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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how her Department has distributed dormant assets funding in (a) 2022 and (b) 2023.

The Secretary of State issues policy directions to The National Lottery Community Fund for the English portion of dormant assets funds, which can currently be spent on three causes: youth, financial inclusion, or social investment. His Majesty’s Government has recently announced that community wealth funds will become the fourth cause for dormant assets funding in England.

In 2022–23, the Secretary of State issued policy directions that allocated a total of £76 million to help tackle cost of living pressures, including:

• £23 million to Access – the Foundation for Social Investment;

• £8 million to Big Society Capital;

• £45 million to Fair4All Finance; and

• Up to £500,000 per year to enable The Oversight Trust – Assets for the Common Good to fulfil its governance role.

These allocations included support for initiatives like a £20 million Energy Resilience Scheme to help charities and social enterprises invest in energy efficient solutions, and £15 million to scale the No Interest Loan Scheme to reach 69,000 more people facing problem debt.