Vol. 483 No. 1
28 Mr. Finucane asked the Minister for Finance the amount of the national lottery reserve fund being held by the Exchequer; the reason this large fund remains undistributed to eligible projects; the Government's intention, if any, in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19676/97]
The amount of unallocated lottery funds at the end of 1996 was £43.6 million. A reserve is maintained in the national lottery fund for two reasons.
First, given that lottery revenues cannot be predicted with certainty it is necessary to maintain a sufficient reserve to meet any shortfall in lottery revenues required to cover the costs of ongoing lottery programmes. In practice, the allocations published in the Book of Estimates are contingent upon estimated lottery sales in the year in question. In the absence of a sufficient reserve, it would be necessary either to transfer funding of lottery programmes to the Exchequer or to curtail or cancel programmes in the event of lottery income not materialising. Such an eventuality could seriously damage the credibility of the beneficiary fund.
Second, the maintenance of a healthy reserve can enable the fund to finance major projects of capital nature from time to time. Such a "flag-ship" project could help in promoting the image of the national lottery.
