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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether any of the £135 million announced by her Department on 4 January 2018 as pledged to Big Society Capital to fund stable and long-term accommodation for vulnerable groups has previously been allocated or announced.

The release of a new tranche of £330m from dormant accounts to be distributed across the UK, announced on 4 January, includes an allocation of £135m to Big Society Capital. £300m of dormant account funding has previously been transferred to Big Society Capital. The allocation from the new tranche of dormant accounts will meet the intention announced by the Prime Minister in 2012 to provide £400m to Big Society Capital, and provides an additional £35m.

Previous announcements on the government’s funding commitment to Big Society Capital were not specific to housing, and Big Society Capital’s intention to use this funding to provide stable and long-term accommodation homes for vulnerable people, as well as to support local charities and social enterprises, has not previously been announced.