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• The consultation will recommend raising the maximum amount society lotteries can raise for good causes from £10 million to £100 million per year
• Consultation will recommend raising maximum draw prize
• Large society lotteries sales limits were last raised in 2009

A consultation has today been launched on changes to the amount of money society lotteries can raise for good causes.

The Government recommends increasing the maximum draw prize from its current limit of £400,000 to £500,000. The consultation will also ask for views on increasing the number of tickets society lotteries can sell to a value of £100 million per year and the amount they can raise per draw to £5 million.

The move would allow charities and community groups to increase fundraising methods through society lotteries, while protecting the National Lottery’s ability to raise money for good causes.

Tracey Crouch, Minister for Sport and Civil Society said:

Society lotteries make a vital difference to communities up and down the country. They raise hundreds of millions of pounds every year, supporting our veterans, lifeboats, hospices, air ambulances and many other great causes.

They are an important fundraising tool for charities and we want to ensure that both society lotteries and the National Lottery are able to thrive now and in the future.

Society lotteries – such as those run by charities, The Health Lottery and People’s Postcode Lottery – raised over £255 million for good causes in 2016/17.

The individual draw limit for large society lotteries was last raised in 2009. The government’s decision to consult follows the sector’s calls for limits to be increased.

The consultation will run for ten weeks and is open to members of the public.

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS

Society lotteries are lotteries run by charities and other non-commercial organisations such as sports clubs to allow them to raise money for the good causes they support.

The Gambling Act sets the current limits for society lotteries as £4 million sales per draw, £10 million sales per year and a maximum draw prize of £400,000. The per draw sales limit was last changed in 2009.

For further information, please call Hannah Thornley at the DCMS Press Office on: 0207 211 6276.

Examples of society lotteries include:

People’s Postcode Lottery has raised more than £310 million for UK charities since 2005. The money raised is awarded to good causes through a collection of themed charity trusts, and also directly supports a range of charities including Oxfam, Dogs Trust, Maggie’s and PDSA.

The Health Lottery has raised over £58 million since its launch in September 2011. It supports local health causes in England, Scotland and Wales through 51 local community interest companies. Grants have supported charities like Carers Trust, Dementia UK, and Mencap.

Macmillan Lottery raises funds to support different areas of Macmillan’s work for people affected by cancer.

British Legion’s Poppy Lottery supports the vital work of The Royal British Legion helping serving and ex-Service men and women and their families across the UK.

Royal National Lifeboat Institution runs a Lifeboat Lottery raising funds to support their vital work helping to save lives at sea.

Air Ambulances across the UK raise money through lotteries to support local air ambulance services.

BAE Systems has been chosen as the preferred bidder for the ‘SEA 5000’ Future Frigate competition, with a design based on Britain’s Type 26 Global Combat Ship. It will involve BAE Systems building nine British-designed warships in Adelaide, the first export of a British design for new-build frigates since the 1970s. The UK was chosen over bids from Italy and Spain for the contract.

The agreement will secure more than 4000 jobs in Australia and also boost Britain’s export economy for generations to come, with huge opportunities set to arise which the Government believes the specialist knowledge and capability of British firms will be best placed to fulfil.

In turn, it is hoped that this will benefit the UK economy, with exports having the potential to drive regional growth, create new jobs and showcase the strength of British innovation on the world stage.

The deal is a result of four years of intensive government engagement involving a number of departments across Whitehall. The Prime Minister has been directly involved in making the case for the UK bid, including in bilateral talks with Prime Minister Turnbull at Chequers earlier this year.

Over the past 18 months the Foreign Secretary, Defence Secretary, and International Trade Secretary have visited Australia to extol the benefits of the UK’s world class design, engineering and innovation.

Prime Minister Theresa May said:

The sheer scale and nature of this contract puts the UK at the very forefront of maritime design and engineering and demonstrates what can be achieved by UK industry and Government working hand-in-hand.

We have always been clear that as we leave the EU we have an opportunity to build on our close relationships with allies like Australia. This deal is a perfect illustration that the Government is doing exactly that.

And while this is an enormous boost for the UK economy, it will also cement our strategic partnership with one of our oldest and closest friends for decades to come.

