Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 77: 77: Clause 18, page 9, line 26, at end insert— ““( ) An order may only specify purposes which are social and environmental.”” The noble Lord said: In a previous group of amendments, we touched on the subject of how the devolved Executives might choose to spend their money. As it stands, the Bill gives them an entirely free rein in this matter, and the Minister will no doubt tell me that that is the correct way to go about things. The various Executives will presumably choose to spend this money on things that come within the remit of devolved matters. That may be true but it in no way changes the current situation in which undisclosed percentages of money raised from dormant bank accounts are to be spent on undisclosed matters. Can the Minister at least let us know whether the devolved Executives are expected to explain how they will spend their money before the Secretary of State decides how much money to give them, or will it be vice versa? There is already considerable dissatisfaction with some elements of the ability of the devolved Executives to choose where much of the national tax take goes. One thinks of popular opinion in England regarding the difference in the cost of university education, for example, or certain aspects of healthcare. Does the Minister not think that giving the devolved Executives such a blank cheque will lead to yet more of this unfavourable comparison? I beg to move.