My Lords, I thank my noble friend for his amendment and noble Lords for the lively debate that has followed. The effect of this amendment would be to allow society lotteries to offer jackpots of up to £5 million per draw and to hold as many draws as they wish. I know that my noble friend disagrees with this but we do think that this may—and I use the word “may”—present a serious risk to the good causes funded by the National Lottery. We believe that the best way of raising funds is through encouraging people to play by offering them the life-changing prizes possible only through mass participation in a single national lottery.
As the noble Lord, Lord Collins of Highbury, has said, in the past 10 days I have answered two Questions on the Olympics and the importance of the National Lottery. I was asked about the dangers if National Lottery proceeds were to reduce and the impact that that would have on the Olympics. Indeed, it was borne out into the many other aspects of the National Lottery.
I am sure that we all agree that the National Lottery has been an extraordinary success, raising over £32 billion for good causes in its 20 years of existence. It has funded everything from large-scale national projects to thousands of small-scale local groups and has had a transformative effect across the whole of the United Kingdom.
It is appropriate today to refer to what the Heritage Lottery Fund has been doing. It has awarded more than £12 million to enable the National Museum of the Royal Navy to turn HMS “Caroline” into a visitor attraction in time for the centenary commemorations of the Battle of Jutland. At the other end of the scale, the Heritage Lottery Fund also awarded more than £5 million to more than 700 projects through its First World War: Then and Now community grants programme.
It is this scale and reach that makes the National Lottery so unique. Ultimately, a total of over £60 million was given to more than 1,000 First World War centenary projects, covering nearly three-quarters of constituencies across the United Kingdom. This is only a fraction of the funding distributed by the National Lottery each year. The Government believe that allowing the sort of direct competition that could result from this amendment goes against the very spirit of the National Lottery. My noble friend makes clear that he does not believe that it puts this at risk, but there are others who feel that it may.
I want to refer to what the noble Lord, Lord Low of Dalston, said about society lotteries. They are undoubtedly very successful at raising funds for good causes and have grown significantly in recent years. We very much welcome that success but we are clear that they are part of a wider good cause landscape and, again, we would not want that to be at the expense of the National Lottery.
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The noble Lord, Lord Collins of Highbury, referred to consultation. The Government’s view is that the best way forward is to consult, and we will do this shortly through a call for evidence asking for views on how we can ensure that society lotteries continue to flourish alongside the National Lottery. In addition, the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee is currently investigating society lotteries and will be considering whether the current limits on such lotteries are appropriate. To answer my noble friend Lord Mancroft’s point about the purpose of subsection (3)(b), we believe that size limits and jackpot limits protect the National Lottery and its unique ability to offer life-changing prizes. That is why we believe subsection (3)(b) is appropriate.
We hope that the evidence-gathering process will highlight what reforms are needed, if any. Reforms made to monetary amounts or percentages could be achieved through secondary legislation. Of course I understand what my noble friend Lord Mancroft, and indeed the noble Lords, Lord Rooker and Lord Low of Dalston, have said. I would very much like to oblige the noble Lord, Lord Rooker, but I am afraid it is not going to be today.
The Government believe that society lotteries are an important feature but the National Lottery has become such a key part of the well-being of our nation that we would not want to rush into anything that could even possibly put that in jeopardy. I understand the points that my noble friend made in denying that this will have an impact but there is sufficient concern—it was raised in the Chamber yesterday across the House—that the Government’s process of looking at this, considering what the Select Committee is going to come forward with, is the right way of doing it so that we get this right for both the National Lottery and the society lotteries, which do so much good. On that basis, I ask my noble friend to withdraw his amendment.