Saving Gateway Accounts Bill

I agree with the hon. Member for Fareham (Mr. Hoban) to this extent: all the accounts must have a default option. People should be told what that is when they go into an account. They should be told that at the end of the two-year period, they will have choices. It should be made explicit that there is not one option, but a range of choices that they can make. They should be told that if they do not exercise that option, the provider has a default option, which should be explained. I agree with the hon. Gentleman that there are many people for whom the best default option will be an ISA, from which they will get the best rate of return. Equally, many of the people at whom the scheme is aimed will not be payers of income tax. We won today a kind concession from the Minister that carers, for example, will be entitled to saving gateway accounts. Those people may envisage a very long period of being a carer; if so, they will therefore not be income tax payers in the near future. For them, a different type of account may be preferable to an ISA. For example, a national savings and investments account, where payments are made without income tax being removed from the account, might be the best and most convenient option for them. I hope that people will decide for themselves when they go into saving gateway accounts whether they are likely to benefit from an account that defaults to an ISA or an account that defaults in some other direction. It is even possible, as we discussed in Committee, that the Post Office will act in partnership with other organisations to provide saving gateway accounts. The Post Office might be able to offer a plurality of choices into national savings and investments accounts or into ISAs as a result of such partnerships. To the extent that the hon. Gentleman intends to ensure clarity about offering choices at the end of the saving gateway accounts, and to the extent that there will have to be a default option, I agree with him. Where we part company is on his belief that for everybody an ISA will be the best option. For many of the people on very low incomes whom we are discussing, that will not be the case. I want to see a range of providers who cater for that market, as well as for those people who would benefit from an ISA.