Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Bill [Lords]

I rise to speak as a member of the Treasury Committee, whose report has already been the subject of a number of remarks. More of us would have been present today, but the Committee is absent on a visit. I particularly pass on the apologies of our Chairman, my right hon. Friend the Member for West Dunbartonshire (John McFall), who I know would have wished to contribute to the debate. I support the intentions behind the Bill. Dormant accounts undoubtedly offer potential for beneficial use, but I emphasise straight away—some have already done so to a greater extent than others—that these remain private assets, so it is necessary to reinforce the tangential relationship of the state to this issue. I believe that the state should be there to enable solutions to be found in respect of the distribution of private unclaimed assets rather than to adopt an overly controlling approach to the management of the assets or their eventual distribution to any good cause. That is why I particularly welcome the work already done by some banks and building societies to locate people who have unclaimed assets. It is particularly impressive, I must admit, that HBOS, with all its troubles, has devoted a good deal of time and effort to tracking down what it regards as unclaimed assets. About a third of those dormant assets have been reunited with their owners, which is extremely commendable. When the Select Committee considered the Government's proposals last year, a number of objections were raised about the voluntary nature of the scheme—I shall touch on it, as have others—the definition and identification of dormant accounts, the scheme's scope and the options for disbursement. Many of our concerns were echoed in the other place by speakers from all political parties when the Bill was considered there. The first issue is whether the scheme should be voluntary or compulsory. The Select Committee took the view that it should be compulsory, and I see the arguments in favour of that. I remind hon. Members of my earlier remarks, which perhaps suggested sympathy for that opinion, where others did to a different extent. Members of Select Committees—I have been one for a long time—seek to arrive at consensual conclusions, but one obviously has more or less enthusiasm for certain opinions that are expressed. However, I shall represent here some of the arguments in favour of a rather firmer approach to this scheme. One is undoubtedly that it relies entirely on voluntary commitment. There is no international precedent for a voluntary scheme and such schemes as exist elsewhere are all compulsory. We have heard from the British Bankers Association and the Building Societies Association that all financial institutions are keen to participate. The dormant accounts scheme will be self-regulated by the banking code. The banking code itself is voluntary, so we will have a voluntary scheme regulated through a voluntary code, which means that we will be relying incredibly heavily for delivery of our expectations of the Bill on the good will of the businesses that participate.