The Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Bill is currently progressing through the UK Parliament. The money will be invested exclusively in the third sector. “Dormant” is defined as a period of 15 years during which the customer has not initiated any activity on the account. In England the assets will be distributed among defined priority areas of providing opportunities for young people , improving financial inclusion and supporting institutions involved in social lending – but it is for Scottish Ministers to set the priorities for the Scottish share of funds and they have initiated a consultation process.

Although the exact figure is not yet known, it is estimated that Scotland’s share for investment in the third sector could be approximately £40m in the first year and around £4m per year thereafter. The money would be distributed by The BIG Lottery Fund (Scotland). It is hoped that the fund would be operational at some point in 2009.

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CVS North attended the workshop 4th Local Consultation Session of Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts at Voluntary Action Lochaber, Fort William, 11 July 2008

Introduction and Mind mapping results

Flora McKee from Voluntary Action Lochaber welcomed delegates. Jim Mather MSP, Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism, related the Dormant Bank Accounts issues to the Scottish Government’s Economic Strategy. Geoff Pearson of The Third Sector Division of the Scottish Government provided background and context:

• ‘Dormant’ was defined as 15 years or more
• Money would come out of Banks into a Reclaim Fund (some money would be held back to meet future claims) and then into The BIG Lottery Fund as distributor
• The UK Bill says that the Fund should be directed to “social and environmental purposes”
• While the focus in England would be on Youth Services and Financial Inclusion, as a devolved matter it was up to Scottish Ministers to decide Scottish priorities
• The UK Royal Assent had been delayed until October – this meant that a Debate on an Order in the Scottish Parliament was not possible until January
• Once the Scottish Parliament had approved priorities, The BIG Lottery Fund would produce a Strategic Plan on how to deploy the Fund within the purposes defined in the Order
• The consultation would look at the ‘How’ and ‘What’ questions about the Fund
• It was estimated that there would be approximately £40m available initially for Scotland, with another £4m per annum falling within the ’15 year limit’ thereafter
• Progress in establishing the Fund depended on the banks, building societies and speed of legislation, but it was hoped that BIG could begin distributing funds in early 2008/09
• A National Scoping Session with national intermediary bodies and networks had been held on 13 May, and 4 local consultations would be held from 13 June to 11 July
• The Scottish Government’s written consultation would run from 16 June to 8 September – the questions were exactly the same as used in the local consultation sessions. Additionally, SCVO would repeat the questions using its ‘Survey Monkey’ technique to reach out to other groups and organisations.

David McNeill from Rocket Science briefly outlined the Mind Map process. The consultation was then opened (see the Mind Map attached).

Summary

Geoff explained that David would produce the Map and it would then be circulated by VAL to delegates. Geoff encouraged delegates to respond to The Scottish Government and/or SCVO consultations available on the respective websites and thanked everyone for their attendance and participation.

Third Sector Division
Scottish Government
11 July 2008