National Lottery Bill

I am grateful to both noble Lords who have spoken in this short debate. Of course I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, that the key strength of the lottery is that it is a large grant-maker and that is to be its role. It will be useful for the fund to have the flexibility to provide funding in different and innovative ways responding to individual needs and circumstances. The other statutory lottery distributors, the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Olympic lottery distributor, already have the power to make loans; and the powers of bodies established as companies or under Royal Charter—which includes the other lottery distributors—also normally include a power to make loans. The provisions in the Bill bring the Big Lottery Fund into line. We do not expect loan-making to be a major function of the Big Lottery Fund; that is not its purpose. There is certainly no intention to turn it from a grant-making body into a loan company. That is not the fund’s intention either. Its focus is much more on ensuring lottery money is spent, rather than getting it back in again via loans. However, the flexibility to make loans, where appropriate, could be helpful in some circumstances. The noble Viscount, Lord Astor, asked me for examples: loans could be a way to help the social enterprise sector become sustainable by levering in other sources of finance that guarantee sustainability. Small local loans to communities could enable a higher level of finance to be attracted, enabling important regeneration work to be carried out as a result. In that sense, the concept of the loan is as a pump-primer and initiator that gets such enterprises into a position where they can attract the larger loans that they need more appropriately from sources other than the lottery. The Big Lottery Fund has given a clear assurance that it will offer loans only where it adds value and supports the sector applying. I emphasise that it certainly will not offer loans instead of grants. Any necessary guidance about the circumstances in which the fund may lend money and the conditions it will be required to observe will be included in its financial directions, as is the case with other NDPBs including the other lottery distributors. For the reasons I have given, we are not convinced of the need to provide restrictions on the face of the Bill, which the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, intends with his amendment. I hope that he will see that what is proposed is entirely reasonable and feel able to regard his amendment as a necessary probe that can now safely be withdrawn.