BIG Chat

[12:42] EileenF: Does "health and well being" section include retreats for people in the caring profession?

[12:57] EileenF: Do you fund purchase of buildings for charity projects?

[12:59] Moderator_BIG: Welcome to the BIG chat, with the Chair of Big Lottery Fund, Sir Clive Booth.

[12:59] ClaireHannah: The Growing Community Assets programme has been running in Scotland for 3 years and we are awaiting an announcement of a second wave of funding in June. Do you see community ownership of assets (such as land and buildings) as an important area for Lottery support?

[13:00] Moderator_BIG: From 1pm to 3pm you'll have the opportunity to ask Sir Clive your questions. We wioll also put to him some of the questions that you have sent in advance.

[13:01] Moderator_BIG: If Sir Clive can't answer your questions this afternoon, his response will be published on this website within two weeks

[13:01] SirCliveBooth_BIG: thank you EileenF for your questions...

[13:03] SirCliveBooth_BIG: ...Retreats for people in the caring professions are eligible for funding, for example

[13:03] SirCliveBooth_BIG: under the Reaching Communities projects in England.

[13:04] SirCliveBooth_BIG: We do indeed fund capital projects, for example under the prviosu communities buildings programme and I expect that our new portfolio of programme

[13:04] SirCliveBooth_BIG: will also include the purchase or erection of buildings.

[13:04] ClaireHannah: Some community organisations seek to purchase assets currently owned by public sector bodies. Can the BIG Lottery support such purchases or do you feel they should be tranferred at no cost?

[13:05] SirCliveBooth_BIG: Thank you for your question.

[13:06] SirCliveBooth_BIG: To answer your question Claire. If you heard the podcast by Alison McGee my Scotland Chair colleague on the Big Chat website, you will know that BIG in Scotland is aiming for continuity

[13:07] MargaretMcCulloch: To decreaase the numbers of organisations getting through to the second stage will you be making any changes to the first stage process of the application process so that less organisations qualify to the next stage as this is an expensive and time consuming for us.

[13:07] SirCliveBooth_BIG: of programmes and you can therefore confidently expect that we will continue to support community ownership of assets.

[13:07] ClaireHannah: Thanks Clive, I have read the transcript of Alison't podcast and was aware. We hope that BIG will continue to support the purchase of assets as well as their continued development.

[13:07] NatalieCampbell: How important do you regard Cultural Diversity and what steps are the Big Lottery Fund taking to support UK diverse communities?

[13:08] MargaretMcCulloch: Sustainability and continuity is important to all of us

[13:09] DavidFitzpatrick: I was impressed that BIG listened to ideas around future strategy and is considering a roll out of the Fair Share Trust concept to a wider geographic area. Do you have a time frame for that?

[13:09] SirCliveBooth_BIG: Thank you for your question Margaret and I am happy to answer yes! We know that making an application can be very demanding particularly on small organisation and so you will see in our future programmes that we will make increasing use of two stage applications, filtering out more applicants at the first stage who have no chance of making it in the final round.

[13:10] MargaretMcCulloch: Sustainability and continuity are important to all of us. 5 years of funding would help a lot but there are not many Big projects that have been funded for 5 years. Do you intend to fund more longer term projects as we fear that asking for 5 years funding will decrease our chances of success.

[13:10] ClaireHannah: Re Margaret's question - That is good news! I hope this will apply north of the border as well!!

[13:12] SirCliveBooth_BIG: BIG value cultural diversity by recognising that people have different needs, beliefs, values and abilities and that those differences need to be both respected and promoted.

[13:12] ChristopherKnight: Has a timeline been established for when the new programmes that respond to the big thinking programme will be established and if so when are new programmes likely to be released, will this timeline be adhered to and if not what delays do you forecast.

[13:14] Moderator_BIG: Thank you for all your questions so far. Sir Clive will answer as many as possible within the time span

[13:14] MartinCarr: Your Reaching Communities program supports Youth projects but does not support faith or inter-faith projects. But to make contact with Youth depends to a very large extent on the faith extablishments and the inter-faith work they do requires the support of Youth for their success. How and why do you differntiate between Youth projects which are religion based and other Youth work

[13:14] SirCliveBooth_BIG: We also believe we are more efficient and effective when our decision-making structures are reflective of the diverse views of society.

[13:15] SirCliveBooth_BIG: Cultural Diversity makes up one area of our published Equality Principles. These can be found at the following link

[13:15] SirCliveBooth_BIG: http://www2.biglotteryfund.org.uk/qa_key_equality_principles?fromsearch=-uk

[13:16] SirCliveBooth_BIG: Thank you for the question David. We hope to roll out community based programme in England later this year - watch this space!

