To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what proportion of Lottery funding available has been awarded to organisations in (a) Leeds and (b) Yorkshire over the last 12 months. (226382)

The Leeds local authority area received 0.99 per cent. of the funding made available by the Lottery distributors over the period 10 October 2007 to 10 October 2008. The Yorkshire and the Humber region received 7.39 per cent. over the same period.

Lottery grants are not awarded on a geographical basis but are made in response to the quality of applications received and against the distributing bodies’ funding criteria.

The figures quoted refer only to grants specifically located within, and benefiting the Leeds local authority area and the Yorkshire and the Humber region and excludes those grants which may have been attributed to addresses in these areas, to headquarters offices for example, but which have a wider geographical benefit. These grant figures are derived from the Department’s lottery grants database, which uses information supplied by Lottery distributors and is searchable at

www.lottery.culture.gov.uk.