HC Deb 03 March 2004 vol 418 c966W
Miss Kirkbride

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on her plans to make the distribution of National Lottery funds more responsive to public opinion. [157785]

Tessa Jowell

The Government made a commitment in the National Lottery Funding Decision Document to increase the public's involvement in decisions on Lottery spending. The new merged distributor will pioneer new ways to achieve this. In preparation, the Community Fund and the New Opportunities Fund are already beginning to look at new ideas for consulting local people about particular local decisions. Other options on involving the public are being explored, including some of those set out in the decision document. Lottery distributors are also working together to identify best practice and to develop options for increasing public involvement in decisions about Lottery funding themes and local Lottery spending.

Chris Ruane

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much Heritage Lottery funding was given to each of the principal seaside towns in England and Wales from(a) the inception of the Lottery to 1997 and (b) 1997 to date, listed in descending order. [156039]

Estelle Morris

The amount of Heritage Lottery Funding that was given to each of the principal seaside towns in England and Wales from(a) the inception of the Lottery to, 1997 and (b) 1997 to date, listed in descending order was:

£
(a) Inception—31 December 1996
Brighton 1,218,650
Folkestone and Hythe 116,000
Thanet 183,000
Blackpool 97,500
Weston-Super-Mare 71,500
Conwy 60,000
Isle of Wight 57,000
Southport 34,000
Hastings and Bexhill 7,200
Bournemouth
Eastbourne
Lowestoft
Southend-on-Sea
Torbay
Whitstable and Herne Bay
Worthing
(b) 1 January 1997 to date
Brighton 13,130,219
Hastings and Bexhill 6,920,138
Conwy 6,765,877
Southport 5,538,238
Thanet 5,054,713
Isle of Wight 5,149,466
Folkestone and Hythe 5,412,968
Bournemouth 3,407,225
Weston-Super-Mare 1,954,475
Whitstable and Herne Bay 1,707,311
Southend-on-Sea 1,694,929
Torbay 939,100
Lowestoft 775,547
Blackpool 745,800
Eastbourne 435,650
Worthing 2,062,145