Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Bill [HL]

The amendment is very clear. Let us consider what we are doing here. The legislation enables a voluntary dormant account scheme for the participating institutions to be set up. The responsibility for managing those assets will lie with a reclaim fund run by the private sector. The scheme will be highly transparent; the fund will publish the amount of money that flows into the scheme, so it will be public knowledge. It will publish the amount that is repaid to consumers, so it will also be made public. Reuniting customers with their accounts will be the responsibility of the bank and building society sector, which is committed to supporting the scheme by launching a comprehensive reuniting campaign before the launch of the scheme itself and to ongoing efforts to reunite customers with their accounts. We welcome all those commitments. The Government are working constructively with the private sector and with National Savings & Investments, which is taking a lead in reuniting efforts alongside the banks, encouraging them to put in place effective arrangements and will continue to do so. We are not proposing that the Government should publish information about the flows of money into the scheme or to customers, as it is more sensible for the responsibility for that to remain with the reclaim fund. Nor are we proposing to publish information about the reuniting work that the sector has pledged to do. We think it sensible that responsibility for that and for work to improve those arrangements lies with the banking sector. I know that that is not an answer that will appeal to those who supported the amendment, but it is important that the reclaim fund and the banking sector in their respective ways look after their own responsibilities. However, I can give a little ground to the noble Baroness in terms of a review of the scheme. We will determine an appropriate date for a review once the scheme is established, but I can tell the Committee that there will be a review at some stage after the scheme is established. However, I am afraid that I cannot accept the amendment.