Clause 17 - Outstanding balances
National Lottery Bill
11:15 am
Hugo Swire (Shadow Minister (the Arts), The Family & Culture, Media & Sport; East Devon, Conservative)
The clause deals with the outstanding balances of the bodies that are to be wound up. We have already debated whether that should be done by affirmative or negative resolution. The amendments seek to separate the Millennium Commission’s balances from those of the New Opportunities Fund and the Community Fund before they all merge into the Big Lottery Fund. We have debated what the Millennium Commission’s balances should be, and I refer to a written answer that the Minister gave to me last month:
“The Millennium Commission’s current balance held in the National Lottery Distribution Fund is £83 million, of which £67 million has been committed to existing grant programmes and for operating costs. The Millennium Commission remains in operation, and Commissioners retain discretion to offer further grants where they believe this to be appropriate. Under the provisions of the National Lottery Bill, the Big Lottery Fund as successor body, would take on any remaining balance and funding commitments.”—[Official Report, 21 October 2005; Vol. 438, c. 1244W.]
So there we have it in black and white.
The amendments are partially a response to that. We are not wholly convinced of the rationale behind the Millennium Commission’s uncommitted expenditure—which is probably about £16 million, perhaps a little less by now. Nor are we convinced that any balance remaining after all existing commitments are paid out should be swallowed up by the Big Lottery Fund. We have already heard that the Big Lottery Fund will benefit from the proposed rule changes on interest and the National Lottery Distribution Fund. Why should the Big Lottery Fund need even more money when it stands to get more than £600 million a year, or is that just an easy way for the Minister and his officials to do things?
I suggest that we put the remainder of the Millennium Commission’s balance, whatever it might be, back into the National Lottery Distribution Fund pot for distribution among all the distributors. After all, the Millennium Commission originally gave money for projects that were related to sport, the arts and heritage. There is no reason why only one sector should benefit from any unspent balances. I know that the Minister will seek to tell the Committee that the Big Lottery Fund will be responsible for monitoring Millennium Commission projects, but I question whether that will cost £16 million. In addition, why should not all the lottery good causes benefit from future receipts from the Millennium Commission, such as the potential sale of the dome, to which the Minister referred earlier? It will be interesting to know how far the Minister has got in trying to arrange the sale of the dome, what money that might yield and why it could not be fairly redistributed rather than, as is proposed, being put into the one big pot of the Big Lottery Fund. I cannot see why that money should go to the Big Lottery Fund alone, and I ask the Minister to reconsider.