Labour's Plans For The UK National Lottery

In case you missed it, the Labour Party won the UK General Election that took place on Thursday 1st May 1997 by their biggest majority ever. In July 1997, the new Department for Culture, Media and Sport released a leaflet outlining Labour's plans for the UK National Lottery, which is transcribed without permission below.

The People's Lottery

The Government's proposals for reform of the National Lottery

Every week, millions of us hold our breath for a moment or two to see if our dream has come true. People up and down the country have been playing the National Lottery for nearly three years. It has already become part of everyone's life.

It has changed our lives, too. As a result of the Lottery, over £3.5 billion has already been divided equally between the five good causes - Charities, the Arts, Sport, the Heritage and the Millennium to fund projects all over the country. It has paid out £6 billion in prizes - including more than 350 tickets which won over £1 million - and has provided a real boost to thousands of corner shops all over the UK.

We know that Lottery players see the Lottery funds as the people's money. It should be spent on the people's priorities. That is why we intend to use £1 billion of the extra money available because of the Lottery's success, over the next four years, in new ways. We want to make sure that Lottery money is used, in particular, to bring benefits to health, education and the environment.

A new White Paper - The People's Lottery - sets out the Government's plans:

To create a sixth good cause, the "New Opportunities Fund", for health, education and the environment.
To use this new Fund initially to train teachers and librarians to help people of all ages learn, using new technology to build up out of school activities for children; and to establish a network of healthy living centres across the nation. It will support other health, education and environment projects in the future.
To ensure that the "good causes" take a more strategic approach, targeting need more effectively and ensuring a fairer distribution throughout every part of the country.
To establish the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) - a national trust for talent and creativity to help people to turn their bright ideas and talents into reality.
To ensure that the Lottery produces the best possible return to the good causes by ensuring that the payment going to those running the Lottery is open and fair.

We would welcome views on the proposals in The People's Lottery before bringing forward legislation to make the changes. We also encourage anyone with an idea for improving the National Lottery to bring it forward.

If you are interested in reading our proposals in detail and contributing to the consultation, ask your local library if it has a copy of the White Paper. Alternatively, The People's Lottery is on our Internet website (http://www.culture.gov.uk/) and is also available from TSO bookshops. Having read it, let us know what you think.