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Saving Gateway Accounts Bill

I thank the noble Lord for that. At the heart of this is whether any extension of the scheme would be too complex, which I would not like to prejudge. I accept the points made by the noble Lord, Lord Newby, that certain types of extension of the scheme could raise the problem of unintended consequences or excessive complexity. There could be extensions that are not captured by simply adding additional benefits. The benefits that the noble Baroness referred to might be a step too far without some counterbalance. Of course, I am not normally in favour of means testing, but I recognise that it may be desirable to expand the envelope where appropriate if we are trying to encourage savings. I do not rule out including students, because one problem is that young people have not grown up with a habit of saving; they have grown up with a habit of consumption. There is a great need to re-educate a whole generation about the benefits of saving. I was disappointed that the Government did not want to include that flexibility in the Bill. As I tried to emphasise, I do not think that it is a foregone conclusion that it would be right to extend the provision. Clearly, it would be right to weigh complexity and cost, as well as unintended consequences, in the balance if an extension were pursued. I shall consider carefully what the Minister said, and beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment 8 withdrawn.