§ 4. Mrs. Sylvia Heal (Halesowen and Rowley Regis)How many schools he estimates will benefit in the first year of the national lottery-funded out of school hours activities. [83411]
§ The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Mr. Chris Smith)The number of schools that will benefit in the first year of the programme of out of school hours activities under the new opportunities fund will depend on the number of successful applications initially submitted. I hope, however, that many schools and local communities will want to take early advantage of the programme. It provides a good opportunity for the development of activities for pupils in homework, extra learning, arts, music and, I am very pleased to say, sport, including competitive team games.
§ Mrs. HealWhile I welcome my right hon. Friend's comments, will he assure the House that the development 627 of the new opportunities fund and the initiatives that it provides will not have an adverse impact on the work of the other lottery distributors?
§ Mr. SmithI can, indeed, give that assurance to my hon. Friend. The number of people playing the lottery has been such that the expectations of the original lottery distributors have not only been met, but are already well on course to be exceeded. I can tell the House today that the money that good causes will receive from the national lottery is, according to the latest estimates, likely to be at least £250 million more than had previously been expected. Those new figures should mean at least £40 million extra each for the arts, heritage, sport and charities—and it could be considerably more.
§ Mr. James Gray (North Wiltshire)Does not the Secretary of State find it odd to be answering questions that should much more properly be answered by the Secretary of State for Education and Employment? Is he doing so because the so-called new opportunities fund removes £3.7 billion from the good causes that should be funded from the lottery, and even if the money from the lottery goes up, it will do so by £3.7 billion less than it would otherwise have gone up? Is he not ashamed of that, and would not he prefer to answer questions on culture, media and sport rather than on education, the environment and health?
§ Mr. SmithWe spelled out clearly during the election what we intended to do in terms of the creation of the new opportunities fund, and we have proceeded to do precisely that. We are a Government who believe in fulfilling the promises that we make to the electorate.