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Saving Gateway Accounts Bill

My hon. Friend makes a very good point. As I mentioned at the start, the issue of financial inclusion is very important to this Government. As he will be aware, we commissioned Otto Thoresen to produce a report, and we are taking forward its recommendations on financial inclusion. With the Financial Services Authority, we are establishing pilots in the north-west and the north-east and today we announced some of the providers that will help to deliver them. We view the establishment of a pathfinder scheme to improve financial literacy and advice as an important area, to which we continue to pay attention, and the Government are taking other measures as well. My hon. Friend will be aware of our efforts in the education and school system to provide better information from an early age, sometimes as young as seven. We are planning to build further such measures into the curriculum, so that better advice is provided in the future. The hon. Member for Fareham asked about the automatic rolling over of accounts. As I explained, account providers will have to put in place a default option in cases where savers do not provide instructions about what they want to happen to the account on maturity. They should have choices, as I said. Finally, let me pick up on a matter raised by the hon. Member for South-West Hertfordshire, who asked why the Bill did not make it clear that a person could have only one account. The requirement that a person may open only one saving gateway account in a lifetime will be contained in regulations. Our approach is that the Bill allows some flexibility so that the Government have the option to offer the saving gateway to eligible individuals again in future. Depending on the scheme's success and the financial climate, that may be appropriate in the future. In our view that represents sensible contingency planning, but no doubt we shall wish to discuss the technical questions in some detail in Committee. I am grateful to all Members for the points that they have made, and look forward to pursuing them in Committee in a few weeks' time. I am also grateful for the support that we have received today for our objectives for the saving gateway: kick-starting that saving habit, and promoting financial inclusion. The pilots showed that the gateway could achieve those aims by offering a targeted, clear and strong incentive to the group who need it most, in the form of 50p for every £1 saved. As a result of the Bill, a national saving gateway scheme will be introduced for the first time, offering that incentive to about 8 million people. It will give them a chance to save up to £600 and earn up to £300 from the Government. It will provide an amount that could make a real difference, and, more important, an experience that could help to build a lifetime saving habit. I commend it to the House. Question put and agreed to. Bill accordingly read a Second time.