My Lords, in moving Amendment 225, I will speak to the other amendments in this group. They cover two issues: first, the code of practice, which features in Part 2 of new Schedule 3B, inserted by the Bill into the Social Security Administration Act 1992. Paragraph 6(1) of new Schedule 3B says:
“The Secretary of State may issue a code of practice in connection with account information notices”.
Amendment 225 would change “may” to “must”. Paragraph 6(2) mentions some matters that a code “may” include and Amendment 226 would change that “may” to “must”.
Amendment 227 would ensure that a code of practice includes the criteria to be used by the Secretary of State in determining whether to issue account information notices—I will come back to criteria shortly. Amendment 230 would require the Government to consult on the draft code of conduct with consultees including the Social Security Advisory Committee and organisations that would have to comply with account information notices. Amendment 231 would require the code of practice and any revisions to it to be approved by both Houses of Parliament. The Secretary of State would still be able to withdraw a code of
practice, but the ability to issue notices would lapse if no code were in force. Amendments 228, 229 and 232 are consequential.
The other matter covered in this group is how the Government report to Parliament on these notices. Amendment 233 amends new Schedule 3B to provide for annual reporting to Parliament on the use of account information notices. As well as requiring the provision of statistics around the use of such notices during the previous financial year, the amendment would compel the Secretary of State to outline his or her views on the proportionality and effectiveness of notices. I hope that the need for these amendments is self-evident. Ministers are proposing to take new powers of astonishing breadth, which will involve the ability to search the bank accounts of tens of millions of our citizens, most of whom will have done nothing wrong. There is still very little detail about how these powers could be, or will be, used.
I will address two particular sets of issues. The first is criteria. Paragraph 2 of new Schedule 3B explains that banks have to return information about matching accounts. As well as specifying the identity of the account holders, they have to meet certain risk criteria. The Bill, the Explanatory Memorandum and briefings always talk in terms of examples of those criteria, usually around capital limits or time abroad. But my understanding, which may be wrong—I invite the Minister to correct me if I am—is that the criteria could be anything related to eligibility for the benefits in question.
For example, the eligibility for some benefits includes being a single parent. Paragraph 2(2)(a) of new Schedule 3B says that an account information notice
“may require information relating to a person who holds a matching account even if the person does not claim a relevant benefit”.
On our last day in Committee, we established that that directly related to appointees, but that made me wonder whether it could apply to anybody else. For example, we also established that a notice could cover a joint account where one of the holders is the person to whom the benefit is paid and the other is not. Would this power allow DWP to ask banks to search for any accounts linked to any single parent and to examine those accounts for evidence that they and the other holder of a joint account might be living together? Would these powers allow DWP to devise any criteria designed to identify whether a claimant was living with another adult? To be clear, I am not asking whether it intends to do that or whether it knows how to do that. I am just asking whether it would be permissible. Is this a category of thing that it could do under the powers in the Bill?
Related to that, could DWP issue notices to a bank other than that into which the benefit is paid? Again, we have heard that the intention is to go only to the bank into which the benefit is paid, but I want to know specifically: does this Bill gives DWP the power to do that or would it need additional primary legislation to do it?
Secondly, the Bill does not say that notices can be given only to banks. It says that they can be given only to a “person of prescribed description”. The Information Commissioner said:
“I have been unable to identify where such persons are prescribed and the provision itself is silent on the matter”.
It is therefore unclear which organisations will be in scope of the power or how this will be determined. Can the Minister tell us any more about who will be covered and how that will be determined? Who could be subject to a notice? A bank or a building society could be, clearly, but could a credit union, a Christmas club savings scheme or any other financial body?
Paragraph 58 of the impact assessment on this part of the Bill says:
“This measure is drafted broadly to ensure it is future-proofed against future changes and innovation, particularly in the financial services sector, i.e. in Fintech and Crypto, and enable DWP to apply this measure to non-financial organisations in future if it is deemed appropriate and proportionate”.
Can the Minister give the Committee an example of a non-financial organisation that could be appropriate? Specifically, could this apply to, for example, phone companies? Given the open-ended nature of the powers being taken, one way for Ministers to give reassurance to both the Committee and the wider public would be to ensure that DWP is constrained by a clear and transparent code of practice over which Parliament has oversight and that it reports to Parliament on the way it is using these powers. If the Minister does not like the approach in this amendment, perhaps he could offer the Committee other forms of assurance in this area. I beg to move.