Lottery's cash mountain just refuses to budge

The unspent cash mountain built up by funds from the National Lottery is now standing at over £3.5bn, only marginally less than the level at which Tessa Jowell pledged to cut it by half.

The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport said in March that she was setting a target of cutting the unspent pile by half by 2004. It then stood at £3.559bn. Latest figures for the end of July show it has fallen by just £37.4m to £3.521bn; if expenditure continues at its current rate, it will still be substantially above £3bn in 2004, some £1.2bn higher than Ms Jowell's target.

The money is sitting in what is called the National Lottery Distribution Fund, gathering interest. This fund has received £13.2bn since the lottery was started in 1993 and has paid out £9.68bn to good causes.

While some recipients of lottery funds, such as the Arts Council, Sport England or the Community Fund, have spent the vast majority of their allocation so far, others are being seen by critics of the lottery distribution system as tardy.

The Heritage Lottery Fund, which was originally set up as the National Heritage Memorial Fund, now has a record £1.012bn of unspent money waiting to be drawn down, some 42.3 per cent of its total grant. A spokeswoman for the fund said that all the money was spoken for, but that it was paying for major construction projects – such as the new £25m visitor centre at Stonehenge and the £19m extension to the City Museum in Leeds – which would take time to be completed. The Heritage Lottery Fund has been criticised in the past for lacking clear objectives, and work has yet to start on many of its planned schemes.

The biggest proportion of unspent money is in the New Opportunities Fund, which has spent only 38.9 per cent of the £1.44bn it has been allocated. Similarly, the Film Council has been given £96.8m, but has spent only £24.9m.

The New Opportunities Fund is focused on education. Its largest project, in which £750m has been earmarked for school sport, has only just started; a mere £7.5m has been spent so far.

Ironically, the Film Council has been attacked for the money it has spent, opponents pointing out how few hit films have been made with lottery proceeds.

A spokesman for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said that it was early days yet and expressed confidence that Ms Jowell's targets would be met.