Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Bill [HL]

I am most grateful to the Minister. I do not want to prolong proceedings too much at this point. The Minister and the noble Lord, Lord Hamilton, raised a question about fraudulent claims and identity theft. I repeat what I said before: these schemes have been running for a number of years in other places and this is not a major problem. Empirical evidence in this area is much more persuasive—certainly to me—than what I accept is a strong theoretical possibility. The question is: where people have done it, has it worked? Have these problems undermined the scheme? The answer is no, they have not. Any scheme will have to be very careful in dealing with people claiming dormant assets, just as banks have to be very careful. If I were to pinch the 1963 building society account book of the wife of my noble friend Lord Shutt, I could take it with me to prove that I was entitled to it, but we believe that it is possible to put in place a scheme with sufficient safeguards. We look forward to reading the document before Report stage, however soon or far distant that point is. We reserve our right to bring forward amendments at the next stage. Pending that, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. Schedule 1 [Provision to be made in articles of association of reclaim fund]: