• Comes as the UN Secretary-General António Guterres starts a ‘virtual visit’ to UK to mark the 75th anniversary of the United Nations.
• Broad Sanctuary Green in Westminster is officially re-named ‘United Nations Green’ to commemorate the first UN General Assembly meeting at Westminster Central Hall in 1946.

The UK has helped to raise $1 billion for the coronavirus COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC) through match-funding other donors, which combined with the £548 million of UK aid pledged will help distribute one billion doses of coronavirus vaccines to 92 developing countries this year.

This vital investment will help stop the spread of the disease and prevent future waves, helping to build back better from coronavirus globally. The UK is using our aid budget, scientific expertise and diplomatic leverage to strengthen global health.

Today’s announcement coincides with a three-day virtual visit to London by the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, as part of the UK’s commemoration of the UN’s 75th anniversary.

Over the last 75 years, the UK has played a leading role in supporting the UN and we are working together to strengthen international collaboration to tackle today’s biggest global challenges, from coronavirus to climate change.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said:

It is fitting that, on the 75th anniversary of the UN, the UK has led with our allies to make one billion doses of coronavirus vaccine available to vulnerable countries.

We’ll only be safe from this virus, when we’re all safe – which is why we’re focused on a global solution to a global problem.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said:

In the midst of a second world war that was far from won, Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt – later joined by leaders of China, France, the-then Soviet Union and other allied powers – courageously set out a vision to free the world of fear and want, through cooperation. This vision became the United Nations and, on this very day 75 years ago, the first meeting of the UN General Assembly was held in London.

At this time of new global turmoil, I am honoured to virtually visit the United Kingdom to mark that occasion, renew our cause of overcoming global challenges together, and celebrate a country that was instrumental in creating the United Nations and which remains, today, a crucial member state, not least in the run-up to COP26 in Glasgow.

Today (Sunday 10 January), 75 years after the first meeting of the UN General Assembly in London, the UK will host a virtual commemorative event which will bring together the UN Secretary-General, Lord Ahmad, and civil society to celebrate the huge achievements of this unprecedented global institution and discuss how to build our collaboration topics including gender and health.

The commemorative event will mark the UK’s role in the founding of the UN, which has negotiated 172 peace settlements that have ended conflicts and over 300 international treaties from human rights conventions to agreements on the use of outer space, the arms trade and the oceans. The UN is currently running 12 peacekeeping missions to address conflict throughout the world.

As a permanent tribute to 75 years of the UN’s work, the lawn next to Westminster Central Hall, formally known as Broad Sanctuary Green where the first meeting was held, will be re-named ‘United Nations Green’.

On Monday 11 January, the UN Secretary-General will virtually meet with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office Ministers Lord Ahmad, James Cleverly, Lord Goldsmith and Wendy Morton, and the COP26 President Designate, Alok Sharma. The Secretary-General will also hold discussions with the Archbishop of Canterbury.

On the same day, the Secretary-General will attend a COP26 roundtable about clean power, alongside the UK Foreign Secretary, COP26 President Designate, and Ministers from across the world. Since 2011, UK aid has provided over 26 million people with improved access to clean energy and is looking ahead with even higher ambition, having committed to invest £11.6 billion of International Climate Finance from April 2021.

Notes to Editors:

• The UK announced at the United Nations General Assembly in September that it would match every $4 pledged to the COVAX AMC by other donors with £1 in UK funding, up to £250 million. Since then, other countries including Canada, Japan and Germany have committed funding to the scheme, reaching the landmark target. In total the UK has now contributed £548 million to the AMC.
• On Sunday 10 January, the UK will host a virtual commemoration event, as part of its contribution to the Secretary-General’s Global Conversation, bringing together a range of participants from the UN and civil societies to continue the momentum behind the Secretary-General’s Global Conversation. The event will be livestreamed here (from 17:00 – 18:00 UK time) and will be live interpreted into the UN’s six official languages.
• From Sunday 10 January – Monday 11 January, the FCDO building in King Charles Street as well as Lancaster House will be lit up blue to commemorate the UN’s life-saving work. The UN flag will also be raised at the FCDO building in King Charles Street, London.
• From Monday 11 January, Broad Sanctuary Green will be renamed as ‘United Nations Green’, which is located next to Westminster Central Hall, London.
• On Monday 11 January, the Foreign Secretary, COP26 President and UN Secretary-General will take part in a virtual climate roundtable which will focus on accelerating the transition from coal to clean power. The UK is working to strengthen international collaboration on the energy transition as part of its Presidency of COP26. The virtual roundtable event will be livestreamed here (from 15:45 – 17:00 UK time) and will be live interpreted into the UN’s six official languages.

• Rare Disease Framework sets out vision to improve the lives of more than 3.5 million people with rare diseases in the UK
• The framework will speed up diagnosis, increase awareness and improve treatment and care
• The new strategy has been designed around the views and experiences of those living with rare diseases

Millions of people with rare diseases, like Huntington’s disease or cystic fibrosis, will benefit from a new framework to raise awareness of rare diseases, speed up diagnosis and improve care and treatment.

