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 - Shadow Secretary of State 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.
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 - Shadow Secretary of State 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.
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 - Shadow Secretary of State 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.
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 - Shadow Secretary of State 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.
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.
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.