Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Bill [Lords]

I will indeed clear that matter up in due course. I reiterate the welcome for the constructive spirit of openness that was expressed by my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury in her opening remarks, and I am sure that the Members who have spoken today will be interested in discussing these issues in detail in Committee. This scheme will be simple for consumers. The hon. Member for Taunton (Mr. Browne) called it ““convoluted””, but, on the contrary, the consumer experience will remain the same. The intention is that consumers would still use their bank or building society, which would maintain their account records. The consumer would retain the right to payment, and if they wished to reclaim their dormant assets, the process should be as simple as marching into a bank or building society—or writing to it—and demonstrating proof of identity. The consumer would then get the money that was rightfully theirs. There is nothing in the legislation that should prevent that. I also want to stress that we believe that a voluntary scheme will work. The industry is publicly committed to it, and in the past few days has reiterated its commitment through comments from the British Bankers Association and the Building Societies Association. It is important to recognise that only a small fraction—seven hundredths of 1 per cent.—of the total banking assets are going to be transferred. Nevertheless, that is a significant sum in total, and it is right that we should deploy it to good causes. I shall say more about the calculation of that figure in a few moments. I also want to stress the importance of the reuniting process that has been going on and to welcome the launch of ““mylostaccount”” in January this year. More than 175,000 people have submitted search forms on the site, and banks and building societies have reunited people with about £50 million since its launch. A number of amendments were made in the other place and I want to stress that the Government have listened to the points that were raised there. We recognise the need for greater transparency over the operation of the reclaim fund. We will table amendments to that end. We agree that reviewing the operation of the reclaim fund is important, but we do not accept the need for a triennial review in statute in perpetuity—an issue that we will want to discuss further in Committee. Some hon. Members made detailed points about the absence of a central register. Let me point out in response that mylostaccount.org.uk allows searching by name as well as by institution and it is possible to search multiple institutions. I reiterate the success of that initiative over the current period. We welcome all constructive proposals on how further to improve the reuniting arrangements, but our current view is that a central register would be expensive and would place a significant administrative burden on the scheme. That is why legislating for a central register is neither necessary nor proportionate. Unlike with ““mylostaccount””, a central register would involve the transfer of significant amounts of personal data from banks to the register operator. It is important that financial institutions treat customers' confidential data appropriately and, in addition, within the confines of the Data Protection Act 1998. The Bill allows banks to transfer customer information to a reclaim fund to deal with repayments. Of course, banks will generally act as agents of the reclaim fund and handle the reclaims, so it should be as simple as possible for customers to get the money that is rightfully theirs. There should be no need for routine transfers of information to the reclaim fund, but that would be very different if there were a central register. That is one of the reasons we do not favour that proposal. The hon. Member for Fareham (Mr. Hoban) asked how the Treasury will engage with the reclaim fund. I believe that the framework is very clear: consumer protection will be enshrined in the legislation and consumers will reclaim money from their banks just as I have stressed now—with the banks acting as agents of the reclaim fund. The hon. Gentleman also asked whether the reclaim fund should be accountable to Parliament. The issue was also raised by other Members, but let me say in reply that the reclaim fund is not a public sector body. It will be set up by the industry independently of the Government. It will be a Financial Services Authority-regulated company incorporated in the UK and subject to company law. Comments were made about the Treasury's power of direction, but let me stress that we view that as an ultimate sanction and we do not anticipate needing to implement it. It is highly unlikely that we would use that power, but we will ensure transparency by publishing on our website any concerns about the matter.