19. Memorandum submitted by
The Lottery Forum
INTRODUCTION
1. The Lottery Forum has been operational
since July 2003. It constitutes principally the Chief Executives
of the England and UK-wide Lottery Distributors (Arts Council
of England; Community Fund; Film Council; Heritage Lottery Fund;
Millennium Commission; National Endowment for Science Technology
and the Arts (NESTA); New Opportunities Fund; Sport England; UK
Sport). The Chief Executives of the Lottery Distributors based
in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are also members but do
not regularly attend the Lottery Forum meetings. Our aim is to
facilitate the Distributors in working together more effectively.
Lottery Distributors will continue to work independently where
that is the most appropriate and effective way of proceeding.
We are already taking forward work in a number of areas, including
improving consistency, providing easier access to Lottery funding
and overseeing the expansion of the Awards for All scheme in England.
This submission provides an outline of our current work programme.
BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT
PROJECT
2. This project is identifying processes
where we could adopt a common approach in order to provide a better
service to applicants. It is currently at the research stage,
drawing up proposals for implementation in 2004-05. The areas
covered by the project are as follows.
3. Common customer care charter and key
performance indicators:
— Distributors have agreed in principle
to adopt a common customer care charter and related performance
indicators. We expect to approve the charter in March 2004. We
are comparing current performance indicators and are in discussion
with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport about rationalising
current indicators into a common set.
4. Common complaints process:
— The level of formal complaints across
all distributors is low, but we believe that it is important that
these are handled in a consistent way. We are therefore developing
a common complaints process which we will adopt from April 2004.
During 2004, the Lottery Forum will conduct a tendering exercise
on behalf of all members to appoint two external reviewers for
the period April 2005-March 2009.
5. Pre application advice:
— Distributors currently operate a
joint portal, www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk and a National
Lottery Funding Hotline. However, the advice available from these
is at a fairly basic level and our research shows it to be less
than effective for more "generic" groups or projects—those
which do not fall obviously within the arts, sport or heritage
sectors. We are therefore exploring options to improve this service.
Implementation will be in line with the creation of the new distributor,
as this provides an opportunity to re-launch the entry systems
to provide a focal point for organisations looking for lottery
funding for the first time and for those unsure about the funding
opportunities available.
6. Cross distributor applications:
— We recognise that applicants applying
to more than one distributor for funding for a single project
face multiple application forms and monitoring regimes. Where
there is a common theme to our funding, we have already joined
together to deliver a number of programmes—examples include
Awards for All, Space for Sports and Arts, PE and Sport. However,
establishing such schemes has proved a lengthy and complex process.
We are exploring ways of improving this.
7. Three distributors—Arts Council
England, Community Fund and Sport England—have also run
a joint Community Buildings programme on a trial basis in the
West Midlands. The programme was set up to provide grants of up
to £100,000 for multi-use community buildings in the West
Midlands. The 18-month trial closed for applications in October
2003, with a total of 79 eligible applications received. Final
awards will be made in March 2004; to date £1.2 million has
been awarded through the programme. It is being externally evaluated,
with the final report due in July 2004.
8. Common terminology and classifiers:
— We are reviewing current application
forms with a view to improving consistency. We are also considering
reporting, where there is currently little commonality but scope
for developing a single framework.
AWARDS FOR
ALL ENGLAND
9. The Forum oversees the Awards for All
programme in England. We will continue the current scheme in 2004-05,
with improved delivery systems from April 2004 that will reduce
turnaround times for processing applications from 13 to a maximum
of eight weeks. We are planning for changes to the scheme from
April 2005, including research into the potential impact of increasing
the upper limit for the programme to £10,000; identification
of models for piloting micro grants and a review of governance
and management arrangements, where we believe there is scope to
reduce administration costs.
PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT
IN DECISIONS
ABOUT THE
LOTTERY FUNDING
THEMES AND
LOCAL LOTTERY
SPENDING
10. We have set up a working group to review
current practice and identify options for increasing public involvement.
This group will present proposals to us in February 2004. Public
involvement is also an element we hope to explore through piloting
micro grants in 2004-05 through the Awards for All programme.
CROSS-CUTTING,
MAJOR CAPITAL
PROJECTS
11. We are establishing a group to work
alongside Community Fund/New Opportunities staff involved in shaping
a transformational grants programme for the new distributor. The
Forum's group will develop proposals for handling major capital
projects, taking into account the Gateway Review process; identify
where and how management of such projects could be led by a single
distributor; and develop proposals for establishing a Centre of
Excellence on the delivery of major capital projects.
REGIONAL WORK
12. At a regional level, there is already
considerable joint activity and engagement. Activities include
regular Lottery Roadshows or Funding Fairs, providing a "one
stop shop" for potential applicants; joint marketing materials
such as leaflets and newsletters; regional Lottery conferences
and Regional Lottery Officers' groups, bringing together local
authority lottery officers. Distributors in a number of regions
have identified common priorities, both geographical—areas
where all the distributors make less grants than they would wish—and
communities of interest, where the majority of distributors are
targeting the same beneficiaries (eg black and minority ethnic
communities, children and young people), and are working together
to target these priorities.
13. The Lottery Forum has a key role to
play in promoting and supporting regional joint working. We have
asked all regions to produce an annual action plan, outlining
strategic objectives and practical activities for the year ahead.
The first plans will be submitted to us in March 2004, and we
will review them to identify good practice and ensure that this
is shared between regions.
RISK MANAGEMENT
STRATEGY
14. We have established a joint Risk Management
Group, which will develop an overarching risk management strategy
for distributors. The aim of this group is to improve management
of risk across all distributors by identifying and prioritising
common risks. The group will meet regularly to review the strategy,
identify any emerging risks and share knowledge and experience.
INCREASING EFFICIENCY
15. Under the auspices of the Lottery Forum,
distributors' corporate directors and heads of function meet together
regularly to share information and best practice. We believe that
these meetings are an effective way of increasing our efficiency.
For example, Heads of IT are sharing work on electronic records
management and distributors improving aspects of their systems
are able to reduce significantly project lead in times by sharing
business cases, approach and lessons learned. One distributor
is making considerable savings by adopting another's approach
to electronic application forms. There is increasing commonality
in personnel, payroll and accounts systems, allowing further gains
through shared knowledge.
January 2004
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