Dr. John CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage how many organisations have been awarded funds from the national lottery five good causes; what is the total amount in pounds; and how much of that money in percentage terms from each of the five good causes has not yet been paid out to these organisations. [28143]
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyInformation about lottery awards is collected on the basis of awards and projects rather than on the basis of recipient organisations. At 2 May 1996, 5,498 awards for 6,588 projects totalling £1,484,691,164.76 had been made by the 11 lottery distributing bodies throughout the United Kingdom.
It is a general principle in the distribution of lottery funds that cash will be paid out only to an award recipient on receipt of an invoice relating to the lottery-funded project, consistent with the prudent management of public funds. Until that time, the funds allocated and committed to the future costs of projects remain invested in the national lottery distribution fund, where all the investment returns earned accrue to the good causes.
It is therefore important to distinguish between the commitment of funds to awards and the draw-down of cash from the NLDF. The figures for awards include a significant proportion of projects which have not yet drawn down from the NLDF, either because the award is very recent, or because the project has not yet met all the particular conditions placed on the award. They also include the total value of awards to over 4,000 capital projects whose expenditure is spread out over many years to come.
My Department ensures that the future commitment of funds by the lottery distributing bodies remains within prudent levels consistent with their share of the expected income to the NLDF.
The figures for each of the five good causes for funds allocated from the NLDF at 31 March 1996 are shown in the table: 34W
Lottery receipts £ million Amount awarded (including future commitments £ million Amount drawn down £ million Percentage of amount awarded awaiting draw down from NLDF Arts 363 403 35 90 Sports 363 254 29 92 Heritage 363 173 36 90 Millennium 363 494 5 99 Charities 363 159 19 95