Written evidence submitted by the National Lottery Distributors

Response to Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee inquiry into the Impact of COVID-19 on DCMS sectors.

May 2020

Summary

1. The National Lottery Distributors use the Good Causes money raised by National Lottery players to support arts, sports, heritage, charities and communities. 

2. National Lottery funding has had a transformational impact on the well-being and quality of life of people and communities across the whole of the United Kingdom for more than 25 years.  In that time National Lottery players have raised more than £40bn for Good Causes.

3. In the unprecedented times we find ourselves in, the importance of The National Lottery as part of the fabric of our national life has never been greater.  The National Lottery is making a major contribution to the national effort to combat the effects of COVID-19.  All National Lottery Distributors are responding at pace to identify needs in the sectors they support, and to respond flexibly and swiftly to meet those needs where they can.

4. Overall The National Lottery is offering a far reaching package of support of up to £600 million of repurposed National Lottery money to combat the effects of COVID-19.

5. At the same time, Distributors are working closely with Camelot, the operator of The National Lottery, Gambling Commission and DCMS to monitor the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sales of National Lottery tickets, and hence the funds available to Good Causes.

Background

6. The National Lottery Distributors are Non-Departmental Public Bodies accountable to Parliament and sponsored by DCMS or the relevant devolved government department.

7. This evidence is offered jointly by The National Lottery distributor bodies sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport:

• Arts Council England
• British Film Institute
• The National Lottery Community Fund
• The National Lottery Heritage Fund
• Sport England
• UKSport

8. Individual distributors are submitting their own evidence to this inquiry, describing the specific issues they are encountering in their sectors and how they are responding to these.  This response provides some high level comment relevant to The National Lottery as whole.

The National Lottery’s role in national life

9. In the last 25 years, The National Lottery has contributed to life in the UK in an extraordinary number of ways:
    

• The National Lottery has helped communities and charities to thrive: raising over £10.3bn for UK charities.  This includes projects run by the smallest of grassroots community organisations right up to national charities, such as Mind UK, The Wildlife Trust, NSPCC, Age UK and The Princes Trust.
• The National Lottery has been a catalyst for urban transformation, contributing to civic projects including the Liverpool Docks, the Newcastle Quayside, Hull and Stratford.
• The National Lottery has enabled artistic expression on a scale not seen previously.  Young people all over the country have taken part in new creative opportunities, while over £4.9bn has been invested in a diverse range of community and grassroots art projects, as well as bringing touring productions to towns and villages nationwide.  The National Lottery has supported some of the UK’s most iconic artworks such as the Angel of the North and the Kelpies, as well as galleries like Tate Modern and V&A Dundee. 
• Since The National Lottery funding for Olympic and Paralympic sport started in 1997, funded athletes have won an incredible 864 medals – compared to the Atlanta Olympics, before Lottery funding, when GB won just one Gold medal.
• The National Lottery has helped people all over the UK get active: It has invested more than £5.7bn into 106,000 community sports projects including facilities, playing fields and increasing sporting opportunities for millions of people.
• The National Lottery has transformed British Film: Films supported by The National Lottery 14 Oscars, 100 BAFTAs and 29 Cannes awards. It has invested over £930m into film-related projects including education and skills programmes and community film clubs.
• The National Lottery has been fundamental in conserving green spaces and wildlife: over £760m towards conserving the country’s natural heritage sites since 1994.  It has played a key role in helping save species from extinction.
• The National Lottery has awarded almost £10bn to treasured and historic sites across the UK over the past 25 years. The Tower of London, Stonehenge, the Titanic Quarter in Belfast and The Natural History Museum have all benefitted from National Lottery funding, as well as The World War I centenary commemorations.
   

The impact of COVID-19 on DCMS sectors supported by The National Lottery

10. Distributors are working at pace to identify the needs in our sectors.  Whilst some is sector specific, there are some common threads:

• The increased social and economic challenges people are facing are in turn leading to increased needs for the organisations we support.  These include: social isolation and loneliness, demands on foodbanks, people at increased risk of domestic abuse, reduced physical activity.  Social distancing makes these needs harder for charities and organisations to meet.
• Organisations we support are facing their own financial difficulties.  Events and performances have been cancelled, visitor attractions and venues closed, income from venue hire and shop sales has dried up, and the general fundraising environment is more challenging.
• The pandemic has necessitated a shift from longer term organisational planning to more urgent day-to-day decision making.
• Persistent uncertainty up-ends business and project planning assumptions for Distributors.  Even when restrictions are eased we may see different sectors facing crises at different points.
• The need to work remotely has necessitated rapid digital transformation for many, in sectors that have often not been at the forefront in adapting to technological innovations.
• All of this of course against a backdrop of concern for the health and wellbeing of organisations’ own staff.

