National Lottery Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 6:32 pm on 6 February 2006.

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Photo of Baroness Pitkeathley Baroness Pitkeathley Deputy Chairman of Committees, Deputy Speaker (Lords) 6:32, 6 February 2006

My Lords, the National Lottery is one of the great success stories of our nation, as my noble friend reminded us. John Major's Government can take great credit for establishing it in the face of much scepticism and opposition. There was talk of producing a nation addicted to gambling and a great deal of fear in the charitable sector that the National Lottery would entirely divert from fundraising for all charities. Indeed, I must own my position on that: I headed a charity at the time and went on record with my worries about how we could survive the setting up of the National Lottery Charities Board—a position that I soon changed once I had received from the National Lottery Charities Board, which later became the Community Fund, a very large grant that transformed my organisation.

Although the lottery was a success from the beginning, there was a sense that the projects and initiatives that it funded initially were not sufficiently well directed to the benefit of the people who played the lottery in the greatest numbers. The funding of the Royal Opera House and the purchase of the Churchill papers are most usually cited in that regard. That is what the incoming Labour Government tried to address soon after they came to power by setting up the New Opportunities Fund, whose twin aims were to complement existing and planned government initiatives and, most importantly, to focus exclusively on disadvantaged people and communities.

Here, I must declare an interest as the first and, as it turned out, only chair of the New Opportunities Fund—a post that I held for six years. I think that I can be justly proud of that organisation's record. It set up 300 healthy living centres; it transformed libraries by establishing the People's Network; it transformed childcare services in schools and outside; it opened the countryside to many thousands more people; and countless other initiatives were delivered via both statutory and voluntary organisations. That is a fine legacy of six short years. The Community Fund, too, made a huge contribution to the charitable sector and brought many causes to national attention which otherwise would not now exist. It had a particularly fine record of enabling the voice of the user to be influential in policy development and service delivery.

Good though both organisations were separately, I never had a problem with the decision to merge them to form the Big Lottery Fund. Although the Bill formalises that merger, we should be aware that the Big Lottery Fund has in essence been operating as one organisation since 2004, and operating most effectively. So the Bill, which finally formalises that merger and brings the Millennium Commission on board, is long overdue.

The board of the Big Lottery Fund, under the very able chairmanship of Sir Clive Booth, and the staff are to be congratulated on the progress they have made during this period, which could have been one of great uncertainty, given the unfortunate delay in the legislation. However, the launch of the Young People's Fund, which puts young people at the very heart of creating, planning and running projects, the magnificent Veterans Reunited programme, to commemorate the ending of the Second World War, and the launch of the People's Millions, which will fund projects to benefit local communities and which the viewing public can take decisions about, are all very clear indications that the Big Lottery Fund has not stood still. They show that the fund and other lottery funders are adapting to change and focusing more of their work on addressing disadvantage. I am very glad that the New Opportunities Fund can be said to have shown the way on this.

This long-awaited Bill has many advantages, to which I shall refer later and which the Minister has set out for us. However, we can never discuss lottery funding without three particular topics rearing their heads, and although I often think there is absolutely nothing more to say about government control, additionality and funding for the voluntary and community sector, it is inevitable that every speaker today will have their own views, and I am no exception.

On the subject of government interference or control, it is very important to remember that all lottery distributors and not just the Big Lottery Fund are non-departmental public bodies, and are therefore accountable to the Secretary of State and to Parliament. I have chaired five of these bodies, and still hold the chair of two of them, so I am very familiar with how they operate. The relationship between a non-departmental public body and its sponsoring department is set by statute but subject to constant negotiation. The aim has to be for a relationship based on trust, confidence and the right amount of distance. It is for the non-departmental public body and the department to negotiate how much trust, confidence and distance they have, not once and for all, but constantly according to experience and to particular situations.

My belief is that the Bill subjects the Big Lottery Fund to less control than it did the New Opportunities Fund. The Government set the strategic framework in consultation with the Big Lottery Fund and based on three broad themes. The fund will then decide specific priorities independently and will take entirely its own decisions about where the money goes. This is less prescriptive than was the case with the New Opportunities Fund, but I emphasise to your Lordships that although my discussions with Ministers about the priorities of the New Opportunities Fund were sometimes robust, there was never any interference in decisions about grants. I therefore have every confidence both in what is proposed in the legislation and in the ability of the Big Lottery Fund and other distributors to negotiate these important relationships. We must have confidence in them to do that.

On the dreaded additionality word, it was always envisaged that lottery funding would be additional to funding that was properly provided by the state. Everyone I have ever spoken to or worked with in any lottery distributor upholds this principle and believes that funding should complement, not duplicate or replace, government funding. The difficulty lies in trying to find a once-and-for-all definition of additionality. What is seen as appropriate for government funding this year may not have been seen as appropriate five years ago or even two years ago, and may not be considered so again in five years' time.

At present the Big Lottery Fund has an excellent definition:

"Distinct from government funding and adding value".

And all distributors are pledged to report regularly on the additionality issue. Many of the arguments about additionality are philosophical rather than practical, especially if we look at this from the point of view of the recipients of the money, whether individuals or communities. So far as they are concerned, the important thing is that the money is supplied, not where it comes from. Indeed, research has shown that recipients are unaware of the distinctions between lottery and government funding, and certainly of the distinctions between different lottery distributors. Actually, a disturbing proportion of the public thinks that Camelot provides the money.

I know that my strong views about the impossibility of arriving at a definition of "additional" which would serve for a prolonged period will not stop others feeling just as strongly the other way, and certainly will not stop us having long discussions on amendments. Let me end what I have to say on this topic by quoting from the mission statement of the Big Lottery Fund, which is supported by seven values. One refers to additionality in these terms:

"Additional to government, ensuring our funding is distinct from that of government and that it adds value".

That is good enough for me.

On the funding available to the voluntary and community sector, I understand the anxieties on this matter. I have confessed my own when the lottery was first established. Colleagues in the sector want a direction that 60 to 70 per cent of the money should go to the voluntary and community sector, and they want that included in the Bill, although of course the Big Lottery Fund has already given an undertaking that that sum will go to the voluntary and community sector and that there is nothing previously funded by the Community Fund which could not be funded by the new distributor. But at the same time the voluntary and community sector wants a less prescriptive approach. Personally, I fail to see how asking the Government to lay down in statute the exact amount to go to one particular sector fits with a less prescriptive approach. My own view is that the undertaking made by the Big Lottery Fund, together with its extensive and ongoing consultation with stakeholders and its commitment to report regularly to Parliament, will ensure that the voluntary and community sector receives more funding than ever before.

Nor should we forget that this sector will also benefit from the other provisions of the Bill, allowing non-lottery funding which has charitable health, educational or environmental purposes to use their distribution infrastructure. That will open up new avenues for the voluntary and community sector from which it and its stakeholders will benefit hugely, I am sure.

In conclusion, let me say that I am a fan of this legislation and, in passing, that I am delighted that it is to apply to the Channel Islands. As a Channel Islander myself, every time I have visited over the past 10 years, I have been roundly lobbied on this issue. The Bill will also help us to save on administration costs. It will simplify lottery application and distribution mechanisms. It will secure funding for the voluntary and community sector and, importantly, it will allow full-cost recovery by allowing all legitimate overheads to be funded. The voluntary and community sector has wanted that for as long as I can remember. It will increase the participation of the public in decision making and improve public understanding of the huge contribution the lottery has already made to our lives, and enable it to make that contribution more effectively and efficiently. I wish it a safe and speedy passage through your Lordships' House.