INTRODUCTION

  1.  This memorandum has been prepared at the invitation of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee as part of its inquiry into the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and deals with The Scottish Office interest in HLF activities in Scotland.

  2.  The memorandum should be read in the context of the comprehensive memorandum submitted to the Select Committee by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), the lead Department on HLF business. The Scottish Office has seen the DCMS memorandum and subscribes to it. Historic Scotland, an Agency of The Scottish Office, is submitting a separate memorandum on its roles as an applicant for HLF funding and as an advisory body to the HLF. Scottish Natural Heritage, an Executive NDPB, is submitting a comprehensive memorandum on the natural heritage aspect of the HLF.

BACKGROUND

  3.  Within The Scottish Office Ministerial and administrative responsibility for the various heritage sectors is distributed as follows:

Cultural heritage

  Minister for Health and the Arts; Arts and Cultural Heritage Division of the Education and Industry Department.

Built heritage

  Minister for Local Government and Housing; Historic Scotland, an Agency of the Development Department.

Natural heritage

  Minister for Agriculture, the Environment and Fisheries; Country Affairs and Natural Heritage Division of the Agricultural, Environment and Fisheries Department.

  4.  In general, the HLF operates in Scotland in the same way as it does in the rest of the United Kingdom. Scottish Office Ministers take a keen interest in the HLF grants awarded to organisations in Scotland and regularly participate in events to mark an award, for example by formally handing over a work of art acquired with HLF assistance. At the same time, Ministers are fully aware of the requirement that decisions on grant applications are made entirely by the Trustees of the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF), independently of the Government.

  5.  Appointments to the NHMF are made by the Prime Minister and by statute must include persons connected by residence or otherwise with Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Such appointments are made in consultation with the appropriate Secretary of State and at present one of the fourteen Trustees Sir Alistair Grant, has been appointed in this way to represent Scottish interests.

HLF AWARDS IN SCOTLAND

  6.  Since it was established in 1994, the HLF has made an important contribution to the preservation and enhancement of the cultural, built and natural heritage of Scotland. As at 19 May 1998, in response to 489applications, the HLF has awarded 193 grants in Scotland worth £123 million, 12 per cent of the UK total. The awards are distributed among the sectors as follows:

Sector	No of Grants	Total Value	% of UK Total
Cultural	63	43,379,880	4.2
Built	98	53,585,309	5.3
Natural	32	25,963,693	2.5
Total	193	122,928,882	12

  7.  The following paragraphs set out some features of the funding awarded in Scotland to the Culture Heritage and Built Heritage sectors. Further information on the Built Heritage in respect of Historic Scotland's role as an applicant and advisory body to the HLF will be found in their separate memorandum. Comprehensive information on the Natural Heritage sector is contained in the memorandum from Scottish Natural Heritage.

CULTURAL HERITAGE

  8.  Grants have been awarded the length and breadth of Scotland to cultural heritage organisations ranging from the National Institutions and local authorities to very small museums and galleries in the independent sector. The largest award in the sector, £7.25 million was made to the National Museums of Scotland for the new Museum of Scotland (see paragraph 9); and the smallest £5,000, was made to the Scottish United Services Museum for the purchase of a Stewart silver-hilted claymore.

  9.  HLF funding has significantly enhanced major capital projects undertaken by the National Museums and Galleries. For example, while the Government is providing £32 million to the National Museums of Scotland (NMS) for the construction of the new Museum of Scotland the NMS were required to raise funds from other sources to meet the costs of fitting out the displays in the museum and set a target of £14.5 million. The HLF grant of £7.25 million in matching funding towards the target ensures that the Scottish national collections will be set in displays of the highest standard. Similarly, HLF grants to the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) to develop the Dean Centre and surrounding land for the new Paolozzi Gallery have helped to boost the project from a basic development costing £2.5 million at the outset, to an attractive and exciting addition to the NGS estate, costing £9.5 million.

  10.  The NMS and, in particular, the NGS have also been able to acquire significant works for the national collections, which would not have been possible without the support of the HLF, for example the acquisition of the Penrose Collection for the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art with an HLF grant of £3 million towards the cost; and of Van Dyck's "Stuart Princesses" for the Scottish National Portrait Gallery with a HLF contribution of £1.65 million.

  11.  Local authority museums and galleries across Scotland have also benefited, notably Kirkcaldy Museum and Arts Gallery; Gordon Highlanders Museum, Aberdeen; Grampian Transport Museum; the Burrell Collection, Glasgow and others. In the independent sector, the major industrial museums have won significant HLF support for their preservation and development;

Scottish Mining Museum	£550,000
Scottish Fisheries Museum	£780,000
Dundee Heritage Trust	£890,000
New Lanark	£1,800,000
Other major awards include:	£2,500,000
Hunterian Museum, University of Glasgow
Kilmartin House, Lochgilphead	£823,000
Easter Ross Visitor Centre	£1,098,000

  12.  In marked contrast to the success of Scottish museums and galleries in winning HLF grants, archives and libraries have attracted fewer awards, largely as a result of the statutory restrictions on the kind of projects which the HLF is empowered to support. The new provisions of the National Heritage Act 1997 should improve the prospects for HLF funding for archives and libraries. In the same way HLF funding has not so far been available for heritage projects in the socio-cultural sphere.

BUILT HERITAGE

  13.  Repair schemes for a number of significant historic buildings and structures have been assisted, including:

—  Stanley Mills (Perthshire)—£1,649,900 (including acquisition)

—  Culzean Castle Viaduct—£242,074

—  Wardlaw Mausoleum, Kirkhill—£225,000

—  Nasmyth Bridge, Almondell Country Park—£218,000

—  St Salvador's Church, Dundee—£124,900

  14.  Grants have also been made to acquire properties of outstanding importance, most notable Newhailes, a 17th/18th century house of distinction (£8 million) and properties on the south side of Charlotte Square (£3.1 million) both to the National Trust for Scotland.

  15.  The repair and conversion of buildings to serve heritage purposes, has, too, been the subject of grant, as at the Tarbat Discovery Centre, Portmahomack (£610,000) and the Doocot at Athelstaneford (£46,000).

  16.  The availability of grants such as those referred to in paragraphs 13-15 has been of the greatest importance to Scotland's built heritage, complementing building repair and acquisition grants given by Historic Scotland, and grants from European Regional, local authority and local enterprise sources. At the same time it must be pointed out that HLF support has brought forward large schemes which would not otherwise have been viable and this has put additional pressures on the Historic Scotland building repair grants budget. Such projects have required a substantial contribution under the scheme and this has only been possible by excluding a number of smaller projects to release sufficient resources.

  17.  It is also fair to say that the Scottish Office is aware that Lottery procedures have often seemed cumbersome, imposing significant financial burdens on applicants. The Scottish Office welcomes the new measures that are being introduced through the National Lottery Bill and new policy directions to improve lottery distribution.

RECENT AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

  18.  The Scottish Office supports the wide range of improvements to HLF operations put in place through legislative and administrative means as described in the DCMS memorandum. It particularly welcomes the one-stop community grants programme "Awards for All" which the HLF is piloting in Scotland in co-operation with other Lottery distributors; and the HLF decision to establish a Scottish Committee in October 1998 to assist with the allocation of grants to local heritage projects, with power to award individual grants of up to £375,000.

June 1998