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 Historic Scotland's roles as an applicant for HLF funding and as an advisory body to the HLF.

  2.  Historic Scotland is an agency of The Scottish Office Development Department and the memorandum should be read in the context of the memorandum submitted by The Scottish Office which deals with the various heritage sectors, including that of the built heritage.

HISTORIC SCOTLAND AS AN APPLICANT

  3.  The HLF has awarded £7.07 million to Historic Scotland in respect of work on the Stanley Millsproject. Details of the amounts of funding to the different elements of the work are attached as a table. To date, £1.344 million has actually been paid.

  4.  HLF's application form now requests detailed information. As a relatively large organisation, with extensive experience of capital projects, we have had no difficulty with the application process.

  5.  Once the grant has been awarded, although a letter of confirmation is sent fairly speedily, it seems to take a long time for the contract to be issued.

  6.  While payments seemed rather slow at the beginning of the process, it seems fair to assume that this was the result of a learning curve, as there are no problems now. (In fact HLF were very helpful at the end of the financial year 1997-98 in processing claims and issuing funds promptly to enable our spend forecast to be achieved.)

  7.  Stages 1 and 2 of the project were deemed to be "self-monitoring" by HLF and there was no examination of the project or payments until the final grant claim. At that stage, an external auditor, appointed by HLF, spent a day with the Regional Quantity Surveyor verifying that competitive tendering had been followed and that the money claimed had been spent on the approved works at Stanley Mills.

  8.  Our experience is that there are a number of standard conditions (relating to things like competitive tendering and bankruptcy) and often special conditions relating to the specific project receiving grant. These latter conditions require to be carefully considered before the contract is signed but in general we have had no problem agreeing to them and they have not been unduly onerous.

 HISTORIC SCOTLAND AS AN EXPERT ADVISER

  9.  HLF requests for advice primarily involve input from Historic Buildings or Ancient Monuments Inspectors as appropriate. Historic Scotland aims to ensure that its advice is clear, concise, consistent, informed and balanced. The system appears to work well; we believe that, generally speaking, our advice is what caseworkers need to process applications.

  10.  We are, however, aware that HLF procedures have seemed bureaucratic to other applicants, who have compared HLF procedures unfavourably against the processes of Government grant schemes. There have also been complaints that providing the information required can involve financial commitment by the applicants, which may not be rewarded by grant. We therefore welcome measures to improve lottery distribution.

  11.  The lack of an HLF presence in Scotland has also often been remarked upon by applicants who consider the HLF officials are remote both geographically and in their knowledge of Scotland. Historic Scotland welcomes the HLF decision to establish a Scottish Committee to assist with the allocation of grants to local heritage projects. We hope that this may be a first step towards the arrangements operated very satisfactorily by the National Lottery Charities Board where the applications are actually processed in Scotland.

June 1998