House of Commons
Monday 19 May 1997
The House met at half-past Two o'clock
PRAYERS
[Madam Speaker in the Chair]
Member Sworn
The following Member took and subscribed the Oath required by Law: Gordon McMaster, esquire, Paisley, South
Oral Answers to Questions
NATIONAL HERITAGE
National Lottery
1. Mr. Ian Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what plans he has to reduce the level of national lottery funds allocated to the present good causes.[360]
The Secretary of State for National Heritage (Mr. Chris Smith): I am delighted to respond to the hon. Gentleman's question as the first Labour Cabinet Minister to answer a departmental question in this House in 18 years.
The national lottery is the people's lottery, it is the people's money and the new Government believe that we should address the people's priorities. That is why our proposals in the Queen's Speech will bring the benefits of the lottery to more people in more imaginative ways. The financial success of the lottery, particularly the introduction of the midweek draw, means that we can implement our plans without any significant effect on the existing good causes.
Mr. Bruce:
I welcome the right hon. Gentleman and his team to the Front Bench. In particular, I warmly welcome the Minister for Sport, who will encourage Back Benchers to feel that perhaps we can all make it. Perhaps the Minister will take time to look back at the honourable record of the previous Minister for Sport, who for many years wanted a national lottery, even when the Labour party was against it, and who on every occasion--
Madam Speaker:
Order. I think that we ought to get off to a good start for the first Question Time. Therefore, I would like a question now, please.
Mr. Bruce:
The previous Minister for Sport said that that there should be no replacement of Government spending with lottery spending. Will the present Minister for Sport have to say "We was robbed" on behalf of the good causes, which may lose up to £1 billion?
Mr. Smith:
First, many hon. Members from all parties have long supported the principle of a national lottery.
Mr. Pike:
I congratulate my right hon. Friend on his appointment as Secretary of State and on being the first Labour Cabinet Minister to answer questions at the Dispatch Box for so many years. I hope that he will continue to do so for as many years as we were in opposition. Does he realise that one thing that we could do to help more good causes to benefit from the lottery is to ensure that Camelot does not make excessive profits, far greater than were originally intended? Should not more money go to the good causes that we all want the lottery to support?
Mr. Smith:
I thank my hon. Friend for his kind words and his welcome. We shall be looking to create a "not for profit" operation of the lottery once the present contract for its operation comes to an end in 2001.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley:
I, too, congratulate the right hon. Gentleman and his colleagues on their appointments. The past five years have seen unprecedented investment in arts, sports and heritage and I commend to him the Department, the excellent officials who work there and the many independent bodies with which he will need to co-operate. Let there be no doubt, however, that the midweek draw was part of the original licence and the proceeds of that draw are part of the anticipated return on which the arts, sports and heritage are depending. If the right hon. Gentleman now rolls over to the Treasury and allows it to fund mainstream public spending from the lottery, he will have thrown away the greatest opportunity we have ever known to invest in sports, arts, heritage and the caring charities.
Mr. Smith:
I thank the right hon. Lady for her welcome and I concur entirely with the first part of her remarks about the extremely fine servants who serve us at the Department. However, the second part of her remarks is based on a complete misunderstanding. There is no question of our replacing mainstream Exchequer funding with proceeds from the lottery. Through our proposals for the use of some of the midweek lottery proceeds, we want to fund projects related to health and education which would not otherwise be possible. I had hoped that the right hon. Lady would give a rather warmer welcome to the idea of having healthy living centres in the high streets of this country and after-school clubs for the school children of this country, which are some of the things that we want to fund with lottery money.
2. Mr. Key:
To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage when he will meet representatives of British motor racing to discuss funding of that sport. [361]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for National Heritage (Mr. Tony Banks):
First, I acknowledge that a previous, very distinguished sports
Mr. Key:
May I be the first to congratulate the Minister on his new appointment? It is an early example of job creation in the Labour Government--two people did the job before and four people are doing it now, so we can expect a great deal. In view of the Government's decision today to abolish tobacco sponsorship as well as advertising, will the hon. Gentleman talk to the motor racing and motor sports industry, which employs more than 50,000 people? Will there be time and assistance for a transitional period and, if so, how much? Will the ban also include the broadcasting by television in this country of events overseas where tobacco bans do not apply?
