The National Lottery: Plans (Hansard, 27 October 1998)

§ Lord McIntosh of Haringey
My Lords, we expect the National Lottery to raise £10.6 billion for good causes during the current licence period, which is £600 million above previous forecasts. The arts, sport, heritage and charities will each receive an additional £50 million and are each guaranteed 16⅔ per cent. of National Lottery revenues beyond 2001. The other £400 million will go to initiatives on health, education and the environment. We will publish a consultation document outlining our proposals next month. The New Opportunities Fund will inherit the millennium stream of funding after 2001

§ Baroness Sharples
My Lords, I thank the Minister for that Answer. Does he agree with the headline in the Guardian of 7th October, "Government raids lottery funds"? Does he further accept that many charities are expressing considerable concern about their future because of the Government's raid on the lottery funds?

§ Lord McIntosh of Haringey
My Lords, no, I do not agree with the headline in the Guardian. The Government are not raiding any lottery funds; lottery funds are going to a wide range of good causes, including the arts, heritage, sport and charities, health, education and the environment. The National Lottery's Charities Board has a particular role above and beyond its monetary allocation in that we have charged it with bringing together volunteers and opportunities for volunteering throughout the range of lottery funding. It is already consulting on a strategic plan for that purpose.

§ Lord Rowallan
My Lords, does the Minister accept that there is £3.62 billion still in the distribution fund which has not been distributed? I know that the Minister will say that that has been put to some use but, of that, nearly £1.54 billion has not been committed to any project at all. The fund is increasing by nearly £33.5 million per month which is hardly a satisfactory situation.

§ Lord McIntosh of Haringey
My Lords, I do not agree. The fact is that £4.8 billion has already been committed and only £1.5 billion remains to be committed. That is exactly what one would expect bearing in mind that there is still money to come in. Money is not drawn down before it is needed. It goes 1815 into a tax-free fund; it earns interest; the interest goes into the good causes; and the National Lottery Distribution Fund has already brought in £500 million for good causes. Therefore, we are not losing out. Nobody is losing out.

§ Lord Shore of Stepney
My Lords, given that the surplus on that fund is not immediately required and in view of the long list of beneficiaries which my noble friend announced, will he kindly consider whether agriculture might be added to that long list?

§ Lord McIntosh of Haringey
No, my Lords.

§ The Earl of Onslow
My Lords, are not health, education and the environment the responsibility of the Government? Was not the National Lottery set up to give money to matters which are not the responsibility of the Government?

§ Lord McIntosh of Haringey
My Lords, is the noble Earl arguing that health, education and the environment are solely the responsibility of the Government and that arts, sport, culture and heritage are not at all the responsibility of the Government? I challenge both views. The definition of "additionality", which is what the noble Earl is talking about, has not changed since before the election. Indeed, the last Prime Minister, Mr. Major, said after the election that he was considering whether lottery funds should be used to put sports teachers back into schools. That money is still additional to core government expenditure, as it always was.

§ Lord Dean of Beswick
My Lords, is the Minister aware that there is some criticism because some of the people on the board distributing lottery money are members of bodies in the field of the arts and so on which are receiving the money? Is it not the case too that there is some legitimate criticism that some of the more affluent areas of the United Kingdom are receiving very large sums of money from that fund whereas some of the poorest areas are being almost ignored?

§ Lord McIntosh of Haringey
My Lords, I have not heard any allegations that any members of the distribution boards have been acting in any way improperly. If my noble friend has any such evidence, I am sure that he will wish to give it to me. But the whole purpose of the broadening of the distribution of lottery funds is to make sure that social needs which are additional to core government expenditure, which affects poor people as well as richer people, should benefit from lottery funds.

The Viscount of Falkland
My Lords, will the Minister tell us something of the new criteria for the funding of film production which is expected from the new film council, rather than the distribution of lottery moneys being decided by the Arts Council, some of which has been criticised in the past? What does the 1816 Minister expect to come from the new participation of the film council in terms of the performance of British films?

§ Lord McIntosh of Haringey
My Lords, I am very glad to have that question but I am not glad to have it now. As the noble Viscount knows, we are consulting on our proposals for film funding. We have received responses from various parts of the industry. They are generally in favour of the proposed film council but the details of that have yet to be announced. We shall make the public and parliament aware as soon as we have reached a final conclusion.

§ Baroness Rawlings
My Lords, will the Minister inform the House what opportunities were given to the distributing bodies to put forward their case before announcing the share of lottery money currently given to the Millennium Commission which, after 2001, is to go to the New Opportunities Fund?

§ Lord McIntosh of Haringey
My Lords, the distribution bodies are in constant contact with Ministers and officials in my department. There is no inhibition whatever on them expressing their views. But ultimately the Government must decide between them.