§ Mr. LintonTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will give estimates of the cash allocations for each of the New Opportunities Fund's initiatives for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, according to the methodologies announced at Second Reading of the National Lottery Bill in the House of Lords; and if he will make a statement. [40120]
§ Mr. Chris SmithI have today published preliminary drafts of Policy Directions which I intend to give to the New Opportunities Fund. Copies have been placed in the Library. These set out the proportion of money from that fund to be allocated between each of the four
£ million NOF initiative England Scotland Wales N. Ireland Unallocated Total Healthy living centres 232.5 34.5 19.5 13.5 — 300 ICT training and content creation 199.4 25.6 13.6 11.4 50 300 of which: Teacher training 183.3 23.2 12.7 10.8 — 230 Librarian training 16.1 2.4 0.9 0.6 — 20 Content creation — — — — 50 50 Out of school hours activities 310 46 26 18 — 400 of which: Learning activities 139.5 20.7 11.7 8.1 — 180 Childcare 155 23 13 9 — 200 Integrated childcare and learning 15.5 2.3 1.3 0.9 — 20 Total 741.9 106.1 59.1 42.9 50 1,000
§ Mr. LintonTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will publish drafts of policy directions which he intends to give to the New Opportunities Fund under Section 26(1) of the National Lottery etc. Act 1993 and Section 43C(1), to be inserted into the 1993 Act by the National Lottery Bill[Lords]. [40121]
§ Mr. Chris SmithI am publishing today preliminary drafts of the Policy Directions for the New Opportunities Fund, with accompanying explanatory notes. As drafts, these will, of course, be subject to further refinement and consultation with the Board of the New Opportunities Fund when it is established, before they are formally issued.
The Directions will ensure the New Opportunities Fund will deliver the objectives of the three initiatives set out in the White Paper (health, education and the environment) and overwhelmingly supported in the subsequent consultation exercise; set up a framework for the New Opportunities Fund's operation as an efficient,
2Wcountries of the UK for each of its first initiatives. The National Lottery is proving more successful and raising more money than anyone anticipated. I am determined that this extra money should be spent on projects which bring wider benefits to more people across the whole of the UK.
I have decided that the money from the New Opportunities Fund should be allocated between each of the four countries of the UK on a basis appropriate to each of the different initiatives it will support. So: the £300 million for healthy living centres will be allocated on the basis of population size, weighted by deprivation factors; the £400 million for out of school hours activities will also be allocated on the basis of population size, weighted by deprivation factors; the £250 million for information and communications technology training for teachers and librarians will be divided by the number of teachers and librarians in each country. Decisions have not yet been taken on the allocation of the £50 million for content creation.
The Lottery is played by the majority of adults across the UK and I want to ensure that as far as possible every area benefits from the money it raises for good causes.
Current estimates of what this will mean in cash terms for the next five years are shown in the table.
accountable, independent public body like the other Lottery distributors; require the New Opportunities Fund, like other distributors, to take account of important government policies and strategies relevant to its work.