International Trade Secretary Dr Liam Fox said:

The UK and Australia already enjoy a strong trading relationship worth more than £13 billion a year. Today’s announcement is a further boost to this relationship which will create significant opportunities for companies in both countries to deepen their trading ties.

As an international economic department, we are excited for the opportunities this will bring to both our nations including increased data and information sharing, high-end technology transfer, and collaboration at the cutting-edge of maritime expertise. We look forward to further discussion on future trade through our joint UK-Australia trade working group.

The news builds on the century-long ties between the two national forces, and will allow interoperability between Australian and Royal Navy ships amid a climate of intensifying threats around the world, especially in the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific regions.

It comes after the Royal Navy further boosted its role in securing the Asia-Pacific when the Defence Secretary announced that HMS Argyll would deploy to the region, marking the first time three British warships have been sent there after HMS Sutherland and HMS Albion set sail.

Defence Minister Guto Bebb said:

BAE Systems’ winning bid highlights the best of British shipbuilding design and our world-leading anti-submarine warfare technology. Australian forces have stood should-to-shoulder with our military for generations and this deal will build on our strength as allies as our two great Navies operate this cutting-edge frigate around the globe.

The 6,900 tonne multi-mission warships are designed to support anti-submarine warfare and a whole range of other operations anywhere in the world. They will form a key part of Australia’s hugely respected Navy.

The contract was secured with the UK committed to getting eight of the Type 26 warfare frigates, which are currently in-build on the Clyde in Scotland and set to enter service with the Royal Navy in the 2020s.

The news comes ahead of key engagements next month, including the Defence Industrial Dialogue between the nations, as well as the annual AUKMIN talks between the Defence Secretary, the Foreign Secretary and their Australian Counterparts.

BAE Systems Chief Executive, Charles Woodburn, said:

BAE Systems’ selection as preferred tenderer for SEA 5000 reinforces our position as a leading designer and builder of complex maritime platforms.

I am proud that our world class anti-submarine warfare design and our approach to transferring technology and skills to the nations in which we work is expected to contribute to the development of an enduring world-class naval shipbuilding industry in Australia.

The BIIGC is a consultative forum established by Strand Three of the Belfast Agreement with the aim of bringing ‘together the British and Irish Governments to promote bilateral co-operation on all matters of mutual interest within the competence of both governments’.

The BIIGC is not an executive body and as the Belfast Agreement states explicitly, “there will be no derogation from the sovereignty of either government”.

As the BIIGC is ‘concerned with non-devolved Northern Ireland matters’, the focus of the meeting will be on East-West issues. It will take place in London and be chaired by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in attendance.

The long awaited Home Office Biometrics Strategy published today is to be welcomed as the basis for a more informed public debate on the future use of biometrics by the Home Office and its partners.

The strategy lays out the current uses of biometric data and the development of new multi-user data platforms. Unfortunately the strategy says little about what future plans the Home Office has for the use of biometrics and the sharing of biometric data. A debate is needed given the rapid improvements in biometric matching technologies and the increasing ability to hold and analyse large biometric databases.

While the use of biometric data may well be in the public interest for law enforcement purposes and to support other government functions the public benefit must be balanced against loss of privacy. Biometric data is especially sensitive because it is most intrusive of our individual privacy and for that reason who decides the balance is as important as what is decided. Legislation carries the legitimacy that Parliament decides that crucial question.

It is disappointing that the Home Office document is not forward looking as one would expect from a strategy. In particular it does not propose legislation to provide rules for the use and oversight of new biometrics, including facial images.

This is in contrast to Scotland where such legislation has been proposed. Given that new biometrics are being rapidly deployed or trialled this failure to set out more definitively what the future landscape will look like in terms of the use and governance of biometrics appears short sighted at best.

What the strategy does propose is an oversight and advisory board to make recommendations about governance just short of legislation. If that results in the development of a set of principles to inform future legislation then it is also welcome. However, the advisory board is mainly described as concerned with the use of facial images by the police.

What is actually required is a governance framework that will cover all future biometrics rather than a series of ad hoc responses to problems as they emerge. I hope that the Home Office will re-consider and clearly extend the advisory board’s remit to properly consider all future biometrics and will name the board accordingly.