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18 January 2010

GOOD CAUSES IN SCOTTISH BORDERS AT RISK OF LOTTERY LOSS

WARNING OVER TORY PLAN TO CUT CASH FOR DESERVING PROJECTS

Paul Wheelhouse, the SNP Westminster candidate for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk, has warned that many good causes in the Scottish Borders are among hundreds of deserving projects across Scotland which could be stripped of millions in funding if the Tories get into power.

The all weather games area at Burnfoot Community School, development of amenity housing and small business units in Stow from derelict buildings and creation of a sports and recreation centre in Grantshouse from a former school are just some of the 18 projects across the Borders that are flourishing with the help of a total of £164,000 of lottery funding in the last 2 years alone.  If the Tories get into power, then this type of funding would be 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. In a reply to SNP MP Pete Wishart, the UK Government revealed that in the last 4 years £312 million had been awarded to statutory bodies across the UK by the Big Lottery Fund, including hundreds of Scotland’s non-voluntary and community sector organisations, the vast majority of them schools or community councils, which benefited from over £4 million of lottery cash last year alone.

SNP candidate, Paul Wheelhouse said:

“David Cameron’s plans would strike at the heart of the important work these organisations are doing for people in the Scottish Borders.  Scotland has already lost at least £150 million in funding that could have been used for voluntary and community sector projects to fund grandiose plans for the 2012 London Olympics.  If the Tories had supported the SNP in preventing this grab by Labour on funding for Scotland’s good causes, there would be no need for their proposed, mean-spirited cuts to the non-voluntary and community sector projects.

“The projects at Burnfoot Community School (awarded £50,000) and Stow Community Council (awarded £20,000) gained a massive boost from the Big Lottery Fund.  Under Tory plans, future projects like this which really help communities in the Borders would get no lottery funding at all.

“The Tories will cut off a key source upon which these good causes rely. What is especially regrettable about the Tories proposals is that across Scotland, these projects also include initiatives like sensory gardens for severely disabled children or training for those suffering from autism, and educational support for pre-school children.

“The great irony is that the Tories claim they want a lottery independent of the government but one of their first acts would be to dictate to the Big Lottery fund what they can and can’t support, hurting community projects across the Borders.

“This would strike a blow against the kind of projects that matter to the people I meet on the doorsteps and who have responded to our local surveys, expressing support for regeneration projects and frequent requests to provide activities for young people outside of school hours.”

ENDS
Notes:

1)  A spreadsheet of non-vcs projects in Scotland, identifying all non-vcs projects in Scottish Borders 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 (SNP)

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 (Labour)

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.

 

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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