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Written Question
Members: Correspondence
Friday 13th May 2022

Asked by: Robert Largan (Conservative - High Peak)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when he will respond to the correspondence of 4 March 2022 from the hon. Member for High Peak, reference RL35365.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s correspondence team transferred your letter to the Home Office for a response, as the subject of the letter sits within their portfolio. We have been informed that Home Office colleagues responded on 8 April 2022.


Written Question
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Staff
Friday 26th November 2021

Asked by: Robert Largan (Conservative - High Peak)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many senior civil servants employed by her Department were based in each of the 12 NUTS1 regions of the UK on (a) 1 March 2019, (b) 1 March 2020, (c) 1 March 2021 and (d) 1 September 2021.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The number of Senior Civil Servants employed by DCMS in each of the 12 NUTS1 UK regions has been listed in the table below.

NUTS1 Region

1 March 2021

1 June 2021

1 Sept 2021

Wales

0

0

1

Scotland

0

0

0

Northern Ireland

0

0

0

North East England

0

0

0

North West England

2

4

4

Yorkshire and the Humber

1

1

1

East Midlands

0

0

0

West Midlands

0

0

0

East of England

0

0

0

London

119

110

120

South East England

0

0

0

South West England

0

0

0

We plan to further increase our SCS presence across some of these regions by 2025:

  • North West; up to 20 roles.

  • North East; up to 9 roles.

  • Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland; a minimum of 1 role per nation.

We plan to retain at least 50% of our SCS in London for business critical and operational purposes.


Written Question
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Staff
Thursday 25th November 2021

Asked by: Robert Largan (Conservative - High Peak)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many civil servants employed by her Department were based in each of the 12 NUTS1 UK regions on (a) 1 March 2021, (b) 1 June 2021 and (c) 1 September 2021.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The number of Civil Servants employed by DCMS in each of the 12 NUTS1 UK regions has been listed in the table below.

NUTS1 Region

1 March 2021

1 June 2021

1 Sept 2021

Wales

0

3

9

Scotland

7

9

18

Northern Ireland

2

2

3

North East England

5

9

14

North West England

45

68

88

Yorkshire and the Humber

3

3

7

East Midlands

0

3

7

West Midlands

0

6

7

East of England

0

0

0

London

1713

1708

1755

South East England

0

0

0

South West England

3

6

12

We plan to further increase our presence across some of these regions by 2025;

  • North West; up to 385 roles by 2025 to support our sectors.

  • North East; up to 191 roles by 2025 to support the Economic Campus.

  • Northern Ireland; up to 10 roles by 2025 to support all nations of the Union - we plan to maintain an equal presence in Wales and Scotland also.

We also plan to develop a smaller presence in the East Midlands to support the creation of SportPark and our Sport ALBs.

We plan to maintain a London presence, aiming to have no more than 50% of the workforce located in London and the South East by 2030, concentrated on operational and location specific business critical delivery.


Written Question
Members: Correspondence
Monday 1st November 2021

Asked by: Robert Largan (Conservative - High Peak)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when she plans to respond to the enquiry from the hon. Member for High Peak of 9 July 2021, reference RL21341.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

A response was issued on 28 October 2021 under the case reference MC2021/13876. We apologise for the delay in responding.


Written Question

Question Link

Wednesday 19th May 2021

Asked by: Robert Largan (Conservative - High Peak)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether his Department has plans to (a) review the estimated value of assets that are dormant in each of the new asset classes to be included in the expanded Dormant Assets Scheme and (b) publish the methodology used to calculate those values.

Answered by Matt Warman

The Dormant Assets Scheme is led by industry and backed by the government with the aim of reuniting people with their financial assets. Where this is not possible, this money supports important social and environmental initiatives across the UK.

As a voluntary Scheme, industry stakeholders have been at the forefront of efforts to bring assets from the insurance and pensions, investment and wealth management, and securities sectors into scope. This includes leading work to estimate the value of dormancy currently in each sector and using their experience and understanding of reunification processes to inform their estimates of how much could be reunited with their owners successfully. The government is grateful for their work on this and has no plans to review their estimates or methodology at this time.

The following table sets out estimated value of assets that are dormant in each of the new asset classes to be included in the expanded Dormant Assets Scheme, broken down by sector:

Sector

Dormant assets

Could be reunited with owners through enhanced tracing efforts

Could be transferred to RFL

Could be released to social and environmental initiatives

Insurance and pensions

£2.1bn

£1.17bn

£959m

£575m

Investment and wealth management

£1.4bn

£781m

£588m

£238m

Securities

£158m

£48m

£110m

£66m

TOTAL

£3.7bn

£2bn

£1.7bn

£880m

The government is now set to expand the Scheme through primary legislation, which was introduced in the House of Lords on Wednesday 12 May 2021.


Written Question

Question Link

Tuesday 18th May 2021

Asked by: Robert Largan (Conservative - High Peak)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when the Government plans to bring forward legislative proposals to expand the Dormant Assets Scheme.

Answered by Matt Warman

On 11 May, the State Opening of Parliament took place and the Queen's Speech set out the Government's agenda for the next session. It was announced that the Dormant Assets Bill is set to be introduced in the Second Session of Parliament, and on 12 May the Bill had its first reading in the House of Lords.

Once legislation has achieved Royal Assent, the speed at which it can be implemented and new funds will become available is dependent on regulator and industry readiness, as well as their voluntary participation in the Scheme. We anticipate that the estimated £880 million to be unlocked through the expansion of the Scheme will take several years to be released.


Written Question

Question Link

Tuesday 18th May 2021

Asked by: Robert Largan (Conservative - High Peak)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how his Department took the decision to define dormancy as it has under the Dormant Assets Scheme in light of the use by the finance industry of the broader definition of unclaimed assets.

Answered by Matt Warman

The Dormant Assets Bill, introduced to the House of Lords on 12th May, will enable the Dormant Assets Scheme to accept a wider range of dormant assets – expanding from bank and building society accounts to include certain assets in the insurance and pensions, investment and wealth management, and securities sectors.

Scheme expansion has been led by industry, who have been instrumental in determining how this expansion would work in practice. The definitions of dormancy used for the expanded Scheme have been tailored to each asset class, based on existing practice and relevant regulations within each sector.

The Bill also introduces a new power for the Secretary of State or HM Treasury to expand the Scheme through secondary legislation in the future. This will enable the Scheme to build experience with managing new and complex asset classes before broadening the pool further. The government anticipates close engagement with industry if, and when, new assets are introduced to the Scheme under this power.


Written Question
Members: Correspondence
Thursday 18th March 2021

Asked by: Robert Largan (Conservative - High Peak)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when he plans to respond to the enquiry from the hon. Member for High Peak, dated 26 October 2020, referenced RL13783.

Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

A response was issued on 26 November 2020 under the case reference MC2020/23548/NB. A further copy of this response has since been issued to ensure receipt.


Written Question
Members: Correspondence
Tuesday 2nd March 2021

Asked by: Robert Largan (Conservative - High Peak)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when he plans to respond to the enquiry from the hon. Member for High Peak of 25 November 2020, reference RL15336.

Answered by Caroline Dinenage

A response was issued on 25 February under the case reference MC2020/26807. We apologise for the delay in responding.


Written Question
Members: Correspondence
Monday 8th February 2021

Asked by: Robert Largan (Conservative - High Peak)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when he plans to respond to the enquiry from the hon. Member for High Peak of 26 November 2020, case reference RL4323.

Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

A response was issued on 03 February (ref MC2020/26866), we apologise for the delay in issuing a response.