Commission on Dormant Accounts
From 2006, at least £1.5bn of dormant account funds will be channelled to communities. The figure may grow in time to be much larger than this.
In order to ensure that the most is made of this historic opportunity a Commission has been established to review how the money can be invested wisely so as to achieve a truly transformational impact.
Aims:
· Draw on the best available evidence to support a review of the advantages of different options for investing dormant account funds
· Promote open debate across the sectors and regions
· Form conclusions on the best use of funds available
· Build consensus amongst banks, the voluntary and community sectors and government on the best ways of disbursing dormant account funds
· Be active in enabling cross-sector collaborations that can be capable of turning plans into action
Participants:
Jonathan Bland -Chief Executive, Social Enterprise Coalition
Professor Sir Robert Boyd -Chair Lloyds TSB Foundation
Hilary Brown –Director, Small Business Service -social enterprise lead role
David Carrington -Consultant
Clare Dove. Director, Blackburn House
Stephen Dunmore, Chief Executive of Big Lottery Fund
Fiona Ellis – Director. Northern Rock Foundation
Ben Hughes, Director, bassac
Jitinder Kohli, Director, Active Communities Directorate, Home Office
Lord Sandy Leitch -ex CEO of Zurich Finance, Chair Balance Foundation
Ed Mayo -Director, National Consumer Council
Sir Graham Melmoth, Chair N CVQ (ex CEO CWS)
Bernie Morgan -Chief Executive, Community Development Finance Association
Geoff Mulgan -Director, Young Foundation
Phil Mundy -Chair, Salford Money Line
Geraldine Peacock -Chair, Charity Commission
Nick Pearce -Director, IPPR
Matthew Pike -Secretary to Commission
John Rafferty -Director, unltd
Andrew Robinson / alternate -Nat West Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland
Pat Samuel -lead role on VCS in Treasury
Stephen Thake -Senior Adviser to Commission
Danielle Walker-Palmour- Director, Friends Provident Foundation
Andrea Westall, Deputy Director, New Economics Foundation
Peter Wheeler -Chair, Future Builders
Format
The process proposed will balance a very bottom-up process with a focus on relationship and consensus building across the sectors at an elite level. There are several key activities that will run in parallel:
· three dinners over the autumn for the lead participants;
· four working groups to look at evidence, market demand patterns, engagement
· with the banks and an implementation group of agencies committed 10 work
· together to deliver on the conclusions;
· five thematic working groups with widely drawn participants;
· twelve one day regional / national events co-ordinated by Scarman staff;
· specially commissioned articles by a range of ‘visionaries’ on what it will take to
· eliminate extreme relative poverty.
Outcomes
What change will the Commission produce?
There is an obvious opportunity to influence the use of a very large amount of money- as an absolute minimum the commission can help to avoid ineffective ‘scattering’ of the money by pooling knowledge;
The influence on money also provides a big opportunity to shift government policies in more progressive and effective directions;
New working relationships wilt be built across the sectors;
New capacity for joint delivery will be put in place;
The Commission is designed to be action focussed and do all it can to ensure that there is effective follow through.
The report will not sit on a shelf
Matthew Pike
June 16th 2005