[13:16] NatalieCampbell: Thanks ever so much Sir Clive

[13:17] NatalieCampbell: I agree

[13:17] aliramsden: How can funding be found for purchase of land which will be used for co-location of services for all ages

[13:18] MargaretMcCulloch: Some of us represent marginalised groups (mine is for blind or partially sighted people). Our projects can be expensive as they need a lot ot time and specilaist support. Is this recognised for groups such as ours?

[13:18] DavidFitzpatrick: That is good news Sir Clive - many thanks.

[13:18] JamesMckinley: Hi. I am very new to this, but I'm currently doing some research of funding for a community project bring young and old people together. I have been piloting this opportunity for a year now and has been very successful with no funding. I would like to know what Big Lottery Funds view is on funding a new opportunity to impact our community in a very positive way. But they have no current funding at the moment ?

[13:19] aliramsden: We live in an affluent area in the south but have areas which are very deprived yet we are overlooked because of our postcode!

[13:21] NickiCook: we are Link FM the community radio station for Havering

[13:21] SirCliveBooth_BIG: Thank you for your question Christopher. We are already announcing programmes in response to Big Thinking, for example, Community Asset Transfer in Wales, a programme targeted at youth transitions in England, Forces in Mind which is targeted at people leaving the forces who have mental health problems. For more details take a look at our website and make sure you sign up to our e-bulletin.

Moderator_BIG: Chat temporarily off-line due to technical issues.

[13:40] clark009: hi

[13:40] margaretmcculloch: 'm not away

[13:40] clark009: where did the big chat go

[13:40] margaretmcculloch: so funny

[13:41] phiLawrence: My account was suspended - but I don't know why

[13:41] guestD: Technical difficulties it would seem

[13:41] margaretmcculloch: Did all of you have your account suspended

[13:42] guestD: Yes

[13:42] judehabib: mine dropped out and i logged in again

[13:43] ChristopherKnight: Think the lottery must have had a technical problem. Lets hope it is now fixed as I was just about to thank Sir Clive for his answer

[13:43] judehabib: It was all going so smoothly

[13:43] margaretmcculloch: Me too. Thanks for my answer Sir Clive

[13:43] jamesmckinley: Hiya. Is this the right forum to chat about funding from 1pm till 3pm

[13:44] ChristopherKnight: yes mine suspended so dropped them e-mail. Then when logged in again it still seemed to have a problem.

[13:44] guestD: It is a very common problem with online chats like this I'm afraid

[13:44] EricWhelan: Yes James. They seem to be having som technical issues though.

[13:45] ClaireHannah: I thought I had said something contentious

[13:45] margaretmcculloch: Seems so but we can't jsut sit here waiting. We all have work to do.

[13:45] SirCliveBooth_BIG: Clive Booth has steam coming out of his ears because of the interruption of service - Sorry about that. Normal service is hopefully now resumed

[13:46] brinpaulsen: Sir Clive, since 2004/05, each year between £33.2m to £34.4m of approved funding has been handed back to BIG Lottery as unspent money. I am aware that this funding is eventually re-distributed by BIG however, this still represents a significant amount of funding not being spent in a timely manner and has an effect on applicants whose projects were rejected in favor of another project who subsequently failed to spend the secured funding. What measures are being taken by BIG to ensure that returned monies are being used to fulfill the aims of their original, allotted, funding streams rather than being re-distributed through pool of funding with larger, broader, less-specific aims

[13:47] SirCliveBooth_BIG: During the interruption I continued to answer the questions here they are

[13:48] SirCliveBooth_BIG: Thank you Martin for your question. Faith or inter-projects are indeed eligible for Reaching Communities and othe programmes, provided that they are not exclusively for religious practice and that they are open to the wider community.

[13:49] SirCliveBooth_BIG: Thank you Margaret for your question. I can assure you that we take account of the extra expenses incurred by projects which have specialist needs to meet such as those for blind or partially sighted people.

[13:50] SirCliveBooth_BIG: Hi James, I really like so-called inter generational projects which bring young and old people together as we did with our Heros Return Programme. Certainly, it sounds as though your kind of project would be of interest to our Reaching Communities or Awards for All programmes. Good luck

[13:50] ChristopherKnight: Sir Clive in case this got missed in the technical difficulties just like to thnak you fro your earlier response and say I do use both your suggestions and find they very helpful.

