Memorandum submitted by Awards for All
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 This submission provides an overview
of the Awards for All England small grants joint distributor Lottery
grants programme and responses to the issues raised in the Committee's
the call for memoranda.
2. BACKGROUND
2.1 Awards for All is a joint distributor
small grants programme aimed at local communities and making awards
of between £500 and £5,000 in a simple and straightforward
way. The application form is short and simple, guidance is available
to applicants when answering the questions and applicants learn
if they are successful within three months (although from April
2004 this will fall to a maximum of nine weeks).
2.2 The Awards for All programme in England
funds projects or events that support community activity by:
— extending access and participation—by
encouraging more people to become actively involved in local groups
and projects, and by supporting activities that are open and accessible
to everyone who wishes to take part;
— increasing skill and creativity—by
supporting activities which help to develop people and organisations,
encourage talent and raise standards; and
— improving the quality of life—by
supporting local projects that improve people's opportunities,
welfare, environment or local facilities, especially those most
disadvantaged in society.
2.3 Following a pilot in the East Midlands
region from November 1998, the first Awards for All programme
was launched in England in April 1999.
|
| February 1998 | First Awards for All programme launched in Scotland
|
| November 1998 | Awards for All piloted in the East Midlands using separate assessment criteria for each distributor. Participating distributors: Arts Council of England, Community Fund (then the National Lottery Charities Board), Heritage Lottery Fund, and Sport England.
|
| April 1999 | A4A launched throughout England branded as Millennium Festival Awards for All (MFA4A), with joint criteria and the participation of the Millennium Commission.
|
| July 2000 | Programme relaunched as Awards for All without the participation of the Millennium Commission.
|
| July 2001 | New Opportunities Fund joined the programme
|
| April 2002-March 2004 | A4A England formally reconstituted as a Joint Scheme by Order of the Secretary of State for CMS under the provisions of the Lottery Act 1998.
|
| 2002 | Awards for All used as the route by which community groups could obtain funds to celebrate and mark the Golden Jubilee.
|
|
2.4 Key facts about the programme:
— Annual grant budget £42-£45 million.
— Administrative budget £3.6 million.
— 22,000 applications processed per year.
— 12,500 awards made per year.
— 50,000 awards worth £175 million since November
1998.
— Average turnround time eight weeks and falling.
— Cost per application processed £176.
2.5 The current version of the Awards for All (England)
Joint Scheme was created in accordance with Section 25B of
the National Lottery etc Act 1993 as amended by the National Lottery
Act 1998 on 1 April 2002 by Order of the Secretary of State for
Culture Media and Sport following application by the Accounting
Officers of the Arts Council of England (ACE), Community Fund
(CF), the National Heritage Memorial Fund—Heritage Lottery
Fund (HLF), the New Opportunities Fund (NOF), and Sport England
(SE) (the participating lottery distributors).
2.6 The total sum available for distribution under the
scheme under this Order was a £80.1 million.
2.7 The Joint Scheme commenced operation on 1 April 2002
and will continue in operation for a period of two years after
that date unless extended in accordance with the provisions of
the Act.
2.8 The application to the Secretary of State for Culture,
Media and Sport by the participating distributors and he Agreement
to form the Joint Scheme are set out at Annex A.
2.9 A further amending Order was made in March 2003 to
permit participating distributors to increase the total sum available
for distribution under the scheme to a total of £88.3 million
over the two years of the scheme.
2.10 The programme is delivered by 67 Awards for All
staff, organised into regional teams covering each of the nine
English Government Office regions. The A4A teams operate from
Community Fund's nine regional offices throughout England. The
programme is managed and co-ordinated by a Director and a small
team based in the Lottery joint distributor offices in Nottingham.
2.11 Community Fund is the legal employer of all A4A
staff and provides a range of services to the programme including
accommodation, office services, IT support, HR and Finance functions,
telemarketing, legal advice and local support. etc which are the
subject of a Service Level Agreement.
2.12 Current and proposed distributor contributions to
the programme's grant budget are shown below:
|
| 2003-04
£ million
| 2004-05
£ million
|
|
| Arts Council England | 5.700
| 6.360 |
| Community Fund | 9.948
| 11.750 |
| Heritage Lottery Fund | 3.765
| 4.000 |
| New Opportunities Fund | 11.370
| 11.000 |
| Sport England | 12.500
| 6.000 |
| 43.283
| 39.110 |
|
2.13 The administrative budget for the programme is £3.6
million, equivalent to a unit cost of £176 per application(8.3%
of grant budget) and is recharged to participating distributors
in agreed proportions.
2.14 Award decisions are made by Joint Regional Committees
(JRCs), meeting approximately six times per year. Each JRC comprises
representatives from each participating distributor's regional
staff or governance structure plus up to four invited members.
2.15 The programme is governed at a national level by
a Programme Board comprising senior officers of each participating
distributor and the nine Chairs of the Joint Regional Committees
2.16 Over the five years of its operation, the programme
has gained a reputation for simplicity, efficiency, reliability,
and a high degree of responsiveness to regional needs. It receives
excellent PR with universally positive press coverage, particularly
in the regional press and has demonstrated its capacity to respond
flexibly and responsively to the challenges of the Millennium
Festival and Golden Jubilee in the past and to those of micro
grants, marking the 60th Anniversary of the end of the Second
World War, the Lottery 10th Anniversary, Young People's Fund etc
in the future.
2.17 An independent evaluation of the impact if the programme
in 2001 showed that A4A has achieved extremely high levels of
customer satisfaction and success in meeting each of its objectives.[2]
2.18 Similarly, a recent independent evaluation of sports
projects in the A4A programme demonstrated the programme's enormous
contribution to Sport England's strategic objectives.[3]
2.19 The programme is now also being identified by non-lottery
grant makers as a potential delivery vehicle for their programmes.
