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| LOTTERY
FUNDING SHAKE UP PUBLISHED BY TESSA JOWELL |
03/07/03 |
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The
government has published its Lottery White Paper with key proposals for
new style "micro" grants, a special fund for the Olympics, and
extra help for young people.
The long-awaited proposals include a £200m fund for disadvantaged young
people;
new lottery micro grants of less than £500; an increase in the upper limit
of the Community Fund's Awards for All scheme from £5,000 to £10,000; and
a special lottery fund to support the London Olympics bid.
Announced by Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, the White Paper plans to put
pressure on distributors to stop sitting on billions in reserves, threatening
to redistribute the interest accrued on reserves to other, more efficient
funds.
Proposals also confirm the government's intention to increase public involvement
in the distribution process, and confirms the merger between the Community
Fund and New Opportunities Fund.
Both welcomed the confirmation, with Community Fund chair Diana Brittan
and NOF chair Jill Pilkeathley saying in a joint statement: "We will build
on the strengths of both our organisations, but the new distributor must
be more than the sum of the parts.
"It will focus on the benefits the Lottery can bring to communities,
making funding more accessible and putting the customer first."
They committed the new body to delegating decisions to the local level,
and also promised to explore a range of funding mechanisms – including
open programmes. However, they also added: "Partnership working across sectors
and complementing government priorities will also be key themes."
Speaking to the BBC, Tessa Jowell said: "There is the possibility of very
local referenda to get people to express their views about big regional
lottery funding causes. It is important that the priorities for the lottery
reflect the priority of people in this country. £14bn has been raised for
good causes since the Lottery began, but there has been a democratic deficit
for the lottery and we need to address that."
The NCVO called for relaxation of government control over Lottery in welcoming
the decision of the Culture Secretary that the lottery will now become the
"people's lottery".
"If it is the people's lottery then it is not the government's. The
acid test will therefore be a relaxation of government controls on the proposed
merged lottery distributor," said Stuart Etherington, NCVO chief executive.
He added: "We also need assurances that those causes that are less
obviously popular with the public are safeguarded so that all parts of the
community benefit from the lottery".
NCVO has also called for the new merged lottery distributor to be based
on 3 key principles: independence (all funds to be distributed by independently
appointed bodies), additionality (provide additional funding for good causes),
and sustainability (distributors should support the development of a sustainable
funding environment for the voluntary sector).
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