Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what agreement has been reached on the timetable for the further release of official Government documents relating to the period from 1997.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Government records are released in line with the requirements set out in the Public Records Act 1958 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Each department is responsible for complying with its obligations under this legislation.
Since 2013, Government departments have been transitioning to a ‘20-year rule’ – that is, transferring selected records 20 years after they were created. This is a reduction from 30 years. Under this transition, departments should be compliant with the 20-year timeframe by the end of 2022.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the findings of the Youth Evidence Review, published in December 2021, when they expect to publish their final summary report outlining the implications of the review on Government policy.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Last year, DCMS conducted a Youth Review to ensure that our spending, policy and programmes meet the needs of young people. The review heard from over 6,000 young people and 120 youth organisations. The Youth Evidence Review, which was published in December 2021, although separate, informed the DCMS-led youth review. The findings from the Youth Review will be published shortly.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Barran on 15 June (HL711), whether they will Place in the Library of the House a copy of the high level policy directions issued to The National Lottery Community Fund on the allocation of dormant assets funding.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The latest policy directions issued by the Secretary of State on the allocation of dormant assets funding are published by The National Lottery Community Fund (TNLCF) as part of its annual report. These policy directions will be the most recent at the time of TNCLF reporting. The annual report for 2019-20 is in the House Library and the annual report for 2020-21 will be laid before Parliament shortly.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what (1) guidance, or (2) directions, they have given to the Reclaim Fund about the priorities for the allocation of its funding; and what, if any, requirements that organisation must observe in the allocation of funding.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Reclaim Fund Ltd is the Dormant Assets Scheme’s administrator. It is responsible for managing dormant assets in case of customer reclaims, transferring surplus funds to The National Lottery Community Fund (TNLCF). TNLCF is the named distributor of dormant assets funding, responsible for apportioning the surplus money among the four nations to be spent on social or environmental purposes.
DCMS’ Secretary of State issues high level policy directions to TNLCF on the allocation of the English portion of this funding. It is directed to three social and environmental causes: youth, financial inclusion and social investment. These restrictions are currently set in primary legislation. To date, the funding has been directed to four independent organisations in England: Big Society Capital, Access – The Foundation for Social Investment, Fair4All Finance, and the Youth Futures Foundation.
Funding must fulfill the additionality principle, support the three defined causes and be distributed for initiatives in England. Beyond these requirements, the four specialist spend organisations are free to determine the most appropriate way to deliver against their objectives.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the process for organisations applying for funding from the Reclaim Fund; whether organisations are required to set out in their applications the geographical regions in which any funding will be spent; and whether details of those applications will be published.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Reclaim Fund Ltd is the Dormant Assets Scheme’s administrator. It is responsible for managing dormant assets and transferring surplus funds to The National Lottery Community Fund, the named distributor of dormant assets funding. Funds must be spent on social or environmental purposes.
Dormant assets funding is not central government money and there is no central bidding process for accessing it. In England, funding is currently distributed to four specialist organisations who work across the areas of youth, financial inclusion and social investment. These organisations are independent from the government, and are not required to report to the government on geographical distribution of funding.
Funding must fulfill the additionality principle, support the three defined causes and be distributed for initiatives in England. Beyond this, the four specialist spend organisations are free to determine the most appropriate way to deliver against their objectives. This includes geographical distribution of any organisations which may apply to them for funding. The organisations themselves are responsible for managing any such applications, including the geographical distribution of their work.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much of the funding distributed by the Reclaim Fund has been spent in each region of England by each of the organisations funded by the Reclaim Fund.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Reclaim Fund Ltd is the Dormant Assets Scheme’s administrator. It is responsible for managing dormant assets and transferring surplus funds to The National Lottery Community Fund, the named distributor of dormant assets funding. Funds must be spent on social or environmental purposes.
Dormant assets funding is not central government money and there is no central bidding process for accessing it. In England, funding is currently distributed to four specialist organisations who work across the areas of youth, financial inclusion and social investment. These organisations are independent from the government, and are not required to report to the government on geographical distribution of funding.
Funding must fulfill the additionality principle, support the three defined causes and be distributed for initiatives in England. Beyond this, the four specialist spend organisations are free to determine the most appropriate way to deliver against their objectives. This includes geographical distribution of any organisations which may apply to them for funding. The organisations themselves are responsible for managing any such applications, including the geographical distribution of their work.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the application by the Youth Futures Foundation to the Reclaim Fund specified the geographical regions in which any money it was allocated would be spent.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Reclaim Fund Ltd is the Dormant Assets Scheme’s administrator. It is responsible for managing dormant assets and transferring surplus funds to The National Lottery Community Fund, to be spent on social or environmental purposes. This funding is apportioned between the four nations with broad distribution decisions taken at a devolved level.
The Youth Futures Foundation is an independent organisation focussing on removing barriers for those furthest from the labour market. £90 million of the English portion of funding has been allocated to the Youth Futures Foundation for initiatives in England.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what are the previously declared political affiliations of the current non-executive directors of the BBC; and what are the (1) present and (2) past, political affiliations of members of the BBC Board.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
As per the BBC Charter, the Chair and Nations Members of the BBC Board are appointed by Her Majesty the Queen, via Order in Council, following a fair and open competition. All other members of the BBC Board are appointed by the BBC.
Upon appointment, the Governance Code requires that any significant political activity undertaken by an appointee in the last five years is declared. This is defined as including holding office, public speaking, making a recordable donation or candidature for election. As per the Governance Code on Public Appointments, ‘political activity should not affect any judgement of merit nor be a bar to appointment’.
The BBC Board’s Code of Practice also requires members of the BBC Board to publicly declare their personal interests (including any political interests), and to regularly update this declaration. The BBC publishes each Board member’s Declaration of Personal Interests annually via its website: https://www.bbc.com/aboutthebbc/whoweare/bbcboard.
Those BBC Board Members appointed by Her Majesty the Queen made the following declarations upon appointment:
Chair: Richard Sharp declared he had made one political donation to the Conservative Party of £2,500 during the past five years at time of appointment.
Scotland: Steve Morrison declared no such political activity during the past five years at time of appointment.
England: Sir Robbie Gibb declared that between 2017 and 2019 he was Director of Communications at No10 Downing Street during the past five years at time of appointment.
Wales: Dame Elan Cross Stephens declared no such political activity during the past five years at time of initial appointment in 2017 and reappointment in 2021.
Northern Ireland: This role is currently vacant.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government when the Dormant Assets Commission last met; when it is due to meet again; which stakeholders the Commission has consulted; and what is the scale and scope of the Commission’s investigation.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
The independent Commission on Dormant Assets’ final meeting was held on 1st December 2016. The Commission published its report on 3 March 2017 and is not scheduled to meet again.
The Commission met a wide range of stakeholders, convened industry working groups and ran a call for evidence sent to around 200 organisations.
The Commission worked to Government-agreed Terms of Reference, to provide expert, independent and impartial advice and evidence on:
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what financial resources, including salaries, have been made available to establish and run the Dormant Assets Commission.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
Membership of the Dormant Assets Commission was an unpaid appointment with the Chair and the nine Commissioners not receiving salaries for their roles. Incidental travelling expenses were reimbursed to the Chair and the Commissioners if requested.