Hurd denies Big Society Bank will be forced to focus on children's projects

Finance | Tania Mason | 9 Nov 2010

Minister for civil society Nick Hurd has "clarified" a comment by children’s minister Tim Loughton last week that most of the funds from the Big Society Bank would be allocated to youth projects.

Loughton (pictured) told the National Council of Voluntary Youth Services Conference that he had received confirmation that most of the funding from dormant bank accounts would be spent on projects that help children and young people.

But Hurd told Civil Society this morning that he wanted to “clarify” Loughton’s remark.

He said the Big Society Bank would be a catalyst for growing the social investment market and would do so in two main ways – by supporting the intermediaries that help social enterprises become more investment-ready, and by encouraging co-investment in social causes from mainstream investors.

“If the Big Society Bank had been around when the Social Impact Bond was launched it would have made the marketing of that bond so much easier,” Hurd said.

He said the bank would be independent of government, so the government would not be able to direct it to spend a certain proportion on youth projects, as Tim Loughton had suggested.

He said there would be a “high policy direction” from government that the Bank should “give some priority to investing in community-led enterprise solutions in the youth sector” but beyond that, the bank's activities would be driven by the market.

Hurd also confirmed that the government expected the amount available to the Bank from dormant bank accounts in England would be in the region of £300m to £400m.

Who's Who: Nick Hurd

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