Saving Gateway Accounts Bill

I am grateful to all noble Lords who have spoken in this short debate. The noble Lord, Lord Newby, indicated at Second Reading that he was concerned about these issues, so I am not surprised that he has raised them in Committee. Once someone’s notice has expired, they will be able to request a repeat notice if at that point they are still eligible to open a saving gateway account, and they need only phone HMRC to arrange it. We are not creating a complicated process for those who signal their intent. The new notice of eligibility would again last for three months, so that people do not have to open an account within three months of receiving the first notice; they can make their own decision about when to open the account. The noble Lord has been a little unfair about the child trust fund. We are rather delighted that around three out of four families are opening child trust fund accounts for their children, which indicates a strong engagement with the policy. I hear what he says about child trust funds having added and different advantages over this proposal and therefore proving to be more attractive, but I noticed his criticisms and wanted to put him in the picture on the facts. Indeed, even in households with low incomes where fewer child trust fund accounts are being opened, around 65 per cent are nevertheless taking up the entitlement. I wanted to put the record straight on the issue, but I realise that the noble Lord may contend that thee figures apply to a scheme with features which are even more attractive than this one, a point we all appreciate. The question is whether the repeat notices should be sent out automatically or whether the person should have to request one. Our concern, which we expressed when this issue was considered at reasonable length in the other place, is that automatically sending notices to people could mean them receiving notices that they do not want. They could be getting them every three months, which would make the scheme an annoyance, not make it more attractive. We all know the enormous frustration everyone feels about unwanted letters inviting them to get involved in things that they have clearly made their decisions about. I understand the point about that automatic repeat notices might help to encourage take-up, as the noble Lord said clearly at Second Reading, but as my noble friend Lord Myners said in his letter, we are thinking carefully about how to raise awareness of the saving gateway among the eligible population. There can be no doubt about the challenge that presents. We are currently developing a detailed marketing strategy that will draw on lessons learnt from the pilots and other financial inclusion initiatives. We will discuss the important role to be played by organisations that work with the eligible population in providing advice and promoting financial inclusion. The Committee will be aware of the efforts the Government are making in that respect. At the moment and for the reasons I have set out, we do not intend that notices of eligibility should be automatically re-issued, but the Bill and the draft regulations give us the flexibility to do so in the future. The Bill defines what must be done, but it does not prohibit the possibility of the strategy identified by the noble Lord being followed. We are not persuaded that it is the best marketing tool at present. I hope that he will recognise that he has provoked a debate about how the Government can increase awareness, and that we are concerned about that matter. However, we do not think that this stratagem should be in the Bill.