Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 104: 104: Clause 28, page 14, line 12, at end insert— ““( ) A direction under this Act must be laid before Parliament within seven days of being given.”” The noble Baroness said: What nicer way to end our Grand Committee deliberations than with a debate on transparency. Amendment No. 104 adds a new subsection to Clause 28, which deals with directions, and it requires directions to be laid before Parliament within seven days of their being given. The amendment does not require any parliamentary approval. Its purpose is merely to ensure that Parliament knows what instructions are being given under the authority of this legislation. There are, I believe, three direction-making powers in the Bill: under Clause 3, the Treasury can amend the asset threshold for the small building societies and banks scheme; under Clause 5, the Treasury can give directions about a reclaim fund’s objects and articles; and Clause 21 contains one big direction-making power, which is also extended to the other countries. Therefore, in practice, my amendment, which deals only with Parliament, might need some extension to the devolved Administrations. My main point is that these direction-making powers affect important aspects of the way that the dormant accounts scheme set out in the Bill will work in practice—these are not minor areas; they are important aspects—and therefore there is legitimate parliamentary interest in the contents of the directions. As we have progressed through the Bill, we have noted a number of areas where there should be a legitimate ongoing concern with the way in which the dormant accounts scheme works. I refer not only to the way in which money is collected into it but the way in which it is processed through the reclaim fund and then how it is spent and the directions attached to each of those phases. That is why it will be important to keep Parliament aware of the way that the scheme develops. If the Minister resists the amendment, can he say in what way such directions would otherwise be published? I cannot find any requirement in the Bill or any equivalent area where we would expect to find the directions. I hope that we can end our Grand Committee on a note of agreement. I hope that the Minister will see this need for transparency as obvious and as so little needing of further explanation that he will readily agree with it. I beg to move.