APPENDIX 2
DISTRIBUTION OF NATIONAL
LOTTERY FUNDS BY THE ENGLISH SPORTS COUNCIL (PAC 97-98/375)
Part of a letter to the
Clerk of the Committee
Q72.
No analysis has been undertaken by us comparing
expenditure on Lottery tickets by members of the public by area
with the amount of awards made by the Lottery Sports Fund. Any
information of sales of Lottery tickets by area is not, we understand,
publicly available.
The provision of Lottery funding is currently
applicant-driven. Awards are made according to the quality of
the project, its need and benefits to the local community and
its priority when balanced against other competing applications.
We do not take into account the spend per capita in an
area on Lottery tickets in assessing sporting need.
Under the new National Lottery Act, the English
Sports Council will be required to prepare a strategic plan showing
how it intends to use Lottery money to meet the needs of its sector.
The Secretary of State's new policy directions to the Council,
issued on 1 June, require the Council to take into account the
need to ensure that all parts of England have access to funding
and the scope for reducing economic and social deprivation. The
Council must also have regard to the need to promote access to
sport for people across all sections of society and to promote
knowledge of and interest in sport by children and young people.
The strategic plan must show how the Council has acted upon these
directions. We welcome these amendments and will build upon our
track record of extensive geographical coverage of the country
in implementation.
If distribution were determined by ticket sales,
there would be no guarantee that there would be a match between
the sporting needs of the sector in a particular region and the
funding available to meet them. We believe that the more proactive,
strategic approach to Lottery distribution introduced by the Act
and the new directions will produce an even more equitable distribution
of Lottery money.
Chief Executive
English Sports Council
23 July 1998
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