Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Bill [Lords]

I planned to intervene on my hon. Friend the Minister when he responded on this group of amendments, but the issue that I wanted to raise was mentioned by the hon. Member for Taunton (Mr. Browne). I realised that my question would probably be so long, Mr. Deputy Speaker, that you would take a dim view of it as an intervention, so I thought that I would make a contribution instead. First, I accept that the hon. Member for North Southwark and Bermondsey (Simon Hughes) has tabled perfectly legitimate probing amendments; I have every confidence that my hon. Friend the Minister will respond to them in a way that allows them to be withdrawn. In Committee, I tried to get my head around the issue of the size of the entire pot, but did not manage to do so. I am not talking about the figure. Clearly we do not know the exact figure and there is much speculation, covering a wide range of numbers, about what it might be, but does my hon. Friend expect a huge splurge at the start with all the backlog being distributed in one go? Presumably the size of the pot would tail off pretty quickly over future years, coming down to a fairly minimal level in the not-too-distant future when the entire backlog had been spent and when, because people were more aware of the issue, fewer people were allowing their accounts to become dormant. Or does he expect a degree of housekeeping, whereby not all the backlog would be spent in year 1? Perhaps there would be a build-up over two or three years and a gradual reduction after that. Or does he expect that as far as possible the fund would be distributed at a fairly constant level over a number of years? The way in which applications are made will be influenced by the spending profile of the pot over the future years. I do not think that the answers to my questions will influence hon. Members should the matter go to a vote, but they would provide a useful context in which to see these perfectly legitimate probing amendments on which I am confident that we shall not have to vote.