§ Lord Freybergasked Her Majesty's Government:
In view of the comments in paragraph 24 of the Fifth Report (HC Paper 742) of the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee, what is the relationship between the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the National Lottery and the distribution of lottery funds; and whether they have plans to review this relationship. [HL3842]
§ Lord McIntosh of HaringeyLottery funding decisions are made by a number of distributing bodies: the Sports and Arts Councils of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland; the National Heritage202WA Memorial Fund; the Millennium Commission; the National Lottery Charities Board; and the New Opportunities Fund. The bodies operate at arm's length from government. Ministers have no say in individual grant decisions.
The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (and other ministerial colleagues, depending on the distribution body in question) set the financial management framework within which the bodies operate and the broad policy matters they are expected to take into account when reaching their decisions. In addition, the New Opportunities Fund can support only projects which fall within an initiative defined in an order made by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and approved by Parliament. We have no plans to review these arrangements.