The membership of the committee
that will for the first time take devolved decisions on how Big Lottery
Fund cash is spent in Scotland has been revealed, with the outgoing
leader of Highland Council, Alison Magee, in the lead role.
The new Big Lottery Fund
Scotland committee will decide how to spend £257 million before 2009.
It will also be responsible for strategy, policy, planning and
management of programmes in Scotland within an overall strategic and
financial framework determined by the UK Board.
The committee will monitor spend
on programmes and report on the difference that Lottery funding has
made to ensure outcomes are achieved.
Magee was joined at the launch
event at the National Trust for Scotland in Edinburgh by Patricia
Ferguson, Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport, and Sir Clive Booth,
the Big Lottery Fund's UK Chair, where she announced the Committee team.
The Scotland Committee members are Tim Allan, chair of Young Enterprise Scotland; Elizabeth
Cameron, director of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce; Helen Forsyth,
Scottish regeneration director of Places for People; David Green,
retiring Chair of Crofters Commission; Alistair Grimes, director of
Rocket Science UK; Maureen McGinn, chief executive of the Laidlaw Youth
Project and Lucy McTernan, director of corporate affairs, at the
Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations.
Ferguson said: "I am pleased to welcome this dedicated team of talented individuals on
board. They will draw on their vast and varied experiences to make
informed decisions about which good causes in Scotland will receive Big
Lottery funding."
Magee said: "Each week the Big
Lottery Fund distributes £1 million pounds in Scotland alone. As the
Scotland Committee, we therefore have a huge responsibility to make
sure that this money goes to those projects and areas where it is
needed most."¯
"I am delighted to be part of
and to welcome this new team which will enable us to develop a distinct
Scottish agenda and thinking as to how funding is spent here in
Scotland."
Magee also announced the first
urban project to receive funding from the Big Lottery Fund's Growing
Community Assets scheme. "I am delighted to announce tonight, an award
of £244,000 to Out of the Blue in Leith, to refurbish and restore an
old drill hall that will be transformed into a community asset."
"This will include studios and
workspace for individuals and groups, educational spaces, a cafe and a
creche. Growing Community Assets builds on the success of the Scottish
Land Fund. As many of you will know, the Scottish Land Fund gave
communities in rural Scotland the means to bring local land and land
assets into community ownership. Now with Growing Community Assets we
can extend these benefits to urban communities. Out of the Blue are now
engaged in the same exciting process as the crofters of Gigha, Assynt
and South Uist."
The Big Lottery Fund Scotland
Committee was appointed by with the consent of Scottish Ministers.
These appointments have been made in accordance with the Office of the
Commissioner for Public Appointmentsā€™ Code of Practice and assessed
against published criteria by a selection panel including an
independent assessor.
No one has commented on this article.
Related news items:
|
