Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Bill [Lords]

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time. We have had an interesting debate on Report. I am grateful to all hon. Members who took part and to those who served on the Public Bill Committee. I am grateful for the good spirit and the constructive approach taken by Members of all parties. As a Government, we have listened to several of the arguments that have been made here and in the other place, and the Bill has been greatly improved as a result. I recognise that transparency and openness are important in these areas. Our debate on the review clause in Committee and the Government amendment that we passed this evening have helped to demonstrate that we have been listening. It is a fact of life that people often forget about or lose track of small deposits of money in bank and building society accounts. That may be because they have changed address or lost contact with their bank, or perhaps they have died without anyone being aware of the account. As a consequence, a large amount of money is lying dormant in bank and building society accounts. It was a Labour party manifesto commitment that we would act to legislate in this field. The 2005 pre-Budget report set out that the Government had decided that the time had come for such a scheme in the United Kingdom, and the Bill is a key part of turning that ambition into reality. The latest estimate from the British Bankers Association and the Building Societies Association is that by the Bill's definition between £250 million and £350 million in banks and £130 million in building societies is potentially available. Although those volumes of money are relatively small in the context of the financial services sector as a whole, such sums have the potential to make a significant impact for projects in the community. Throughout our debates, the Government have been deliberately clear that we see the spending priorities in England as youth services, financial capability and inclusion and, if resources permit, investment in the long-term sustainability of the third sector. Those important areas are included in the Bill. The potential of the scheme to make a real difference in every community on the basis of those priorities is clear. We have argued, following extensive consultation, that an alternative disbursement option should exist for small institutions to distribute assets in their local communities. On several occasions, the case has been made that special treatment should additionally be afforded to all building societies. We have listened to those arguments and carefully considered them. However, as I said in Committee, we continue to believe that the significant impact that that would have on assets going into the national scheme, and the duplication of national level distribution, would mean that the potential benefits to society were reduced. Widening this small and local scheme to all building societies is therefore not desirable. Although we did not debate amendments on this today, amendments were debated in Committee and in another place. We remain firmly convinced as a Government that the scheme has been designed in the most appropriate way to be able to provide benefits in the priority areas that we have identified. The Bill offers an historic opportunity to allow these assets to be used for the wider benefit of society, and it does so while maintaining an approach that is user-friendly and protects customers. Ultimately, if customers discover that they have lost their bank, building society or national savings account and want to get their money back, they will be allowed to do so, and there is nothing in the Bill to prevent it. However, using dormant accounts represents an opportunity to provide significant benefits to some of the most deprived communities by improving youth provision and helping with financial capability and inclusion. I commend the Bill to the House.