[13:52] SirCliveBooth_BIG: Thanks for this next question Ali. We are concerned about pockets of deprivation in otherwise well-off areas. One of the jobs of our regional teams is to make sure that we don't overlook such places. May I suggest that you contact your local BIG regional office whose address you will find on our website.

[13:52] margaretmcculloch: Thank you Sir Clive. That is good to hear.

[13:53] ChristopherKnight: I agree with Margaret that is good to hear

[13:54] NatalieCampbell: How has BIG responded to the current economic climate, has applications dramatically risen or funding fallen What will this mean for applicants/applications?

[13:54] guestD: Big Thinking and other such exercises have led us to believe that a wide range of changes will be coming in 2010, however with the general election on the horizon I'd imagine you'll be very limited in terms of announcements you are allowed to make on these subjects. There could also be a period of uncertainty should there be a change in government, so how soon can we expect to hear any interesting announcements re the future of BIG

[13:55] MartinCarr: Sorry, but I've been locked out for a bit. Thank you for your comments about inter-faith work.

[13:55] ChrisPenberthy: Sir Clive, I often hear that third sector orgs cannot afford to pay for volunteer management. I would think that this should be included within full cost recovery. What can BIG do to encourage this to happen and ensure that volunteering is properly supported by volunteer involving organisations especially given the importance that volunteering plays in society and the vision of the Commission on the Future of Volunteering that volunteering should become part of the nation's DNA

[13:55] phiLawrence: Could the Big Lottery Fund do anything to help a minority sport that is open to all and embraces young and old - in fact anyone who can swim.

[13:56] SirCliveBooth_BIG: HI Brin, we are never happy when people have to hand back unspent money because we of course always like it to go straight into good project work.

[13:57] SirCliveBooth_BIG: However, I can assure you that the money that comes back is recycled into really good projects.

[13:57] SirCliveBooth_BIG: However, it would be difficult to take up your suggestion of ring-fencing returned money because it would be a bureaucratic nightmare

[13:59] SirCliveBooth_BIG: To put this in perspective, we make grants totalling more than £3600 million, so the unspent money is very small relatively speaking.

[14:00] SirCliveBooth_BIG: Another point is that unspent money returned from projects approved five years ago needs to be spent on today's priorities, not the old ones.

[14:01] SirCliveBooth_BIG: Hi Natalie. To help organisations and communities get through the recession we allocated an extra £45 million to programme budgets this year and we also identified a further £43 million to be

[14:01] MartynRiley: Sir Clive, I would like to know when you will announce the 2010-11 budget for the Awards for All programme?

[14:02] MartinCarr: Help!! I keep getting switched off and back on again. I hope we'll be able to get a transcript of all this, I'm missing more than I'm getting.

[14:03] Moderator_BIG: Please keep trying. There will be a transcript of all the questions and answers which will be published on this site within two weeks.

[14:04] SirCliveBooth_BIG: invested across the UK to tackle longer term problems created by the recession. We are expecting applications to increase as a result of the recession and we are taking steps to make the Reaching Communities programme more flexible to help organisations with short-term funding problems created by the recession.

[14:04] ClaireHannah: I think it's great that Sir Clive has taken the time to respond real time to our questions. Online chat might not be perfect but it's fantastic to get instant but considered answers.

[14:05] MartinCarr: Thanks moderator. We all love technology!!

[14:07] NatalieCampbell: That is brilliant news! It is a shame to hear fantastic organisations closing because of money but comforting to know there is somewhere to go for support. I commend BIG on all your work. Thank you Sir Clive!

[14:07] SirCliveBooth_BIG: Hello Guest ID! Let me assure you that we are forging ahead with introducing the new portfolio of programmes across the UK based on the BIG Thinking Consultation. There will be a short period around the Election when all public bodies are not allowed to make major announcements but otherwise it is business as usual for us.

[14:09] margaretmcculloch: I keep getting turfed out too

[14:09] ChristopherKnight: Thank you moderator a transcript will be much appreciated

[14:10] ChristopherKnight: The lottery has made some excellent progress in reducing bureaucracy what are the lotteries future plans to reduce this further, such as establishing a system where organisations who regularly apply submit information (e.g. bank statements, charter, etc ) in advance and then updated these when they change or on a regular basis.

[14:10] SirCliveBooth_BIG: Hello Chris and thank you for your question. I am totally signed up to the idea that volunteering should become part of the nation's DNA. BIG was proud to pioneer full cost recovery in our grant making. This means that the costs of volunteer management associated with a project funded by BIG would be recognised in our grant.

