A National Lottery Bill was published. The Bill was designed to formalize the merger of the New Opportunities Fund, the Community Fund and the Millennium Commission into a single distributor the Big Lottery Fund. Companies would compete for a single National Lottery operating licence, under an improved system designed to deliver significantly greater competition to the licensing process. Voluntary organizations expressed 'grave concern' over what they saw as tighter government controls over the distribution of lottery funding.
Source: National Lottery Bill, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, TSO (0870 600 5522) | National Lottery Licensing and Regulation - Review Decision Document, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (020 7211 6200) | Press release 26 November 2004, National Council for Voluntary Organisations (0800 279 8798)
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | Licensing review (pdf) | DCMS press release | NCVO press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Nov
The Big Lottery Fund launched a 200 million fund (the Young People s Fund) to promote the well-being and personal development of young people.
Source: Press release 23 September 2004, Big Lottery Fund (020 7211 1800)
Links: BLF press release
Date: 2004-Sep
The government said that it proposed to reduce the level of prescription over the distribution of lottery funds for good causes. There would be three broad themes for applications - community learning and creating opportunity; promoting community safety and cohesion; and promoting well-being. (The Big Lottery Fund would be created by merging the New Opportunities Fund, which was used for specific policy directions issued by the government, with the Community Fund, which was open to all who applied.)
Source: The Big Lottery Fund: Position Paper, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (020 7211 6200)
Links: Report (pdf) | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Aug
An audit report said that although the undistributed balances held in the National Lottery Distribution Fund had started to fall, there was scope to reduce them further. Distributors with the largest balances, in particular the Heritage Lottery Fund and the New Opportunities Fund, could make the biggest contribution. The government also had a role in helping distributors to manage effectively the opportunities and risks in seeking to reduce balances.
Source: Managing National Lottery Distribution Fund Balances, National Audit Office (020 7798 7000) HC 875 (Session 2003-04)
Links: Report (pdf) | NAO press release
Date: 2004-Jul
The Community Fund and the New Opportunities Fund merged on 1 June 2004, to become the Big Lottery Fund. It began consultation on the direction of its future programmes.
Source: Press release 1 June 2004, Big Lottery Fund (020 7211 1800)
Links: BLF press release
Date: 2004-Jun
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on the National Lottery. It rejected the committee's view that the principle of 'additionality', whereby National Lottery resources were not supposed to be used to replace government spending, had been eroded.
Source: Government Response to the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee Report on the National Lottery Session 2003-2004, Cm 6232, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response (pdf) | MPs report | NCVO press release
Date: 2004-May
A report by a committee of MPs deplored the erosion of the principle of 'additionality', whereby National Lottery resources were not supposed to be used to replace government spending.
Source: Reform of the National Lottery, Fifth Report (Session 2003-04), HC 196, House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Date: 2004-Mar
A report by a committee of MPs described 'weaknesses' in the procedures applied by the Community Fund in deciding to award grant funding to the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns. It highlighted the lessons learned, and the implications for managing risk and prioritising funding decisions in the light of declining lottery receipts. (In 2002 the Community Fund approved a grant to the NCADC of 336,000. Ministers asked the Fund to check the legality of the award, prompted by concern about NCADC activities which might be considered 'political and doctrinaire'. The Fund confirmed the grant but attached additional terms and conditions.)
Source: Review of Grants Made to the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns, Ninth Report (Session 2003-04), HC 305, House of Commons Public Accounts Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | IRR press release
Date: 2004-Mar