§ 9. Ms Oona King (Bethnal Green and Bow)What responses he has received from the good causes to the announcement about their future after 2001. [57250]
§ The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Mr. Chris Smith)I announced in July that each of the good causes—arts, sport, heritage and charities—will continue to receive one sixth of lottery good cause funding after 2001.
§ Ms KingI welcome that announcement. Does that mean that the lottery boards will be able to engage in long-term financial planning? What other measures does my right hon. Friend have in mind to allow such desperately needed long-term planning to take place?
§ Mr. SmithYes, indeed. For the first time, the guarantee that we have put in place post-2001—which is new; it was never done by the previous Government when they were in office—gives each distributor a guarantee of forward funding, and enables that distributor to plan ahead properly. In addition, the development of strategies—which, again, is for the first time a responsibility on each of the distributors—will enable them to put the plans into written form for public consumption, so that everyone knows precisely where they stand.
§ Mr. Peter Ainsworth (East Surrey)Will the Secretary of State comment on the latest figures, which we produced with the help of the Library, that show that, between now and 2005, about £3.7 billion which should have gone to the arts, sports, charities and heritage will be siphoned off, to help fill the Chancellor's economic black hole, into the new control freak fund? Does not the right hon. Gentleman accept that, by turning the national lottery into the Government's lottery, he has betrayed the original good causes and also his party's policy before the general election?
Does the right hon. Gentleman agree with these views:
The lottery was not supposed to be a fund-raising mechanism for the Government. That makes it simply another form of taxation. Why should people have to pay more taxes? … why give the Government a great big bucket of money?"—[Official Report, 25 October 1995; Vol. 264, c. 1095-96.]The Secretary of State may recognise the florid language of his hon. Friend the Minister for Sport. Those were his words before the election, but the Government have betrayed them since.
§ Mr. SmithIt may come as no surprise that I do not agree with the hon. Gentleman. He may have noticed, for example, what the Arts Council of England said when, in September, I was able to announce the £1.8 billion guarantee for income over the present licence period for the council and an additional £50 million. The council's response was as follows:
The Arts Council is delighted … at the announcement of an additional £50 million".The hon. Gentleman completely ignores the fact that the new opportunities fund was a commitment that we gave to the people of this country during the general election campaign. Unlike Conservative Members, we believe in keeping our commitments.