CONSERVATIVE
New Forest East

NATIONAL LOTTERY – MENTAL HEALTH - 20 April 1998

NATIONAL LOTTERY – MENTAL HEALTH - 20 April 1998

Dr Julian Lewis: Is the Secretary of State aware of the concern expressed by the chief executive of the mental health charity SANE about the fact that her helpline, which deals with many thousands of people who are contemplating suicide, has had its applications for lottery grants turned down three times, whereas a helpline for owners bereaved after the death of a pet, which deals with a much smaller number of people, has received a grant of £180,000? Does not he think that a strange set of priorities? Does he agree that the lottery of the lottery should be in the choosing of numbers and the winning of prizes, not in the awarding of grants?