The UK Rare Diseases Framework, signed and agreed by all four nations of the UK, builds upon the successes of the previous strategy and was developed in consultation with those living with rare diseases following the National Conversation on Rare Diseases.

Rare diseases often start through unusual patterns of common symptoms that can be hard for a GP to recognise, there can often be trips to multiple specialists before a final diagnosis is reached. This can take years and can have a big impact on patients, their families and the NHS.

The new framework sets four priorities across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland including:

• Helping patients get a final diagnosis faster
• Increasing awareness of rare diseases among healthcare professionals
• Better coordination of care
• Improving access to specialist care, treatments and drugs

Health and Social Care Secretary, Matt Hancock said:

People with rare disease deserve to get the best possible access to care and treatment. Many spend years trying to discover what is wrong so it’s essential we ensure we take every step to accelerate diagnosis and our brilliant health and social care workforce have a thorough understanding of those living with rare diseases.

The UK Rare Diseases Framework has been developed in close collaboration with people with a lived experience. It will build on the UK’s exceptional strength in life sciences, our genomic capability, and of course the huge benefit of having the NHS, to shape our policies on rare diseases in the years to come and improve the lives of so many people.

There are 3.5 million people in the UK with a rare disease, the equivalent of 1 in 17 people.

It is currently estimated there are over 7,000 rare diseases with new conditions continually being identified as research advances. The more well known among them include Huntington’s disease, Ehlers Danlos syndromes, cystic fibrosis and systemic scleroderma, however there are many more which are not as well known or understood, which is why raising awareness is one of the key priorities of this Framework.

Health Minister, Lord Bethell said:

I want the experiences of those living with a rare disease to shape the priorities of government to make sure our policies work for them. We can harness the potential of new technologies, including genomics, to support earlier detection and faster diagnosis of disease, tailor and target treatments

With such a vast range of rare diseases out there, it is hugely important the rare disease community was at the centre of designing the UK Rare Disease Framework.

The National Conversation on Rare Diseases survey, launched by Baroness Blackwood, aimed to identify the major challenges faced by those living and working with rare diseases, and received an amazing 6,293 responses, including from over 5,000 patients, families and patient organisations.

It provided clear evidence diagnosis and awareness of rare diseases, and difficulty in accessing specialist care were some of the challenges consistently seen as the most impactful across patients, their families and patient organisations.

Jayne Spink, CEO of Genetic Alliance UK said:

We welcome the publication of this Framework and look forward to working with the four nations of the UK to develop action plans to deliver its aims. A framework for rare disease policy is necessary now more than ever.

We have powerful genomic tools and exciting research breakthroughs on the horizon that are eagerly anticipated by people living with rare conditions. We hope that this framework can build the pathways that will allow these breakthroughs to realise their full potential in the NHS, across the whole of the UK.

Haseeb Ahmad, President of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) said:

Today’s strategy sets out a welcome ambition for how people with rare diseases can get a fast diagnosis and access to treatments they desperately need.

Cutting edge research means that there will be even more exciting, new treatments developed for rare disease patients. We look forward to continuing our work in partnership with Governments across all four nations to make the ambition of this framework a reality for people with rare diseases and their families.

The UK Government has announced that dormant assets across the insurance and pensions, investment, wealth management, and securities sectors are set to be unlocked, with the potential for more than £800 million to be made available to support the UK as it recovers from the coronavirus pandemic.

Funding raised through the expansion of the scheme will enable continued support of good causes, social investments and environmental initiatives.

This major expansion of the Dormant Assets Scheme marks the completion of a four year review and public consultation process. The responses showed widespread support for expanding the scheme from bank and building society accounts to include assets in these new sectors.

Led by the financial industry and backed by the UK Government, the expanded scheme will have consumer protection at its heart, with the priority continuing to be locating and reuniting people with their financial assets.

Where that is not possible, more businesses will now be allowed to participate voluntarily in transferring dormant assets into the scheme. People will still be able to reclaim their assets in full at any time.

Since 2011, 30 banks and building societies participating in the current scheme have enabled the release of over £745 million from dormant accounts that have been inactive for at least 15 years. These funds have been used to support a range of social and environmental initiatives across the UK, including helping young people on the path to employment, tackling financial exclusion, growing the social investment market, and supporting renewable energy solutions.

£150 million was unlocked in May 2020 to support the UK’s charity and voluntary sectors, as they continue to play a vital role during the coronavirus pandemic. The funding is supporting urgent work to tackle youth unemployment, expand access to emergency loans for civil society organisations and help improve the availability of fair, affordable credit to people in vulnerable circumstances.

Oliver Dowden, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, said:

Funds raised through the existing Dormant Assets Scheme have already made a huge difference to vulnerable people and communities across the UK, especially during the pandemic.

