27 February 2008
New laws enabling money sitting dormant in bank and building societies to be "reinvested in the community" have passed through the House of Lords.
The Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Bill, which received its third reading without a vote, also includes safeguards to allow the owners of the cash to reclaim it at any time.
Ministers suffered four defeats last month during earlier readings in the Lords, and they are expected to ask MPs to overturn some or all of them.
Peers first voted to exempt the eight largest building societies, which have assets of at least £7bn, from contributing to the Big Lottery Fund.
They wanted them to be required to contribute to local charities, which has already been proposed for smaller financial institutions.
Lords then voted by 193 to 133 to provide parliamentary scrutiny for the fund that will administer the money reclaimed from dormant accounts.
A third vote saw them call for banks and building societies to be given more discretion in deciding which accounts are dormant.
And the final Government defeat saw peers vote 159 to 125 to require the Treasury to report to Parliament every three years on the effects of the legislation.
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