National Lottery Bill

If the amendment were prompted by the failure of any public body to give the noble Viscount accurate information, I forthwith apologise. I assure him that I shall make good that deficiency. I have a list of figures that goes back over the past decade of the amount spent each year, but for me to read anything into the record might appear a little otiose at this stage. I shall write to the noble Viscount, as I can to other Members of the Committee, and share the distribution of these grants over the past decade. The lottery was set up primarily to benefit projects within the UK, but when the Community Fund was set up following the National Lottery etc Act in 1993, the then Conservative government decided that the fund should also be able to support UK charities working overseas. They are responsible for the use of this money. All credit to the Government on that occasion for the action that they took and all credit to the charities for the way in which they exploited those opportunities. The noble Lord, Lord Joffe, testified to the excellent effect that they have had on projects abroad. Of course, there have been one or two mishaps; there always are with projects abroad that involve communities that are less developed than our own. I can reinforce the point made so ably by the noble Lord, Lord Joffe—I cannot match his eloquence, but I can supplement his figures. In the famous Cusichaca project, where the popular press suggested that a grant of £295,000 had gone to waste among the poorest in Peru, in fact, of the £295,000, £2,000 was spent on the guinea pigs project which failed; the rest went to a community in very great need. That did not detract from that point made by the noble Lord, Lord Joffe, about the distortions that occur in some of the popular press. The present funding programme operates at about £20 million a year. I can tell the noble Viscount, Lord Astor, that it is intended that £60 million should be spent over three years and that is the broad basis of the sums. I could go into considerable depth on the figures, but I do not think I need to. The contributors to the debate have reassured the Committee—and through the Committee, the country—that these initiatives are enormously beneficial. Of course, they are backed by a generous-spirited British public. If anyone for one moment suggests that the British public are not generous-spirited with regard to projects abroad, I refer them to the response of the British people to the tsunami disaster not so long ago. That was testimony to the fact that people have a concern for such issues. Such projects are planned in very different terms from responses to disasters, although help was given on that occasion too. The noble Viscount, Lord Astor, sought to table a probing amendment. It solicited a magnificent response from all parts of the Committee to which I can add little, but I will add the figures and circulate them to all Members of the Committee.