Expanding the scheme will mean hundreds of millions more for good causes, helping us to build back stronger in the years to come.

Baroness Barran, Minister for Civil Society, said:

Expanding the Dormant Assets Scheme provides us with two positive opportunities to highlight the importance of people tracing their lost financial assets. Firstly it will highlight the potential importance for people to trace their lost financial assets.

Secondly, where that is not possible, it will release over £800 million for social investment that will make a real difference to people – both young and old – experiencing challenging circumstances across the UK as we work hard to recover from this pandemic.

John Glen MP, Economic Secretary to the Treasury said:

Banks and building societies across the UK are working tirelessly to reunite people with forgotten assets. But on occasions where this isn’t possible, it’s right that these funds are used to tackle some of the UK’s most pressing social and environmental challenges.

The expansion of the scheme will mean more people are reconnected with their assets, whilst also making more money available for good causes.

To date, funding released through the Dormant Assets Scheme has been used in a number of ways, including:

Over £425 million has been used to establish Big Society Capital, an independent financial institution, launched in 2012, with the aim of growing the social investment market in the UK. To date, over 1,200 social enterprises and charities have received investment from Big Society Capital and the social impact investment market has grown from £830 million in 2011 to £5.1 billion.

£96 million has been provided to Fair4All Finance to increase the financial resilience and wellbeing of people in vulnerable circumstances through improving availability of fair and accessible financial products and services. Fair4All Finance has provided over £15 million in financial support to the community finance sector so far, including £12 million of equity investments in community finance providers and £3.6 million in Covid-19 grants.

£90 million has been provided to Youth Futures Foundation to break down the barriers to work for young people across England, with a focus on responding to the findings of the Racial Disparity Audit. It includes investing £6 million into targeted support for young people who are not in education, employment or training, and deploying £8.7 million in coronavirus grants to frontline charities, social enterprises and infrastructure bodies tackling youth unemployment.

£40 million has been provided to Access – The Foundation for Social Investment. In response to Covid-19 Access has made up to £10 million available for emergency support through social lenders, while also developing a wider £18 million programme of flexible long-term recovery finance for the social sector.

£10.4 million of funding has been provided to the ‘Engage to Change’ project in Wales since 2016, to break down barriers and stigma around disability by supporting 16-25 year olds with learning difficulties and/or autism into employment. Working with over 800 employers in Wales, in the past five years the project has enabled 959 young people to develop new skills, 381 young people to secure a paid work placement, and 272 young people to move into secure employment after their work placement.

In June 2020, more than £800,000 of dormant assets funding was provided via the Young Start programme to 12 youth-led groups in Scotland, including Leonard Cheshire and Can Do Dumfries, to help young people develop their personal skills, gain accredited qualifications that will boost their chances of future employment, and reach their full potential – often through digital platforms to keep them engaged during the pandemic.

Northern Ireland has recently used dormant assets funding to establish a £20.5 million Dormant Accounts Fund for the voluntary, community, and social enterprise sector, which will open for applications on 12 January.

The UK Government intends to legislate for the scheme expansion and will continue to work with industry, regulators, and Reclaim Fund Ltd to ensure its success.

Notes to editors:

The definition of a dormant asset varies according to the type of asset in question. In general it means a financial product, such as a bank account, that the customer has not used for many years and which the provider has been unable to reunite them with, despite efforts based on industry best practice.

The Dormant Assets Scheme has so far unlocked the following amounts to benefit social and environmental initiatives across the UK. All figures are approximate:

Currently, the scheme accepts only dormant bank and building society accounts. Dormant bank or building society accounts are those that have not been touched for at least 15 years, and where the bank or building society has been unable to reunite the customer with their money, despite a thorough reunification process. The sectors to be included in the expanded scheme and final definitions of dormancy for all assets are outlined in the UK Government response to the consultation.

Assets proposed to be within the scope of the expansion include:

• Proceeds of dormant life insurance and retirement income policies
• Proceeds of dormant shares or units in collective investments
• Dormant investment asset distributions and proceeds
• Proceeds of, or distributions from, dormant shares
• Unclaimed proceeds from corporate actions

Once the scheme has been expanded, participants must continue to first make efforts, based on industry best practice, to reunite assets with their owners.

Owners will always be able to reclaim the same amount they would have had if their assets were never transferred, as they do in the current scheme, and organisations will continue to participate on a voluntary basis.

There are over 30 firms participating in the current Scheme, including HSBC Bank plc, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide Building Society, Royal Bank of Scotland, and The Co-operative Bank plc. A full list can be found here.

Under the current and expanded scheme, funds are held by Reclaim Fund Ltd (RFL). RFL holds sufficient money to cover any reclaims while distributing the surplus to The National Lottery Community Fund for social or environmental initiatives across the UK.

Owners can trace their dormant assets through a variety of means: