Although consultation on the criteria for awards is not complete, draft guidelines indicate that charities covering animal welfare, such as Blue Cross and the RSPCA, and scientific medical research will be low priority.Diana Garnham, of the Association of Medical Research Charities, said: "It's a double whammy ... "People don't think they have to help any more once they have bought a lottery ticket."Arthritis Care, a national charity, saw income from its pre-Christmas lottery dip by 25 per cent. Fearing insufficient interest, the NSPCC in Wales has cancelled its annual prize draw for a car - a key fund-raising scheme.Lainey Clayton, of the Kidney Research Unit Foundation for Wales, is finding that managers of supermarkets, already choked with queues for the lottery, are unwilling to allow collectors into stores The biggest problem, however, is public ignorance. But there is also doubt among voluntary groups as to whether they will ever recoup their losses through the NLCB, which is responsible for handing out charities' one-fifth share of the "good causes" proceeds.Last Wednesday, the cancer charity Tenovus announced it was axing its scratch-card lottery and 500 jobs following a "catastrophic" slump in fund-raising.
"We need considerably more evidence that there is a sustained effect on the charities sector than we have yet seen," he said on BBC radio, refusing to be drawn on how much time would have to elapse before he would consider the sort of life-belt that has been thrown to the pools firms.The NCVO's results appear to bear out, and in some cases surpass, concerns being expressed about charities' ability to compete with the National Lottery's huge pay-outs, which look set to continue tonight with a record jackpot of £20m.Part of the problem is the direct effect on fund-raising. Two-thirds of those questioned thought that 22p out of every £1 spent on the lottery went to charity, when in reality the figure was just 5.6p.Mr Dorrell was unconvinced. If that pattern were to continue, the council warned, charities and voluntary organisations could lose £212m by the end of the year, £57m more than the £155m it calculates the National Lottery Charities Board (NLCB) will have to dish out. The proportion of people buying raffle tickets has fallen from 32 to 17 per cent, while the percentage giving to street collections is down nearly a third to 23 per cent.The research, carried out by NOP, also found that individual donations have dropped by £71m. BY RHYS WILLIAMS and MARY BRAID Heeding warnings from pools companies that the National Lottery would soon put one of their number out of business, the Government yesterday eased their financial worries by reducing the levy they pay to the Exchequer.Confronted on the same day with evidence that the lottery could be having equally disastrous consequences for charities, Stephen Dorrell, the Secretary of State for National Heritage, said: "Wait and see."The figures released by the National Council of Voluntary Organisations show that the percentage of the population giving to charity since the lottery began last November has dropped from 81 to 67.
Mrs Clark said if Tony had arrived five hours later he would have been put in an incubator and perhaps survived.Hexham General said it treated each case individually, regardless of the length of the pregnancy.. He weighed1lb 2oz and lived for two hours. By law, 24 weeks is the viable survival period for premature babies. Lynn Clark gave birth to son, Tony, at Hexham General 23 weeks and six days into her pregnancy. The Government is seeking an explicit reference to the decommissioning of terrorist weaponry, while the republican preference is to talk about overall demilitarisation. Most observers assume the holding of such talks is simply a matter of time, and that acceptable wording will soon be found.. vA woman claimed yesterday that her premature baby might have survived if he had arrived five hours later, forcing a hospital to put him in an incubator. Afterwards both sides were non-committal as to what progress, if any, had been made.The signs were that the two sides had intended to hold the meeting without publicity, butnews of the encounter was revealed by Downing Street.The difficulties centre on the form of words to be placed on the agenda for talks with ministers.