Clause 7 - National Lottery Distribution Fund: apportionment
National Lottery Bill
11:00 am
Andrew Turner (Shadow Minister (Charities), (Assisted By Shadow Law Officers); Isle of Wight, Conservative)
Then I make that request here and now. Perhaps the Minister will place in the Library copies of the e-mails that were exchanged between the Secretary of State and the lottery distribution organisations that produced, almost overnight, such a large amount of money. Many lottery applicants in my constituency would count themselves lucky to receive a response on far smaller amounts of money in three to six months, let alone overnight.
Why are the Government asking Parliament to give the Secretary of State these powers? If it is so important to prescribe how lottery money is spent, why are they giving powers to the Secretary of State and not to Parliament? Parliament is not well known for overturning the decisions or preferences of Ministers. We do so when it is necessary, but we do so seldom. The Government would not lose power in that respect, but they would at least establish that a future Secretary of State could not distort funding decisions. My hon. Friend the Member for East Devon said that we should always try to legislate not just for the present but for the future.
Let me give an example. What if an incoming Secretary of State were to decide to promote a grammar school for every town? I accept that that is probably the policy that will be revealed this afternoon by the Secretary of State for Education and Skills. But what if a future Secretary of State wanted to do that? All that would be required would be for that Secretary of State to speak to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and suggest an amendment to the prescriptions and, lo and behold, all the money would be spent in a different way.
That is the power with which we are investing the Secretary of State, rather than Parliament. It has always been my contention that the less that is done by delegated legislation and the more that is done by Parliament, the more democratic the outcome; albeit that the outcome might be the same.