Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 18: 18: Clause 25, page 13, line 46, at end insert— ““( ) Money defrayed under this section must not exceed 10% of the money distributed by the Reclaim Fund each year.”” The noble Lord said: My Lords, this amendment is similar to the one moved in Committee, and many of the arguments are similar. The Big Lottery Fund has lobbied for and—because of its experience working with grant applications and its existing infrastructure throughout the United Kingdom—been awarded the job of distributing dormant resources. Therefore, it is not inappropriate to expect the Big Lottery Fund to fulfil its promised economies of scale. This amendment stops the Big Lottery Fund spending more than 10 per cent of the funds it receives on administration. Your Lordships will no doubt remember that during the debate in Committee, many considered the original cost ceiling of 5 per cent to be unreasonably low, although I am grateful to my noble friend Lord Eccles for defending the original percentage as being perfectly feasible for a well run organisation to achieve. The Big Lottery Fund currently spends about 12 per cent of its money on distributing lottery funds. Given that it has an existing structure, distributing the extra funds for well below the suggested limit of 10 per cent should be well within its capabilities. Indeed, a 10 per cent limit would give substantial headroom. The Minister also made it clear that he expects the Big Lottery to be able to reduce its administrative costs as it settles into its role; noble Lords may recall that he mentioned more than once bearing down on these overheads. This, and the Big Lottery Fund’s commitment to delivering economies of scale, makes the 10 per cent target extremely realistic. I hope that the Government will be sympathetic to the amendment. In response to previous criticisms that limiting the Big Lottery Fund in this way would be unreasonable because it would impose a requirement that would never be imposed on a private organisation, I point out that private organisations are subject to the disciplines of the marketplace and are therefore compelled to keep administrative costs down if they wish to prosper and survive. The amendment would not impose an undue lack of flexibility on the Big Lottery Fund. On a conservative view, even if the reclaim fund retains up to half the money expected from dormant bank accounts for possible claims, the Big Lottery Fund must be expecting to receive something in the region of £200 million. Surely the Big Lottery Fund can distribute this money effectively without spending more than £20 million on extra administration. I hope that the Minister will consider the amendment with the attention that it deserves. It would encourage efficiency and do much to reassure the public that these funds are being well managed. I beg to move.