§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) if she will make a statement on the future of the New Opportunities fund; [114094]
(2) if she will make a statement on the future of the Community fund. [114095]
§ Tessa JowellI announced my intention to proceed with plans to merge the Community fund and New Opportunities fund in February, to create a new community Lottery distributor. The new body would set the pace for modernising delivery of Lottery funding, allowing better coordination and more efficient distribution of funding, and identify and implement programmes to transform communities. We are consulting with the voluntary sector and other interested parties, and these discussions will feed into proposals on the future of Lottery distribution which we intend to publish in the summer.