3. FUTURE PLANS
FOR AWARDS
FOR ALL
3.1 These include:
3.2 for 2004:
— a one year extension of current joint scheme with
a £5,000 limit;
— the introduction of efficiency measures recommended
by an external feasibility study;
— the introduction of officer delegation for decision
making up to £5,000;
— the piloting of micro grants; and
— research into the impact of raising the upper
limit to £10,000.
3.3 For 2005-09:
— subject to the research outcomes, an increased
upper grant limit of £10,000;
— the extension of full officer delegation up to
the increased £10,000 threshold; and
— subject to evaluation of the 2004-05 pilots, a
programme of micro grants (grants up to £500).
4. THE NEW
DISTRIBUTOR
4.1 The National Lottery Funding Decision Document in
July 2003 proposed that the New Distributor created as a result
of the merger of NOF and CF and aspects of the Millennium Commission's
work, should have, "a key role in developing better working
between distributors . . . in areas such a joint schemes, more
joined-up working, shared strategic planning and more cross-cutting
programmes".
4.2 At current levels of contribution the New Distributor
will be contributing over 50% to the programme. Its advent presents
an opportunity for consideration of the potential for the integration
of the Awards for All programme into the New Distributor's operational
plans for the future whilst retaining the essential and successful
characteristics of the A4A programme and its management arrangements,
including the joint distributor approach.
5. RESPONSE TO
SPECIFIC QUESTIONS
IN THE
COMMITTEE'S
CALL FOR
MEMORANDA
(a) Overall: Will the proposed changes ultimately lead
to more resources for good causes?
5.1 There are likely to be economies of scale as a result
of the creation of the New Distributor which could result in more
resources for good causes.
(b) Licensing and Regulation
5.2 We do not feel it is appropriate to respond to questions
regarding licensing and regulation
(c) Distribution and Funding
The Olympic Bid
5.3 Awards for All England will continue to fund community
based projects across England which extend access and participation,
increase skills and creativity and increase the quality of life
of communities. Currently 36% of all A4A England awards are sport
related.
5.4 We expect that interest in the Olympics bid will
inspire greater participation in sport and physical activity,
increasing the profile and need for sport and activity based programmes
across the UK.
5.5 The period running up to the Olympic bid would provide
an opportunity for distributors to consider the delivery of additional
funding of such community based sport related activities via the
Awards for All programme to complement the Olympic bid at a local
level.
Focus of the National Lottery
5.6 The diversity of the areas funded and the different
approaches to funding are real strengths of the Lottery distributors.
The Lottery should enable all of the public to be able to support
some areas of Lottery funding for good causes. Awards for All
should continue to provide easy access to a range of small (and
potentially medium sized) awards across the whole spectrum of
grant giving, ranging from small grants for individuals to large
scale regeneration projects.
Large scale regeneration projects
5.7 We do not feel it is appropriate to respond to questions
regarding large scale regenerative projects which are outside
the scope of the Awards for All programme.
Efficiency, speed and simplification
5.8 Awards for All has already taken on board the recommendations
of an external review of its operating systems.[4]
The implementation of these recommendations will see the introduction
of a new scoring system, better management information, and the
delegation of decision making on awards to officers. Taken together,
these will reduce turnround time for applications from the present
three months to eight weeks.
UK structures
5.9 Awards for All operates separately in each UK country,
reflecting the participation of the nationally based Lottery Distributors
as well as those with a UK remit (Community Fund, Heritage Lottery
Fund and New Opportunities Fund).
5.10 As with the regional structures in England, it seems
entirely appropriate that the devolved administrations should
be involved in the development of priorities and strategies and
targeting for the distribution of Lottery good cause funds in
those countries
5.11 Whatever mechanism is adopted for the allocation
of resources to each country should be open and transparent and
reflect agreed definitions of social need and disadvantage.
Fair and Equitable Distribution
5.12 As well as establishing national aims of extending
access and participation, increasing skill and creativity and
improving the quality of life, Awards for All all England allocates
its budget between regions using a combination of the approaches
of the participating distributors. These are based on population
numbers but weighted for differences in disadvantage using the
index of multiple deprivation amongst others.
5.13 Each region publishes regionally specific priorities
(the Regional Focus), derived from clear and documented research
into the needs of each region and supported by consultation processes.
These are used to assess and score applications.
Support for communities
5.14 Each regional Awards for All team produces an annual
Marketing Plan derived from the identified needs of its region.
This is considered and approved by the Joint Regional Committee
and then forms the basis for the outreach and targeting activities
of Awards for All staff in the region and also the regional development
staff of the participating distributors in each region.
(d) General
Additionality
5.15 Awards for All supports the concept of additionality
although this is often challenging in practice. Is it reasonable
to expect that the basketball pitch funded by Awards for All for
out of hours school use should remain unused during the school
day? Does the funding by Awards for All of the project for disabled
children which will undoubtedly improve their quality of life
let the local education authority off the hook of its statutory
responsibilities? These and other similar judgements are the stuff
of an A4A awards officer's life.
Matched Funding
5.16 Awards for All does not require matched funding
but does ask applicants where the rest of the funding for projects
over £5,000 will come from.
Arms Length Funding and Tax Neutrality5.17 Awards for All
makes no comment on distribution at "arms length" from
government or on the tax neutrality of Lottery Duty.
14 January 2004
2
Impact Evaluation of Awards for All England. Annabel Jackson
Associates. August 2001. Back
3
Evaluation of sports projects in the A4A programme. Leeds Metropolitan
University. June 2003. Back
4
More Effective Delivery Systems for Awards for All. Phyllida
Shaw and Associates. August 2003. Back
| 
