the new clause is also relevant to consumers holding gift vouchers, especially in funds that have gone into receivership, and other schemes into which people paid money in advance.

Several measures, which I will talk about later, can be adopted. However, there is a particular difficulty with the new clause. It refers to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, which is within the scope of the Bill. The difficulty is that pre-payment schemes and gift voucher schemes are not legally financial services, and are not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. They are, in effect, advance payments for goods and services. They are different from deposits, and are part of the framework of company law and the transactions associated with that. That fact is relevant for a number of reasons, most particularly because the FSCS can by law deal only with financial services that are regulated by the FCA and the Prudential Regulation Authority. Indeed, it would be against the law for it to deal with payments on account.

The relevant piece of law is section 213 of FSMA, which gives the FSCS jurisdiction over “relevant persons”, who are defined later in the section as “authorised persons” under the FSMA framework, or “appointed representatives”. That is the difficulty with the new clause, but I am sure that the hon. Lady anticipated that the drafting is less important than the point she seeks to get across. Given that it is in everyone’s interest to provide greater protection for people who, reasonably and in good faith, think that they are doing the right thing—as the hon. Lady said—by putting money aside for future expenditure that they expect to incur, it seems to us that they should enjoy a degree of confidence in those arrangements.

The new clause would cause the FSCS to instigate a review. I can tell her that the Government have instigated such a review through the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills Business, which is responsible for the non-financial services that savings schemes fall into. Discussions are taking place, as part of the review, with industry and consumer groups on establishing a code of practice, mutual industry support schemes and other initiatives. I am sure that my ministerial colleagues in BIS will be happy to report to the hon. Lady on the progress of that review, and there will be occasions elsewhere in the House for her to probe it further. I want to reassure her and make sure that she is aware that we are alive to this important matter. If the Bill is not quite the right vehicle for it, there are others that we will consider.

Let me move on to new clause 16. The rules governing deposit protection at the EU level are set out in the deposit guarantee scheme directive. That is why this country’s £85,000 limit for the Financial Services Compensation Scheme is the approximate equivalent of the €100,000 limit that applies in the directive. The definition of small and medium-sized enterprises that the hon. Lady referred to, which provides that SMEs should be treated as ordinary, personal depositors, mirrors the EU definition, just as the £85,000 domestic limit reflects the €100,000 limit, so there is consistency, which is required under the directive.

However, all the points that the hon. Lady makes are quite right and well made. Given her admiration for the Prime Minister’s determination to help small businesses,  which is a delight to hear, I am sure that she will be pleased to learn that we expect to be able to go further than is currently possible in the FSCS. The EU directive is being renegotiated, and there is a proposal, supported by the UK, to extend to all non-financial businesses, regardless of their size, the protections of the deposit insurance scheme, up to the limit of £85,000. The process is well in train, and we are enthusiastically supportive of it, so I hope that the hon. Lady will draw comfort from that and find yet another reason to join in the praise of the Prime Minister’s sagacity and far-sightedness.

Turning to new clause 21, as I have just said, all member states’ deposit guarantee schemes must comply with the provisions set out at EU level in the deposit guarantee schemes directive. That sets out a maximum harmonised provision, which, as my hon. Friend the Member for North East Somerset will know through his experience of the European Scrutiny Committee, is a particular feature of European legislation. It means that we cannot go beyond that level—the £85,000 equivalent is the maximum that can be provided in the UK.

I have just said that the directive is being renegotiated. It is indeed contemplated in the text that is currently being negotiated that some aspects will be relaxed in future. The hon. Member for Kilmarnock and Loudoun quite rightly made two points about consumers who have deposits in different brands, albeit under the same banking licence. It should not be necessary for them to have to root through the small print to discover whether one particular brand of retail deposit taker is related to another. That should not be the responsibility of consumers. It is contemplated that in future the limit will be by brand. Indeed, on the point made by Paul Tucker about temporary large balances, again, it is contemplated that cover will be given.