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WARNING OVER
TORY PLAN TO CUT CASH FOR DESERVING PROJECTS
The SNP has warned that
many good causes in North East Fife are among
hundreds of deserving projects across Scotland which could be stripped
of millions in funding if the Tories get into power.
Springfield Primary, Newburgh Primary, Canongate Primary,
Greyfriars Primary and St. Columba’s Primary have all benefited from projects and equipment provided with the help of
lottery funding - but if the Tories get into power, the party wants
to see this type of funding abolished.
The Conservatives have vowed to get rid of all non-voluntary and
community sector (non-vcs) Big Lottery Fund awards
if they win the general
election– with the Tories frontbench spokesperson, Jeremy Hunt MP, explicitly
stating:
“..one
of the first things a Conservative Government will do
will be to restore the Lottery to its original four good causes.
The Big
Lottery Fund will – explicitly – will only fund projects in the
voluntary and community sectors.”
In an answer to a Parliamentary Question by SNP MP Pete Wishart, the UK
Government revealed that in the last
4 years £312 million has been
awarded to statutory bodies across the UK by the Big Lottery Fund. In Scotland
hundreds of non-vcs organisations, the vast majority of them schools,
benefited from over £4 million of lottery
cash last year alone.
Across Scotland the money has been used to help initiatives from
sensory gardens for severely disabled children to
training for those suffering from autism to educational support for pre-school children.
SNP candidate
for North East Fife, Rod Campbell said:
“David Cameron’s plans would strike at the heart of the important
work
these organisations are doing for people in Fife, and across
Scotland.
“In North east Fife,
St.Columba’s Primary School and Canongate Primary School have both benefited from
important extra educational and play equipment
supported by the Big Lottery Fund. Under Tory plans,
projects like this which really help children in North east Fife would get no lottery funding.
“What the
Conservatives are trying to package nicely as “restoring
funding” will actually mean funding cuts for these
good causes. These
organisations will effectively be cut off from the cash on which they
rely. What is especially
distasteful is that these projects are
initiatives like sensory gardens for severely disabled children or
training
for those suffering from autism or educational support for
pre-school children.
“A lottery grant has
proved to be the winning ticket for many deserving
projects, allowing them to flourish and expand. Almost all of this
money went to schools through Awards for All. Are the Tories really saying
school children shouldn’t benefit
from lottery funding?
“The great irony is that the Tories claim they want a lottery
independent of
the government but one of the first things they plan to do if they
get into Downing Street is dictate to the Big Lottery
fund what they can and
can’t support.
“These findings will be a dramatic warning for voters of
the price
Scotland will pay if the Tories get into power, and I am certain this
will be a key election issue on
the doorsteps.”
Notes :
1) A spreadsheet
of non-vcs projects in Scotland, identifying all
non-vcs projects in NE Fife is available on request.
2)
490 of the 509 non-vcs initiatives that received funding in Scotland
last year were schools.
3) Pete Wishart’s PQ can be found here:
Wishart, Pete
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much has
been distributed by the Big Lottery Fund
to statutory bodies in each of
the last five years
Sutcliffe, Gerry
The Big Lottery Fund has distributed
funding to statutory bodies where
they are best placed to deliver outcomes for communities and people most
in need.
The Big Lottery Fund does not fund statutory bodies' core work
nor does it substitute or replace statutory funding.
Where BIG
distributes funding to statutory bodies it is often on the precondition that they
work in partnership
with voluntary and community sector organisations. The
following table shows the amount awarded to statutory bodies across
the
UK by the Big Lottery Fund each full financial year since its inception on
1 June 2004.
Financial
year ending 31 March
Number of awards
Total awarded (£)
2006
1,664
59,210,398
2007
1,619
38,144,003
2008
2,612
173,326,762
2009
2,073
41,420,649
Funding made through statutory bodies as third party award partners
where the voluntary and community
sector organisations are the direct
beneficiary have not been included in these figures. Amounts retained by
the
statutory third party award partner for administrative costs have
been included.
4)
Comments by Liz Smith MSP’s in a speech to the Scottish parliament on
5th November:
“We will also reform the national lottery, so that it returns to
its
roots as a supporter of good ideas from within communities, rather than being
a vehicle for directing voluntary
income into Government priorities and
one that is often disproportionately skewed towards the public sector. We
have plans to put in place a voluntary action lottery fund, which will
replace the Big Lottery Fund and be completely
independent of Government.”
5)
Comments by Jeremy Hunt MP, Shadow Secretary of State for DCMS in a
speech 16th Nov 2009
“So
one of the first things a Conservative Government will do will be
to restore the Lottery to its original four good causes.
The Big Lottery
Fund will – explicitly – only fund projects in the voluntary and
community sectors.”
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