HC Deb 16 May 2002 vol 385 cc763-5W
Sue Doughty

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment she has made of the effect of the current allocation process for lottery funds on the accumulation of unspent funds; and if she will make a statement. [56141]

Mr. Caborn

The National Lottery has raised approximately £12.65 billion for good causes since its launch in November 1994, around £9.1 billion of which has been spent by the National Lottery distributing bodies. This leaves a balance of about £3.55 billion which distributors have not yet drawn down from the National Lottery Distribution Fund, although at the end of March 2002 distributors' total commitments stood at over £4.12 billion, some £570 million more than the balance held in the fund.

Government accounting rules, and the financial directions issued to the distributing bodies by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, prevent distributors from drawing down money from the Distribution Fund before it is needed to cover expenditure incurred by grant recipients. We will, however, examine how the financial directions might be modified to allow distributors a greater flexibility in managing the funds allocated to them, to enable more funds to be committed and to allow funds which are already committed to be transferred more quickly to grant recipients.

Sue Doughty

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what factors underlay the decision to reject the recommendation of the Rothschild Commission on Gambling that a charitable foundation would be the most appropriate and effective system for allocating Lottery money; and if she will make a statement. [56142]

Mr. Caborn

Following publication of a White Paper on the National Lottery in 1992 and the consultation which followed it was concluded that establishing the Lottery as a charity would blur the lines of accountability, and that under charity law many of the good causes beneficiaries which were not charities would not be eligible for funding.

Given the substantial sums of money involved—far in excess of those estimated by the Rothschild Commission—separate distributing bodies for each of the good causes were considered more appropriate, using existing bodies where possible so as not to duplicate expertise or run counter to existing strategies.

Sue Doughty

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make it her policy to ensure that all young people aged seven to 21 years have the opportunity to participate in arts and sports through Government or Lottery funded programmes; and if she will make a statement. [56143]

Mr. Caborn

One of the Department's four strategic priorities is to enhance access to a fuller cultural and sporting life for children and young people. To meet this aim DCMS is working closely with DfES and Lottery distributors to deliver a number of key initiatives, including: a sporting entitlement to ensure that all children have access to two hours a week of high quality school sport and physical education; the school sports co-ordinator programme, specialist sports colleges and the New Opportunities Fund Sport and PE in School Programme to improve sports provision in schools; Creative Partnerships, a new initiative linking schools with cultural organisations which is being established in 16 deprived areas across England; Space for Sport and Arts which will improve facilities in primary schools in deprived areas; and the music entitlement which will give all primary school pupils the opportunity to learn a musical instrument.

Sue Doughty

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment she has made of the impact of the underspend of Lottery money for good causes on long-term sales of tickets; and if she will make a statement. [56140]

Mr. Caborn

No specific assessment has been made. However, the Government regard it as important that the public should have confidence that Lottery funding is bringing the maximum benefit to good causes, and have asked the distributors to take steps to transfer committed funds to grant recipients as quickly as possible.