NICVA Drafts Response to £20m Dormant Accounts Consultation

• dormant accounts

The public consultation of the spending priorities for money released from dormant accounts finally opened in August 2009. NICVA has drafted a response and is seeking views from the voluntary and community sector on its proposals.

During spring 2008, DFP undertook a preliminary consultation exercise with Departments and other interested parties but following an overview of the responses received, the Minister for the Department of Finance and Personnel has decided not to narrow down options at this early stage but to pursue a full and open public consultation in order to raise awareness of and to encourage wider debate about the uses of Dormant Account funds.

It is unclear at present exactly how much money is available for Northern Ireland, although previous estimation suggests it is likely to be in the region of £10m to £20m in the first year followed by hundreds of thousands of pounds each year thereafter. Obviously the priorities for Northern Ireland will need to reflect the level of resources available.

It is anticipated that funds will begin to be transferred from dormant accounts to the Reclaim Fund later this year and it is anticipated that it will be early 2010 before the funds are transferred from the Reclaim Fund to BIG Lottery Fund for distribution through the Dormant Accounts Scheme. It is anticipated that the Scheme will be launched during 2010.

A key principle of the scheme is that disbursements from the Fund will be for purposes that are additional to and not a substitute for mainstream government spending.

To see the article with NICVA's draft response visit:

http://www.communityni.org/news/nicva-seeks-opinions-its-draft-response-dormant-accounts-consultation

The questions being asked are:

• Within the general definition of social and environmental purposes are there particular areas/issues that would benefit from these funds?
• Are there particular groups of individuals/organisations that should be specifically targeted?
• Do you think disadvantaged areas* in particular should be targeted?
• A particular issue in Northern Ireland since the inception of the National Lottery has been the ethical difficulties that some groups have had with seeking access to funds generated by gambling. How best could they accommodate organisations that on moral or ethical grounds did not secure funding from the lottery?
• Do you have any views on how the funds should be delivered? e.g. should the scheme be used for revenue and/or capital purposes; loans to promote social enterprise; should the funding be delivered over a short or longer time frame; do you have any views on the size of grants; should an endowment, be created, or endowments supported.
• Could the Dormant Accounts Scheme be used as an opportunity to promote partnership working with others in government or the larger community?

DfP would welcome your comments as to why you think that your identified spending priorities/areas merit support.

The closing date for consultation responses is Thursday 29 October 2009

The full consultation document is available to download