Basic Bank Accounts (Scotland) Debate

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Department: HM Treasury
Wednesday 19th January 2011

(13 years, 11 months ago)

Westminster Hall
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Ian Murray Portrait Ian Murray (Edinburgh South) (Lab)
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I am grateful to you for giving way, Mr Hood, and I apologise for missing the start of the debate.

Jim Hood Portrait Mr Jim Hood (in the Chair)
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Order. I did not give way; I was not doing anything.

Ian Murray Portrait Ian Murray
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Thank you, Mr Hood. I will get used to the conventions of this place eventually. The Minister has responded to my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh East (Sheila Gilmore) on the subject of basic bank accounts. One point that I regularly heard from the BBA, the Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS, as it was at the time, was that if the staff in local branches were not able to offer a full bank account to potential customers, they did not then offer a basic bank account. Will the Government consider issuing guidance on that through the BBA to ensure that people who do not meet the criteria for a full bank account are automatically offered a basic bank account?