Saving Gateway Accounts Bill

These amendments cover two distinct areas, but they have in common that they both relate to the requirements to be placed on account providers. I wish to stress that the Government want to maximise customer choice and access, and we are keen to secure as broad a range of appropriately qualified authorised account providers as possible. That includes the Post Office, credit unions, banks and building societies. The Bill Committee heard from representatives from a variety of potential providers, and the message was that while their members support the objectives of the saving gateway, they want to consider carefully any costs associated with the provision of saving gateway accounts before committing to offer them. It is similarly important to remember that most of the requirements that we impose will apply equally to all approved providers, from the large high-street bank to the smallest mutual society. We must therefore ensure that the requirements that we impose on saving gateway account providers are appropriate and proportionate, as they will affect the number of providers that opt to offer the accounts. I immediately took a more charitable interpretation of amendment 5 than did my hon. Friend the Member for South Thanet (Dr. Ladyman). I thought that the hon. Member for Fareham (Mr. Hoban) was trying to be helpful and to probe our intentions. As drafted, the Bill already provides the coverage for conditions and requirements to be imposed on account providers in the areas mentioned in amendment 5. I agree with all the opinions that have been expressed about the importance of appropriate access to account providers, to financial services and to financial education. However, there is nothing in those points that makes them particular to people who decide to open a saving gateway account. As hon. Members will be aware, the Government support a wide range of measures and initiatives to improve financial capability and widen access to financial services. That covers some of the points made in the amendment. As hon. Members will see from the draft regulations, we have restricted the conditions that we propose to impose on providers to those that ensure that they have the appropriate regulatory permission and can offer and operate accounts as set down in the Bill and regulations. That strikes the right balance. It is important to guarantee the saver regulatory protection and consistency of account features, while ensuring that the conditions on providers are not excessively burdensome. An important point was made about local branch access. We want easy access for people to open accounts. The draft regulations provide that account holders must be able to make account deposits in several ways, including in cash. That is likely to mean that providers must offer a counter service, or similar. However, nothing would prevent the offering of saving gateway accounts that could be opened electronically. We have had discussions with potential account providers who want to deliver the saving gateway accounts in several different ways. We believe that providers should be required to accept cash deposits, which might make things difficult for a web-based provider. However, it may be possible for a provider to have a web-only account for some customers, if those customers prefer that. Let me turn to amendment 6. I should explain to hon. Members that we consider the requirement that an account provider’s returns and declarations should be submitted electronically to be a reasonable and proportionate requirement on providers. It is not only consistent with broader developments in Government practice, but central in many cases to the smooth operation of the scheme and the prompt payment of match amounts earned by savers. We set out in the consultation document that we published at the Budget 2008 that we intended to make online filing of returns the only means of sending returns to HMRC. We asked in that consultation document whether that would cause any problems for any particular groups of providers. The response to the suggestion of mandatory online filing was very positive—most providers recognise the benefits of that. Indeed, those benefits are considerable both to providers and to HMRC. Online filing is quicker than submitting and processing papers returns, more cost-effective and more accurate, as well as being more environmentally friendly than a paper-based system. The hon. Member for Fareham did not make a great deal of that amendment, so I do not need to explain in much further detail why we think that there is not a problem in the industry with electronic filing. The consultation confirmed that. I think that I have addressed amendments 5 and 6. I recognise that they are probing amendments and I hope that the comments that I have made were helpful.