HC Deb 02 December 2002 vol 395 cc536-8W
Nick Harvey

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what measures her Department has taken to ensure devolution of decision-making for National Lottery funding grants; and if she will make a statement. [83783]

Dr. Howells

The National Lottery Act 1998 gave Lottery distributors powers to delegate funding decisions to a more local level and increasing use is being made of these powers. This Department is currently conducting a review of Lottery funding and published a consultation paper in July seeking views on how Lottery distribution could be improved and how more decisions about Lottery funding could be devolved to a local level. The Department is now looking closely at the responses received.

Nick Harvey

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the maximum level is of National Lottery grant funding that can be spent by regional bodies; and if she will make a statement. [83749]

Dr. Howells

There is no statutory maximum. The Community Fund has delegated its grant-making powers to regional committees up to a limit of £1 million per grant. The Arts Council of England has delegated decisions on projects under £100,000 to its regional offices. The Heritage Lottery Fund delegates decisions to regional committees for award grants up to £1 million. Awards for All, the cross distributor awards programme supported by the good causes of heritage, arts, sports charities and the New Opportunities Fund has regional committees which make grant decisions up to a maximum award value of £5,000.

Nick Harvey

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much National Lottery grant funding was spent by(a) region and (b) regional body in the UK in (i) 1998–99, (ii) 1999–2000, (iii) 2000–01 and (iv) 2001–02; and if she will make a statement. [83778]

Dr. Howells

The following table sets out the total amount of Lottery funding awarded to each of the English regions and to Scotland, Wales and Northern

Lottery Award Regional Totals
£
Region 1 April 1998 to 31 March 1999 1 April 1999 to 31 March 2000 1 April 2000 to 31 March 2001 1 April 2001 to 31 March 2002
East Midlands 40,805,628 40,888,110 67,376,238 70,266,135
Eastern 51,583,669 48,911,292 53,965,761 64,706,603
London 274,503,707 102,365,945 162,537,615 133,259,638
North East 48,989,336 99,211,191 46,893,035 60,494,311
North West 120,174,482 185,009,505 118,337,247 81,415,407
South East 98,523,440 78,058,630 98,869,911 90,404,696
South West 79,430,052 63,224,137 75,996,544 76,260,409
West Midlands 72,255,440 70,975,613 69,067,417 61,539,810
Yorkshire and Humberside 62,856,278 56,637,836 58,742,145 125,908,578
Northern Ireland 50,125,751 53,397,051 42,202,885 30,769,992
Scotland 104,722,477 122,940,815 87,481,599 136,634,195
Wales 64,110,173 82,798,156 63,164,837 62,103,710

Nick Harvey

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment she has made of the impact of distributing bodies' strategic plans for National Lottery funding on(a) capital and revenue schemes and (b) variations in regions of the UK; and if she will make a statement. [83782]

Dr. Howells

Distributors were asked to indicate in their recently published strategic plans what proportion of overall awards were likely to be capital and what revenue, and to indicate levels of funding to be allocated to country, regional or local level. Distributors are asked to evaluate their achievements against the objectives set out in the plans.

These issues are also addressed in the consultation paper published by the Secretary of State on 29 July, and will be considered as part of the Review of Lottery funding.

Tim Loughton

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer given to the hon. Member for East Worthing and Shoreham on 26 November, reference 83302, how many ex-servicemen's welfare organisations in West Sussex applied for National Lottery funding this year. [84767]

Mr. Caborn

The Community Fund is not aware of any such application.

1998 to 1999 1999 to 2000 2000 to 2001 2001 to 2002
Average percentage of collection items stored in the correct environmental conditions 74 74 76 78
Average percentage of time open 56 59 60 61
Average percentage of collection internet accessible 4 14 22 31

Nick Harvey

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many(a) children, (b) pensioners and (c) others visited each major national museum funded by her Department (i) 1998–99, (ii) 1999–2000,(iii)2000–01 and (iv) 2001–02; and if she will make a statement. [83740]

Ireland in the relevant years. This is taken from the Department's awards database which is based on information provided by Lottery distributors.

My Department does not hold information about what proportion of this amount was awarded at a regional level.

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