Saving Gateway Accounts Bill

I thank the Minister for that response. I understand why the Government might not want to make regulations now, but I am mystified as to why they would not want to have a reserve power to make regulations if the need arose. The Minister said that the evidence was that providers will want to offer the most suitable account at the rollover time. I may be cynical but I am not sure that banks, by their actions, have demonstrated that they proactively seek to put their customers into the most suitable accounts on a routine basis. I do not believe that my experience is unique in this respect, so, whatever fine words were offered during the evidence session, I am not sure that they can necessarily be relied on, and relied on for all time. My proposition is that the Government need a reserve power if the market does not work—that is, if informal guidelines do not work and the banks do not do what they say and ensure that these accounts are provided. It may be nice in theory to have intermediary bodies helping people but in practical terms we need to be sure that the default provisions operate successfully because people will not be making detailed choices. I am disappointed that the Minister will not consider taking a power to do something which the Government may need to do if guidelines do not prove right in practice. I was not suggesting placing in the Bill a requirement other than the ability of the Government to flex this in due course. I hope that the Minister will think further about that before Report, because that would allow the Government to achieve the right result for saving gateway holders if the market did not produce the right solution. I may be cynical, but I am not sure that it will. I hope that the Minister will think about that again. I will think again before Report about whether to bring this proposal back. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment 44 withdrawn. Clause 16 agreed. Clause 17 agreed.