Saving Gateway Accounts Bill

I am grateful for the comments of the Opposition Front-Bench spokesmen, who said that they thought that the Bill was a good measure. On my reading of Hansard, the idea was that we would find a mechanism to bring carers of working age into the scheme—and we believe that we have done so. I was asked how much the amendments will cost. We estimate that they will make an additional 305,000 people eligible for the saving gateway, which will cost about £4 million in 2012-13, falling to about £1 million in a steady state. That will not affect our overall estimates of the numbers eligible for the scheme or its costs. We have always said that we expect about 8 million people to be eligible for the saving gateway; previously, our exact estimate was £7.7 million, which the amendments will increase to £8 million. The change will not impact on the cost estimates of the scheme, which have been rounded to the nearest £10 million. Those therefore remain at £130 million in 2012-13, £110 million in 2013-14, £100 million in 2014-15 and £60 million in steady state. I hope that we can all agree that we have found a mechanism to bring carers of working age into the scheme, and I also hope that all will welcome that. Lords amendment 1 agreed to, with Commons privileges waived. Lords amendment 2 agreed to, with Commons privileges waived.