After team GB’s record medal haul in the Rio Olympics, much has been made about how UKSport has used Lottery funds to invest in medal prospects, but Lottery money is also used to finance projects to improve the UK’s digital landscape.
Most people have dreamt about winning the lottery at one time or another, but even if you don’t win, you may benefit from some of the thousands of projects its money funds.
We all enjoyed the fruits of Lottery investment in UKSport, which delivered a record 67 medals at Rio earlier this month, but money from spend by the Big Lottery Fund also extends to our digital lives for services such as rural broadband and teaching digital skills.
As much as 23% of the UK population lack basic digital skills, and they are at risk of being left behind as technological progress is made at an increasingly rapid pace. Digital skills open doors to new employment opportunities, let people stay in touch with friends and family members, and lets older people maintain their independence when less mobile.
In April this year, Go ON UK merged with DotEveryone to offer people the opportunity to learn digital skills, with the help of funds from the Big Lottery Fund – and a modern outlook that is quick to iterate in improve the services they offer. Not everyone needs to know the ins and outs of how computers work, but everyone needs to be able to use emails and Google for answers.
As they say themselves:
“Not everyone needs to know how to code – but everyone needs to be comfortable enough with the internet and tech that they can see challenges and opportunities when they arise.”
Digital skills are useful, but without ubiquitous broadband connectivity, people in rural areas still risk being left on the wrong side of the digital divide. We’re written before how BT is not up to the task to providing broadband to these rural areas, despite the amount of public money they receive. Luckily, however, lottery funding has been able to step in and provide the required connectivity to some of the locations left out. Northumberland, Cumbria, and areas of rural Scotland have all been recipients of lottery money for broadband.
Lottery funding means that projects can work outside the limiting bureaucracy of central or local government, and provide services that cannot be defunded and changed on the whim of whoever wins the next election. Former prime minister John Major can be thanked for understanding the benefit of this funding model, and creating the possibility for the funding changes that have rejuvenated UKSport.
Over the course of 20 years, the UK has moved from an Olympic embarrassment in 1996 to outperforming almost every other major developed nation on a per capita basis – more than tripling the medal tally.
Polish ministers have already said that they want to follow the UK’s example for ‘laser focused’ funding on medal prospect sports, possibly funded by a lottery. Let’s just hope that the American lottery doesn’t start offering US athletes similar funding – they remain way out in first place.
Photograph by LoveToTakePhotos