Camelot proposes PR body

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The Lottery needs a permanent body to generate and maintain a high level of public awareness of good causes funded from Lottery proceeds. This was the proposal put forward by Dianne Thompson, chief executive of Camelot, in her keynote speech to Lottery Monitor’s sixth annual conference, and reflected in the DCMS Lottery funding review paper published this week. Thompson said: ‘We believe the time has come for the formation of a single body to promote better understanding of the benefits of the National Lottery to the nation. Such a body would need to have the full support and backing of all the Lottery partners, but would have the obvious advantage of being guided by one clear goal: the promotion of the betterment of the nation through the National Lottery.’ The DCMS is strongly sympathetic to this new proposal. A spokesperson said: ‘We are not quite there yet in terms of the detail and of course it depends crucially on all the distributors signing up, but we’re getting there.’ The distribution bodies have been more guarded in their response. Anthea Case, HLF’s chief executive, said: ‘We need to ensure that Lottery money used for this purpose, rather than as grants, will be cost-effective in terms of helping deliver the good causes’ objectives.’ Gerald Oppenheim, director of policy and communications at the Community Fund, said: ‘We are prepared to play our part in owning and promoting the National Lottery brand.’ There would, he said, need to be careful discussion of the detail. Camelot plans to issue a formal paper tackling funding and logistics issues, with the aim of getting a body up and running by next April.