7 October 1997

National Lottery Charities Board awards £171 million to Learning and Education Projects working across the UK

The National Lottery Charities Board today announced grants of over £10 million to organisations working across the UK in the fields of training, education and supporting voluntary sector organisations. These are the final grants awarded in a £171 million package of funding for community and voluntary groups this autumn under the New opportunities and choices and Voluntary sector development grants programme.

The largest grant recipient, Fairbridge, receives £943,000 to provide work skills to young people enabling them to return to education, training or employment. The 54 grant recipients announced today also include The Royal National Institute for the Deaf, which receives £573,050 to provide lifelong learning to deaf people; The Foundation for After Schools Activities, which receives £136,518 to stimulate after school activities in disadvantaged areas, and Learning Through Landscapes, which receives £199,020 to provide children with opportunities to learn about their environment. Older people also benefit. The National Council on Ageing receives £889,000 to support voluntary organisations who work with older people.

Gerald Oppenheim, Director of UK and Corporate Planning, said: ‘These grants recognise the wide ranging and important work that organisations across the UK are undertaking to co-ordinate education and volunteering opportunities. Some of the recipients are consortia of voluntary organisations working together to make the best use of resources to benefit those at greatest disadvantage.’

Today’s announcement means the Board has awarded over 11,000 grants worth over £680 million in two years.

An overall analysis of the 1,762 grants worth £171,073,815 awarded under the New opportunities and choices and Voluntary sector development grants programme shows that children and young people were some of the main beneficiaries. Thirty one per cent of the grants (540 grants) and 21 per cent of the money (£36,056,039) support projects providing education, volunteering and training projects for young people and children.

In total, 455 grants (26 per cent of the grants) worth £33,392,321 (19 per cent of the money) were awarded to education projects supplementary to formal education. These include adult education, pre-school education and educational support for school age children.