Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Bill [Lords]

The point that I was making earlier was that, although the Bill is well conceived—I have no objection to the idea of taking dormant deposits and spending them on good causes—it was, as the Chief Secretary has acknowledged, conceived in a very different banking environment. One of the problems that the Chancellor is trying to deal with is the capital adequacy of the banks, and there will probably be a need for some public sector injection in that regard. Between now and the Committee stage, will the Chief Secretary consider whether it would be sensible to allow this money to be used temporarily for that purpose, so that the reclaim fund would own shares—be they convertible notes or preference shares in the banks—that could buy capital for the banks? In due course, when the banks' situation has improved, the reclaim fund could then sell the securities or redeem them in order to use the money for good causes. In the meantime, however, I think that the public will find it odd that we are going to take £500 million off the banks to spend on good causes, when it could be used to bolster their balance sheets.