Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the benefits delivered to local charities by charity lotteries.

Funding from lotteries represents a relatively small proportion of overall charity sector income. However, for some charities, lottery funding can be a vital source of income. In 2017/18 good cause returns from the National Lottery were £1.6 billion and large society lotteries raised £296 million for good causes. Many charities are licensed to run their own lotteries as a fundraising tool, which directly supports their charitable initiatives.

Society Lotteries usually provide unrestricted funding which can be particularly beneficial for charities as it enables the charity to determine how to use the funding to best deliver its aims and support its beneficiaries. Society lotteries and the National Lottery complement each other as they have different strategic priorities and support a range of different charities within the sector.