§ 22. Mr. SwayneTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will make a statement about the criteria taken into consideration in determining awards from national Lottery funds. [128218]
§ Mr. Chris SmithThe criteria vary from distributor to distributor and from funding programme to funding programme. They are based on the National Lottery Financial and Policy Directions which I have issued to Lottery distributors, and also on distributors' own policies and strategic plans.
§ 25. Mr. SawfordTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps he is taking to ensure that funding from the national lottery fund is targeted at the communities with greatest social and economic need to promote participation by young people in performing music. [128221]
§ Mr. Alan HowarthThe National Foundation for Youth Music, an independent charitable body, was set up by the Department using £30 million in Arts Council Lottery funds to provide and facilitate opportunities for young people to access music making. The Foundation has a key aim to reach young people who are currently deprived of access, improving provision to geographical regions and areas of special need where there are few opportunities for music making.
§ Ms Oona KingTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will make a statement on the criteria for the awarding of funds from the Heritage Lottery Fund. [128214]
§ Mr. Chris SmithThe Heritage Lottery Fund's criteria for assessing applications under particular schemes are set out in guidance notes in their application pack. The HLF's current Strategic Plan also sets out the four main priorities for allocating grant funding. They are heritage conservation, national heritage, local heritage and heritage education and access.
§ Mr. GreenwayTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) what estimate he has made of the annual costs to local authorities and other public bodies directly arising from applications to Lottery funding bodies; [129535]
418W(2) what estimate he has made of the annual costs to charities and other voluntary organisations directly arising from applications to lottery funding bodies. [129537]
§ Kate HoeyNone. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has, however, directed the independent Quality Efficiency and Standards Team (QUEST) to look at the cost to all applicants of making applications for lottery grants, and consider how these costs could be contained without compromising the demands of proper accountability in decisions about how to spend public money. The first phase of QUEST's report, which focuses on applications for lottery grants of up to £100,000, will be published shortly. The second phase, dealing with applications for grants of £100,000 plus, will be published later in the year.
§ Mr. HoyleTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will make a statement on the number of Lottery awards given to(a) the North West, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland. [128830]
§ Kate HoeyThe following table shows the number of awards in the North West, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland since the start of the Lottery, according to my Department's National Lottery awards database.
Location Number of awards North West 3,827 Scotland 8,991 Wales 5,525 Northern Ireland 1,339