National Lottery Bill

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Viscount for the way in which he moved his amendment. I resile from any imputation that the arts, national heritage and sports have no contribution to make to health, education and the environment. Of course they have. All these divisions have an arbitrary quality to them, but he will realise that projects under the Big Lottery Fund do not fit easily or automatically with the other three categories. The noble Viscount indicated that it is not just a question of changing the name—there is a feeling that the fund should focus more on the voluntary and community sector, which is why he wants to change the name to the ““Charitable Lottery Fund””. Well, we just had that discussion, and I indicated why I sought to defend the arrangements that have obtained since the changes in the lottery in 1998 and the creation of the Big Lottery Fund. It was not a civil servant on his way home who dreamt up this concept; the name was suggested by the fund and agreed by the Secretary of State. It was not initiated in the department. It gets across a simple message that this is money from the National Lottery, and that the fund is the biggest of the lottery good-cause organisations. It connects with the public, as I indicated beforehand, with great advantages to the areas for which it is responsible. We wanted every possible beneficiary to be aware of the fund’s existence and a simple name helps to increase awareness. The name also reflects the aim of reconnecting the public with the National Lottery. We think that it has been advantageous in that regard. It is consumer-oriented, as I think that the noble Viscount would recognise. He might disparage that as a less traditional concept, but it is the people’s lottery. Given how much is contributed and how many people are players in the fund, it is proper that we should use popular, easily understood concepts within this framework. The fund market tested the name and found that it was popular with all sections of the public.  Recent evidence suggests that the recognition of the Big Lottery Fund name is high; it is well known as a source of funding for community projects, an area which our fellow citizens greatly value. I see no reason for changing the name on the grounds of the strong argument, which I also advocated on the previous amendment. I am also mindful of the fact that the noble Viscount will recognise one aspect, as he is concerned about the accurate allocation of resources. The greatest wastage of resources is when names are changed, logos are messed about with and organisations seek to rebrand themselves with name changes, to no definable purpose. If we changed the name of the Big Lottery Fund, we would spread confusion, achieve very little and use up hard-won resources.