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National Lottery Bill

I assure the noble Viscount that the Secretary of State fully intends to make public any directions for the Big Lottery Fund and has indicated that it should also include them in its annual report. The noble Viscount is right that directions are not subject to parliamentary debate, but one shudders to think of the implications for our legislative load if directions encapsulated in legislation became the subject of debate in the two Houses. It would be an unimaginable burden. On the question of the directions not being enough in the annual report, I do not think the noble Viscount can expect to see the pros and cons of the Secretary of State’s debate with the distributor as a to and fro occurs with regard to certain major issues. We have emphasised that a light touch is required here, so it would be about only the broadest of parameters. The noble Viscount is right; debate goes on, we all recognise that. I am not sure that a kind of Hansard of such discussions included in the annual report is quite what he has in mind. I hear what he says. The directions will certainly be there, and therefore the public will know the broad parameters under which the Big Lottery Fund is operating. That is probably about as far as we could be expected to go.