Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Bill [HL]

The noble Baroness leads me potentially into deep waters, and I shall cling pretty much to the ankle-depth ones where I find myself at home, as indeed, does the Bill. There may be merit here, and I know that other amendments have been tabled about other financial deposits that may be dormant and could usefully be put to better purposes than lying idle in banks. I have seen the amendments that have been tabled and recognise the fertility of the minds of noble Lords. We are going to resist those amendments on the simple basis of clarity and simplicity with the launch of a scheme that involves the Government in significant co-operation with the private sector. The company running the scheme will be a private company, which will make it clear that it accepts our initial approach carried, as Members of the Committee will know, in a Labour manifesto way back in 2005. We were talking about current or savings accounts in a straightforward way. I hear what the noble Baroness says. Of course there is a range of other assets that perhaps could eventually fit within this framework if they became dormant. However, we are concerned that any assets except ordinary current and deposit accounts raise different issues, including legal issues. Before we extended beyond the simple deposit and current accounts, which is the basis of the agreement with the banks and building societies, we would have to discuss it with the various stakeholders involved. We have not yet carried out that discussion or entertained any prospect of doing so. As I think noble Lords will recognise, this is an ambitious project that takes a great deal of careful thinking and activity to bring it about. We are therefore keeping the concept, as regards accounts, as straightforward and simple as we can. We are talking about current and deposit accounts only.