The causes of financial exclusion and poor understanding of money related matters will be probed this morning as an inquiry gets underway.

The House of Lords Committee on Financial Exclusion will tomorrow hold its first evidence session.

Expert witnesses will give evidence as the committee seeks to get to the bottom of the why some in society have trouble accessing mainstream financial services.

They will assess why some people encounter difficulties accessing or using the mainstream financial services that are “necessary to participate in daily economic life and society”. Financial literacy and education will also come under the spotlight.

Baroness Tyler of Enfield, chairman of the committee, said: "Our inquiry will seek to get to the bottom of the challenging issue of financial exclusion.

“Figures suggest around 1.5 million people do not have access to a bank account and we want to understand the impact and effects of that. The issue is not limited solely to bank account access, however, and financial exclusion is a persistent problem that has proved a significant challenge for Governments over a number of years. We want to find out how it can be tackled.”

Some of the issues the committee is likely to explore include the relationship between financial exclusion and other forms of deprivation, the effectiveness of Government policy on cutting it down and approaches to developing and enhancing capability.

Today’s sessions will allow the committee to explore what is being done to help people take control of their own finances and how financial education in schools can deliver results, Baroness Tyler explained.

She said: "In the coming weeks we will be working on agreeing a Call for Evidence which will be published before the summer recess. At that point we will be asking anyone with an interest or experience in this issue to send us their evidence which will be crucial in informing our inquiry."

Speakers today include:

• Joanna Elson, Chief Executive, Money Advice Trust
• Guy Rigden, Chief Executive, MyBnk
• Russell Winnard, Head of Programme and Services (Financial
Education), Young Enterprise