Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Bill [HL]

I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Newby, for his amendments and for the clarity with which he has expressed his support for them. I do not think Amendment No. 70 is necessary. It attempts to clarify that the categories listed in the clause are the only categories for which English dormant account money can be distributed. This is not necessary as that is already the effect of the clause as drafted. We are as one with the noble Lord, Lord Newby, in our objectives and the Bill sustains that position. Amendments Nos. 84 and 85 put community need as a factor in key spending direction powers. The amendments will apply not only to the English spending areas as set out in Clause 17, but also to whatever spending areas are identified by the devolved Administrations. I can reassure the Committee that the powers in Clause 21 for the Secretary of State and for the devolved Administrations to issue orders and directions, in respect of expenditure of unclaimed asset money, already allow for deprivation and degree of need to be prescribed as factors to be taken into account. So the proposed amendments to that effect are not needed. The action envisaged in the Bill can already follow that prescription. I recognise that the noble Lord, Lord Newby, and other Members of the Committee are concerned with ensuring that deprived communities see the benefits of unclaimed assets investment, and the Government have been thinking hard about how to reach these objectives. Distribution is to operate in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland along lines defined by the respective Administrations. In England, while the directions and mechanisms of distribution have yet to be developed—hence I cannot avoid giving precise questions in this area somewhat less than precise replies—Big will be required within the policy directions to achieve a fair and equitable distribution of funds across England. Big has a track record over several years of ensuring that all communities benefit from its funding. In relation to dormant account assets, it will be expected to use a variety of methods to achieve a fair regional and local spread of funding. These include making allocations to specific areas, setting indicative regional allocations and using corrective programmes such as Fair Share, which has implicit in it the concept of dealing with elements of deprivation. I am pleased to accord with the objectives of the noble Lord, Lord Newby, which he has expressed in other amendments today, but I hope he will rest assured that the Bill provides for this approach by Big, that the directions to be given already obtain within the Bill and that the devolved Administrations must make their own decisions with regard to their position within these general parameters.