National Lottery Reform
Debate between Baroness Clark of Kilwinning and John Penrose(14 years, 5 months ago)
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John Penrose
I shall pick up where I left off when we vanished to do our democratic duty in the Lobby. The hon. Member for Kilmarnock and Loudoun had asked whether the Big Lottery Fund was the most efficient of the disbursing organisations. I was saying that nobody is sure which of them is the most efficient, mainly because they all illustrate their figures and report their numbers on slightly different bases. It is therefore difficult to ensure that we are comparing apples with apples when working out what their stated percentage of the funds disbursed is taken up in costs.
To reassure the hon. Lady, I have set the lottery disbursing organisations the challenge of agreeing a common set of reporting standards, so they all show their numbers in the same way, enabling us to make a direct comparison. We then need to ask whether those figures can be reduced and whether we can start to disburse the funds to good causes more efficiently and cheaply, to ensure that more money gets to the front line and reaches the people for whom it is intended.
There may be some legitimate reasons for variation: for example, at the moment the Olympic Lottery Distributor is one of the most efficient because it only has to distribute funds to one organisation, which is comparatively simple, administratively speaking—I am not saying that it is simple all round—whereas Big distributes to a very large number of smaller organisations. There may be legitimate reasons for differentials, but we need clear data, at least, telling us how to compare the distributors and that like-for-like comparisons are safe, and then we need to start looking for ways to reduce costs.
Katy Clark (North Ayrshire and Arran) (Lab)
Many small community organisations applying for funding are frustrated because the system is bureaucratic and they require a huge amount of advice and support. Often, mentors are allocated to such organisations to assist them through the process. Are the Government considering simplifying the procedure, particularly for small voluntary organisations seeking support?