The Big Lootery

• National Lottery
• Additionality

The Education Minister, Ruth Kelly announced that the Government is committing £60 million from the Big Lottery Fund and the Department for Education and Skills to enable a new School Food Trust to give independent support and advice to schools and parents to improve the standard of school meals.

The announcement, although limited at the moment to England sounds fresh alarm bells for those who wish to safeguard lottery funding going to good causes.

From September and over the next three years, schools and local education authorities in England will be supported in transforming school meals with healthy food, prepared fresh on the premises by trained school cooks, which would follow tough minimum nutrition standards underpinned by Ofsted inspection - part funded by the Big Lottery Fund.

Acevo chief executive Stephen Bubb has called on ministers to reveal papers relating to the decison under the Freedom of Information Act. He said the decision was "completely improper use of lottery money". Lindsay Boswell, director of the Institute of Fundraising has called the announcement a "disgrace".

The announcement of funding for the improvement in school meals seemed to be timed to deflect criticism after a high profile campaign by the celebrity TV chef Jamie Oliver in the Channel 4 programme "School Dinners" which showed the inadequacy of funding available for the provision of school meals.

NICVA is calling on the Big Lottery Fund in Northern Ireland to set up an independent panel to assess the new programmes established. This new panel would look specifically at the issue of independence and additionality - which is the principle that lottery funding should not substitute for government funding.

"It is shameful that the Government has made over £5billion from lottery players in taxes yet continues to raid the lottery good causes allocation for further government initiatives." said NICVA Member Services Manager, Neil Irwin.

"Political interference of this kind in the allocation of funding could seriously undermine the public's confidence the Lotto game. If that happens everyone loses, but especially the charities which depend on it for service delivery and innovation"