Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Bill [HL]

My Lords, I am grateful to those who have spoken in the debate and particularly the noble Viscount, Lord Astor. We missed him in Committee. He is more than welcome to discuss, in his inimitable way, issues in relation to the Lottery on which we have discoursed together on many occasions. The amendment possibly had a modest objective. The noble Viscount may have been seeking the assistance of other agents among the lottery distributors in distributing the resources in accordance with the priorities identified in Clauses 17 to 20. The noble Lord, Lord Shutt, asked me whether Big could ask other lottery distributors to hit certain targets within the framework of Clauses 17 to 20. The answer is yes; Big currently does that outside the scheme. Big does, from time to time, hit the objectives that it wants to achieve in partnership with other lottery distributors. The case that the noble Lord, Lord Shutt, mentioned is an illustration. The delivery of the Parks for People programme is run with the Heritage Lottery Fund. Big has got that experience and I cannot see anything that would inhibit Big from following that objective within the provisions of Clauses 17 to 20. However, I fear that what the amendment would—and what in fact the noble Viscount intended it to do—enable Big to operate outside the priorities in Clauses 17 to 20 and to follow other priorities that obtain in relation to lottery funds and spending. What, otherwise, would be the point of his reference to the pressures on other expenditures and schemes within the Lottery if they did not need supplementation from this fund? I cannot accept that. He will appreciate that we would expect Big to work separately; this account is separate. Big has got to be accountable for the separateness of that account—all our processes of accountability require that. As to the use of agents for the distribution of the money for the purposes defined in the Clauses 17 to 20, we expect that to happen—not to a huge extent but where it is felicitous for it to do so. However, the amendment opens up the wider field; namely, that the dormant account proceeds might fill the gaps in funding denied to the lottery through other decisions. We cannot accept that because that would be putting this fund into the framework of lottery priorities. We have built into the Bill priorities for expenditure. If the amendment had referred to the use of agencies and involved felicitous interchange, I would have been able to give it the warmest of welcomes because it would have been consonant with present practice. Unfortunately, the noble Viscount indicated, as we had anticipated, that the amendment is a bit more strategic than that and we do not accept that strategic objective. I hope that he feels that he has pushed this as far as it can go and that he will withdraw the amendment.