Commentary on Sections Section 8: Reallocation of funds
23.Sections 22 and 23 of the 1993 Act provide that sums paid into the National Lottery Distribution Fund are held in that Fund for particular good causes and Lottery distributors – these sums are commonly known as a Lottery distributor’s balance. New section 29A as inserted by this section will allow the Secretary of State by order to reallocate these sums from one Lottery distributor to another body but not from one good cause to another. The receiving body would receive the transferred balance only and would not receive either an on-going share of new Lottery income or any investment income on the sum. The Secretary of State would be required to consult with any body mentioned in the order and also the devolved administrations, as well as anyone else she considers appropriate. In practice, the Secretary of State would only use this as a last resort in the event that a distributor was considered to have failed, signally, to reduce balances to a reasonable level. Such an order will be subject to affirmative resolution procedure.