HC Deb 03 February 1997 vol 289 cc666-7
8. Sir Ivan Lawrence

To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage how many charities have been awarded grants from the national lottery. [12224]

Mr. Sproat

The National Lottery Charities Board has made 6,925 awards totalling £478 million to charities and voluntary organisations. The other distributing bodies have made a total of 5,194 awards totalling £2.352 billion, many of which will also have gone to charitable and voluntary organisations.

Sir Ivan Lawrence

Is it not a fact that all the good causes are charities and that the total so far received is nearly £3,000 million? Will my hon. Friend confirm that, although originally there were fears that charitable giving would fall off as a result of the lottery, that has not happened? Will he also confirm that one of the best ways to deal with the scourge of juvenile crime is to devote as much of the resources as possible to getting young people off the streets and into better sporting facilities and artistic facilities, or engaging them in other activities that will lead them away from delinquency?

Mr. Sproat

My hon. and learned Friend is right. Well over half the awards funded by the distributing bodies have gone to voluntary charitable organisations. He is also right that, so far, there is no evidence that giving to charities has fallen. We are looking into that at the moment and hope to provide interim results in May. As for his third point, getting young people off the streets is extremely important. The National Lottery Charities Board funds the crimecrackers-Belgrano scheme in Wales and a scheme in Leeds to get young people into things other than crime in their spare time, particularly the many sporting facilities that it provides. Those are all good ways of channelling the energy and enthusiasm of young people.

Mr. Cunliffe

Is the Minister aware that supporters of animal welfare charities are anxious because they are not getting their rightful share, considering the size of some of those organisations? They believe that they are discriminated against to some degree because they are not fashionable organisations, such as those for sport, culture and the arts. Will the Minister remind the distributing bodies that such organisations play a positive role in helping to create certain pleasures for society?

Mr. Sproat

The hon. Gentleman makes an important point, which I will draw to the attention of the distributor body.