§ Mr. ReedTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how her Department's £150 million of PFI credits for the spending review period 2003–04 to 2005–06 are being allocated. [159951]
§ Mr. CabornDCMS is using its allocation of £150 million PFI credits for the spending review of 2003–04 to 2005–06 to support 16 PFI schemes in the following areas:
§ Estelle MorrisSince the introduction of the 1998 Lottery Act and changes to policy directions, we have encouraged distributors to work together to make Lottery funding more accessible and to support projects aimed at developing communities. Village halls and other community buildings encourage community spirit and help ensure the survival of many local interest groups.
There is currently no specific funding strand for village halls although many community buildings have benefited from National Lottery grants. The Community Fund is the main Lottery funder of community buildings and the following table shows the awards it has granted to community buildings since the start of the Lottery. In a stand alone programme, the Millennium Commission also awarded over £65.8 million to village halls and a breakdown is shown in the second table below. (This figure does not include urban community centres and includes the monies given to village halls as enhancement grants in 2003.) Other Lottery distributors have also awarded grants to village halls although these figures cannot be separately identified and displayed.
1503W
Grants awarded by the Millennium Commission to village hall projects £ 1995 6,583,774 1996 35,390,498 1997 21,046,235 1998 1,431,924 Subtotal 64,452,431 2003 1,426,648 Grand total 65,879,079