Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Bill [Lords]

I do not think this is remotely about taking away the independence of the building societies. The building societies have the ability to have their own charitable support schemes and programmes operating in their areas and to use their assets accordingly, and many of them do have such schemes. This is about using parliamentary legislation in order to be able to access dormant assets by allowing them to transfer the liability as well as the assets to a reclaim fund. The hon. Gentleman is right that there are a lot of resources in the large building societies, and those building societies should be part of the main scheme. What we are trying to do is help the smaller building societies—of which there are many across the country. Where they are very much embedded in a particular local area or community, that should continue to be supported. However, where the larger building societies can serve much wider communities, we believe they should be part of the wider scheme which involves the banks as well. This Bill offers an historic opportunity to unleash the potential of the money in the dormant bank accounts in order to deliver social benefits. It does so while maintaining strong support for protection for consumers and for ensuring that they can continue to have their rights respected—and, where possible, for them to be able to get access to their money as well. This is a big opportunity, and a long-term programme to help support improved youth services and other social benefits across the country, and as such I commend it to the House.