Saving Gateway Accounts Bill

I rise briefly to thank the Minister for accepting the amendment, which was tabled in my name in Committee. We support the overall principle of the Bill, which is to give people of working age on very low incomes greater opportunities and incentives to save, and the benefits that will flow from that. Our feeling was that carers as a group were worthy of consideration. I am therefore grateful to the Minister for slightly belatedly accepting the merits of that argument, which, as the hon. Member for Fareham (Mr. Hoban) said, it would be churlish not to recognise as a positive development. Although I am minded to support the amendments, because their origin is those that I and others put forward in Committee, I, too, would be curious to know their estimated financial costs. However, unless the amendments are prohibitive—I assume that they are not, because the Minister does not appear to regard them as such—we would be enthusiastic in supporting them.