Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Bill [Lords]

It is one matter to decide how much money goes from banks and building societies into the reclaim fund and over what period—I have tried to give some indication as to how it would be likely to operate—and there is another set of decisions in terms of the transfer of funds from the reclaim fund to the BLF. We would expect the reclaim fund initially to take a relatively cautious approach about the amount of claims that are likely to be put upon it as a result of wanting to reunite people with their money. That will be a judgment for it to make and we would expect it to do so in a reasonable way, but to transfer funds to the BLF in accordance with directions that will be provided by Government. Exactly what stance the reclaim fund takes in terms of the amount of the balance that it needs to hold in reserve in case of future repatriation is an issue that adds further uncertainty to deciding how much should go to the good causes and over what period of time. Amendment No. 8 seeks to ensure that the Secretary of State makes orders apportioning available sums between the four countries at least one month before the new financial year. I understand that it seeks, along with a number of others, to try to tease out the Government's intentions on timing, and we fully recognise the need for advance planning when it comes to the voluntary sector. We have often been in the situation where the voluntary sector has not had sufficient advance warning, making it difficult to operate efficiently. It is the Government's intention that apportionment orders will be made in such a way as to ensure that each country is aware of the likely sums that will be available, and can therefore draw up directions or revise existing directions on the relative priorities for spending in good time so that the BLF has sufficient time to plan distribution programmes in accordance with such directions. We do not see the need to specify in legislation a date by which an apportionment order will be made. The issue of apportionment will be kept under review in consultation with the devolved Administrations, but we do not anticipate that apportionment orders will be made on an annual basis. We envisage an initial order when the scheme is live, but no immediate or annual review. That is not to say that the formula will not be reviewed, merely that we do not intend that it would necessarily be updated at a fixed annual date.