The National Lottery response to the impacts of COVID-19 on DCMS sectors

11. Embedded as a fundamental part of our national life, The National Lottery is a vital and relevant element of the response to the challenges the nation is now facing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

12. Charities and organisations affected by the coronavirus outbreak in the UK are being given access to a significant package of support of up to £600m of repurposed money from The National Lottery.  This spans the arts, community and charity, heritage, education, environment and sports sectors:

• All funding decisions The National Lottery Community Fund makes for the next six months will prioritise getting funding to groups best placed to support their communities at this vital time, focusing initially on existing grant-holders and applicants.  Cash payments will be accelerated, so that funding gets to where it needs to be promptly.
• A £50m Emergency Fund from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to address immediate pressures in the heritage sector over the coming months and provide increased investment in essential digital skills;
• Sport England announced £157m of National Lottery funding (from a total package of £195m) would go towards a response package to support the sport and physical activity sector including organisations experiencing short term financial hardship or the ceasing of operations and launched Join the Movement, a National Lottery funded consumer campaign, backed by TV advertising to encourage people to stay active at home, to support their physical and mental wellbeing.
• Arts Council England announced £143m of National Lottery funding (from a total package of £160m) would go towards an emergency response package to support individuals and organisations across the cultural sector in response to the Covid-19 crisis. Many more individuals and companies will benefit through their supply chains.
• The British Film Institute has made £4.6m of National Lottery funding available to alleviate immediate pressure for organisations and individuals in the screen industries hardest hit by the pandemic, ranging from emergency funding for freelancers whose contracts were suddenly cancelled through to grants for audience facing venues which have unexpectedly had to close. The BFI also plays a crucial leadership role, working with the entire screen sector, to help shape measures responding to the crisis and guiding its strategy for recovery.

13. Our colleagues in the devolved nations are similarly working hard to respond to the needs they are identifying.

• Together with the Welsh Government, the Arts Council of Wales have been able to put £5.1m from National Lottery sources into a £7m Arts Resilience Fund for Wales. The fund will provide support for arts funded individuals and organisations to help them through the Coronavirus crisis; and
• Sport Wales have launched a Sport Resilience Fund, with £4.75m from National Lottery sources to support sports clubs and their partner networks ensuring the nation is able to remain active
• Creative Scotland has repurposed over £10m National Lottery funds to keep funding flowing to those in most immediate need due to the impact of the COVID- 19 crisis. Resources have also been redeployed to ensure those working across Scotland’s arts, screen and creative industries can maintain their practice during the coming months.
• sportscotland is accelerating £16.4 million of investment across the sporting system (£8.2 m The National Lottery and £8.2m Scottish Government) to support Scottish Governing Bodies, local partners and clubs and community organisations. The funding will help protect the jobs of an estimated 1,600 members of staff working in the sector.
• The Arts Council of Northern Ireland has opened a £500,000 National Lottery funded Artists Emergency Programme for freelance artists, creative practitioners and performers. Grants of up to £5,000 each will be used to support the research, design and future presentation of arts event and performance, including resources to help artists develop their creative practices.

Although Olympic and Paralympic sport has taken a back seat during the ongoing crisis, it has not stopped elite sport playing its part to help the UK public. Athletes and sporting bodies are volunteering their time and facilities to support efforts to combat COVID-19. Many athletes have used their social media channels actively to champion Sport England’s Join The Movement to their followers.

14. National Lottery Distributors are also working flexibly to support our existing grantholders, many of whom may be facing changes in their plans.  This may include agreeing to changes in timetable or activities, or flexibility with payments.  We are advising grantholders to make decisions on the best course of action for their organisation or project in line with the published Government advice, and to get in touch with their local office to discuss any specific issues they are concerned about.  We are continuing to make grant payments as normal.

15. National Lottery Distributors have been working together closely to ensure our individual responses and emergency funding design and administration are co-ordinated, responsive to need, remove overlap and duplication where possible, and crucially to make it as easy as possible for organisations facing challenge at this time to access funds they need to survive.

16. Our approaches are designed to fit alongside the wider package of Government support and work closely with the responses of other organisations and funders in each sector.

17. The whole National Lottery family is working hard to ensure that National Lottery players are able to understand how their National Lottery ticket purchase is helping to support people and communities at this time.  Recent TV advertising said Thank You to National Lottery players for the £300m that will go into communities across the country to provide support to the most vulnerable, including foodbanks, local health organisations and charities combatting loneliness.  Further digital campaigns are planned.

18. Even with this unparalleled response package, The National Lottery will not be able to meet all of the needs being identified, either immediately or into the longer term.

The impact of COVID-19 on The National Lottery itself

19. At the same time, it also needs to be recognised that The National Lottery itself is not immune from impact from COVID-19.  At present, the impact that the pandemic will have on sales of National Lottery tickets, and therefore on money raised for good causes, is unclear.  National Lottery Distributors are working closely with Camelot, Gambling Commission and DCMS to ensure up-to-date financial information, so we can take informed decisions as we need to.