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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to his announcement on 20 May 2020 that £150m released from dormant bank accounts would benefit charitable causes,: whether funds from those bank accounts registered in Scotland contributed to that figure; and whether charities in Scotland benefit from that release of funds.

The dormant assets scheme enables banks and building societies to voluntarily transfer dormant accounts into the scheme from across the UK, and for customers to reclaim their money at any point. Surplus funds unlocked through the scheme are apportioned among England and each of the devolved administrations to be directed to social or environmental causes of each nation’s choosing. Dormant assets funds are apportioned to each nation according to the Distribution of Dormant Account Money (Apportionment) Order 2011, which was based on the Barnett formula.

The £150m announced on 20th May is the English portion of currently available funds, £71m of which is new funding alongside £79m of previously announced funds that have been repurposed to respond to Covid-19. Approximately £25m is currently available to the devolved administrations, of which circa £13m is available for Scotland. We understand The National Lottery Community Fund is working with ministers and officials in Scotland to determine how the Scottish government wishes to direct their portion.