Mr. Banks:
We need the extra Minister here to answer the many supplementaries that the hon. Gentleman has put. Motor racing in this country relies to a degree on sponsorship from the tobacco industry. However, I have been supplied with a list of all the other sponsors of motor racing and there are clearly adequate substitutes. One does not want to see the sport suffer as this country benefits enormously from the technology, skills and other spin-offs from the motor racing industry. However, there is a manifesto undertaking. It is clear that people voted overwhelmingly for my party with that manifesto undertaking and we intend to implement it. What transitional period we can get into place is a matter for negotiation, but nothing can stand in the way of our implementing that manifesto undertaking.
3. Mrs. Organ:
To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what plans he has to make the national lottery more relevant to ordinary people. [362]
Mr. Chris Smith:
Unlike the previous Government, we have listened to what the people have to say about the lottery. The Bill to reform the lottery will ensure that some of the proceeds of the lottery go to health and education-related projects and are used to nurture young talent in the arts and sciences. I shall be reviewing the way in which the existing good causes benefit to see that they, too, are increasingly relevant to the widest possible range of people.
Mrs. Organ:
I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for his reply, but what assurances can he give the people of the Forest of Dean that they will receive an equal and fair share of lottery funding, as should other rural areas? Can he assure the people of the Forest of Dean that the distribution system for lottery funds will be reformed so that it does not become metrocentric, as it did under the previous Government?
Mr. Smith:
I start by welcoming my hon. Friend to the House and saying how pleased we are to see her here. I am glad that my campaigning visit during the general election campaign was such a success.
I aim to ensure that all parts of the country benefit fully and fairly from the lottery. Early this summer, we shall issue a White Paper for consultation in preparation for the
National Lottery (Amendment) Bill, which will be introduced later this year. In the White Paper, we shall address precisely such issues.
Mr. Alan Clark:
As the Secretary of State seems to have a completely open mind about where lottery funds are directed, will he apply his mind to the issue of the British Olympic pistol shooting team, which appears likely to be wiped off the map by his Government's intemperate legislation?
Mr. Smith:
I am sure that the right hon. Gentleman will wish to make those points when legislation is rightly introduced to ban handguns. However, I can say to him that we have one very firm purpose in mind--to ensure that the proceeds of the national lottery are spent on the things that the people of this country want them to be spent on. That is why we came up with proposals during the general election campaign. It may surprise Opposition Members to know that the present Government--exceptionally--believe in fulfilling the commitments that we made during the general election campaign.
Mr. Maxton:
I congratulate my right hon. Friend on his appointment to what I consider to be the most interesting and one of the most important jobs in Government. May I suggest three quick ways in which he might improve the lottery?
First, will my right hon. Friend ensure that sports councils and arts councils can allocate money especially to areas of multiple deprivation? At present, the process of allocating funds is entirely bid led. Secondly, will my right hon. Friend ensure that a larger part of the total amount given to those projects is distributed in areas of multiple deprivation?
Mr. Maxton:
Thirdly--I have forgotten.
Mr. Smith:
I thank my hon. Friend for his question; if he remembers the third question in due course, I shall be happy to discuss it with him afterwards.
The answer to the first question is yes: one aspect of the lottery that bothers me is the fact that it is entirely application driven, which is one reason for the apparent misdistribution of lottery funds regionally across the country.
The answer to the second question is that I believe very strongly indeed that funds from the lottery must benefit those areas of deprivation that can most benefit from them.
Mr. Dafis:
In Wales, there is a fair amount of praise for the work done by the National Lottery Charities Board and by the system of distribution of funding for sports and the arts, but there is a fair amount of dissatisfaction regarding the work of the heritage fund and the Millennium Commission, and that dissatisfaction probably has something to do with the fact that there is no specific Welsh organisational structure with reference to those. Will the right hon. Gentleman discuss with the
Mr. Smith:
I certainly wish to discuss with my right hon. Friend all matters relating to the deployment of lottery funds in Wales--especially, of course, in relation to the establishment of a Welsh Assembly.
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