Vol. 416 No. 6
304 Mr. Creed asked the Minister for Health if he will outline, (a) the moneys made available to his Department from the national lottery, (b) the projects these moneys are used for and (c) the way in which the money is allocated.
In regard to (a), total national lottery funds made available to my Department to date are as follows: 1987/88, £10 million; 1989, £6.969 million; 1990, £10.6 million; 1991, £28.135 million and 1992, £39.806 million.
In regard to (b), the lottery funds have been used on numerous projects under the general headings as follows: (1) the health capital programme; (2) services for the elderly; (3) services for mentally handicapped; (4) child care services; (5) public health services (including AIDS prevention services); (6) health promotion; (7) health board funding mainly of local voluntary bodies and (8) miscellaneous grants to national and local groups.
In regard to (c), decisions are made by the Government with regard to the amounts to be made available for the health capital programme and the major service headings. In the current year, a sum of £1.6 million will be made available to health boards mainly for distribution to local organisations. The balance of about £1 million is allocated on the basis of recommendations from my Department, having regard to overall service priorities and an assessment of the value likely to accrue from the making of a grant.
