My honourable friend, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Ian Pearson) has today made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

HM Treasury is today publishing further research, carried out by Ipsos MORI, on the second pilot of the saving gateway.

The saving gateway is a cash saving scheme, which aims to kick-start a saving habit among working-age people on lower incomes, and to promote financial inclusion. The Government announced last year that the saving gateway will be introduced nationally, and that the first accounts will be available in 2010. The Saving Gateway Accounts Bill is currently before Parliament.

The saving gateway has been piloted twice, and both pilots have been independently evaluated. Ipsos MORI was also commissioned to undertake further research on the second pilot, following up participants around two years after their saving gateway had matured, in order to explore longer-term changes in saving behaviour and attitudes. This research is being published today, and has been placed in the Libraries of the House and is available on the HM Treasury website.

The research shows that 60 per cent of participants were still saving regularly two years after the pilot ended, and three in 10 participants were not saving regularly prior to taking part in the pilot, but were doing so at the time of the further research. Participants were also very positive about the saving gateway: 98 per cent said they would open another saving gateway account if offered the chance, and 99 per cent would recommend it to a friend.