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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to page 41 of the Government's Civil Society Strategy published in August 2018, what progress has been made by his Department on designing the £90 million dormant accounts funding to help young people facing barriers to work to reach their full potential.

The Government is fully committed to the Civil Society Strategy. It is the beginning of an ambitious, evolving work programme to build a stronger society.

Removing the barriers that can make it harder for some young people to enter work and reach their full potential is vital to the future prosperity and productivity of our society. As part of the Civil Society Strategy, the Government committed to working with the National Lottery Community Fund to allocate £90 million from dormant bank accounts to a new, independent organisation to tackle this issue. The Founding Chair of this new organisation is being appointed by a nomination panel independent of government, and their decision will be announced in due course.

While this organisation is being set up, the National Lottery Community Fund are allocating £1.2m of the £90m dormant accounts funding to three key areas facing particular challenges in their levels of youth unemployment. Funding will support small, grassroot youth organisations to build their capacity and strengthen local partnerships.