§ Mr. Russell BrownTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland which Scottish areas will benefit from the Fair Share National Lottery Initiative. [40171]
§ Mr. FoulkesThis initiative is designed to ensure that disadvantaged areas which have received lower levels up until now of lottery funding will receive a fair share of future funding. Under the initiative, two of the National Lottery distributing bodies, the New Opportunities Fund and the Community Fund, will target £169 million of resources. Sixty-two disadvantaged areas across Great Britain will benefit. In Scotland, six Scottish local authority areas will be targeted, making available a total of £14.95 million over the next three years.
The Scottish local authority areas included in Fair Share are: City of Glasgow, City of Dundee, North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire and South Ayrshire. The six areas were selected by the lottery distributors on the basis of disadvantage combined with low levels of lottery funding. The distributors referred to the Scottish Area Deprivation Index and recent analysis for the Better Neighbourhood Services Fund initiative.
In considering lottery awards in the Fair Share areas, NOF and the Community Fund will work with a range of partners engaged in community regeneration and development, including Social Inclusion Partnerships, local authorities and Councils for Voluntary Service.
1488WMy right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport is making an announcement today about the areas in England that will benefit from Fair Share. The areas in Wales and Northern Ireland will be announced in due course.