Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 28: 28: Schedule 1, page 15, line 32, at end insert— ““( ) the amount of money reserved for the company to fulfil the requirements specified in section 5(1)(c)”” The noble Baroness said: This amendment will be easy for the Minister to agree to as well, as it also concerns transparency. I am hoping that the Government will start to come on board with us on the importance of transparency in the scheme. The amendment would require the disclosure of the amount of money being held back by the reclaim fund in respect of matters listed in Clause 5(1)(c). This is predicated on there being a legitimate interest in the financial stewardship operated by the reclaim fund, which aligns with what the Minister was saying earlier about the glare of public accountability. The fund will not be operating wholly in the private domain; it is a hybrid body that has to accept that it has public accountability responsibilities. My amendment focuses on the amount that is held back and kept within the reclaim fund, thereby not letting funds flow through to good causes through the Big Lottery Fund. The public interest lies in how much is being held back to allow a proper debate about what that amount should be. We have made no progress during the course of the Bill in finding out what sort of sums might be involved. I am sure that, as the reclaim fund is established, there will be a legitimate question about the degree to which money is held back. It is important that there is proper transparency and a flow of information about that. I am sure the Minister will say in his reply that the amount will be in the annual accounts that are audited. The issue, however, is that annual accounts are not timely documents. The virtue of the provision that the Government have put into Schedule 1 is that the statement must be made as soon as possible after year end. That is excellent; the one thing financial accounts are not is put out as soon as possible. They are put out many months after year end—under the Companies Act, I think it will be moving to nine months. That is a very long time and not at all transparent. With perhaps more optimism than is warranted, I hope the Minister can agree that this is another area where transparency would help the operation of this organisation and help to establish its credibility in the public’s eyes as being a proper custodian of money destined for good causes. I beg to move.