[14:13] SirCliveBooth_BIG: Hello Phil - I am sorry I did not catch the end of your question about swimming. Maybe you would like to try again. But let me just say that BIG does support community based physical recreation and I would like to know more about your ideas to see if they fit in with that.

[14:14] ChrisPenberthy: Thanks for your positive answer Sir Clive. It would be great if BIG could shout more about that - we need volunteer involving organisations to hear your message (hopefully BIG can help to pioneer this understnading/practice as well). I know that I will be flagging your response once the transcript of this is published.

[14:14] phiLawrence: Underwater Hockey (UWH) aka Octopush, an amazing sport, which has been shown to keep kids involved in swimming.... and off the streets

[14:15] phiLawrence: We suffer from the chicken & egg (& nest) type problem. Many places want to get something started, but do they get the players, equipment or pool first?

[14:15] phiLawrence: It's difficult to gauge the level of support it will receive, but we had 30 kids on the books within 2 months!!! Awards-4-all made that happen and it could be done in any town.

[14:15] suzyblues: can you tell me why if you are from scotland you are limited to £10,000

[14:16] SirCliveBooth_BIG: Hello again Christopher. I love your question. This is very close to my heart. It must be very frustrating for organisations to have to keep giving us the same information over and over again. I am pleased to say that we are planning to introduce a new on-line system which will enable applicants to have a "customer account" which will mean they only have to input data once and keep it up to date from time to time. There will also be lots of other benefits such as being able to track the progress of your application and getting better feedback. We hope that this system will become live about this time next year.

[14:18] David: Sir Clive i am glad to hear the news about money being made readily available for veterans would you consider supported housing for homeless ex service personnel with additional supportneeds as the type of project that could benefit from the funding on offer

[14:18] ChristopherKnight: That sounds very positive Sir Clive and I look forward to seeing it in action

[14:19] SirCliveBooth_BIG: Hi Phil. Thank you for clarifying your question. Without knowing more, I couldn't say whether we would be able to fund a project like yours. It could be one for Sport England. However, if your project had a community purpose such as helping to keep young people out of trouble, it might be one that we could look at.

[14:20] Moderator_BIG: Please note, Sir Clive is just getting a cup of tea!

[14:22] ClaireHannah: Excellent news re the plans for online customer accounts. Enjoy your strupag (Gaelic for a cuppa) and many thanks.

[14:23] SirCliveBooth_BIG: Hi suzyblues. Happy to look into this for you. Could you just provide a little more information about the funding programme you are referring to?

[14:24] LizzieMillar: Continuing the theme of recession introduced earlier - we are a charity helping disadvantaged young people to start up and run their own business providing access to small loans and grants alongside a package of intensive guidance and mentoring support. To cater for an increased in demand we need to secure funding which allows us to re-finance our loan capital, to support operational costs of support activities and cover the risk costs arising from our microfinance activities, are you able to say at this stage if this activity might fit into the new round of funding to be announced in Scotland this Summer ? I don't think this is an area BIG has considered supporting in the past.. I may be wrong

[14:25] SirCliveBooth_BIG: Hello Martyn and thank you for your question about Awards for All. We expect to decide the Awards for All budget in the next few weeks and I suggest you keep an eye on our website.

[14:25] phiLawrence: Fun is what will keep the kids out of trouble. We have coaching, referee and awards courses and UWH deserves a better chance, but I'm, unsure how bring it to fruition as we rely on volunteers and are geographically separated. Thanks for listening. Regards Phil Lawrence.

[14:25] margaretmcculloch: Many of the Government employment contracts assume that job seeking clients are ready to be employed so the payment they offer to get people into work does not reflect the work that we have with clients to help them become 'job ready'. The farther people are from the job market the more support, motivation, confidence building and skills devleopment will be needed for them to be able to compete in the open market for employment. Will the BIG Lottery fund an employment project that will provide a range of innovative interventions that will get people over that very important first hurdle so that they are 'contract ready', i.e. ready to go onto some of the Government contracts and increase their employment chances?

[14:28] Moderator_BIG: The following question has been submitted via Twitter: CD_Day - Are there a diverse range of people making decisions on funding, do you have any statistics?

[14:28] suzyblues: Hello Clive, I am trying to access funds to put in central heating for a day centre for older people in Scotland and the only fund available I was directed to was the Awards for all which unfortunately is limited to £10,000 which is not enough to cover costs. There is a possibility there could be a fund starting at the beginning of July I was told by Glasgow but that would be too late for this winter for works to be carried out. If we were 70 miles south I would be able to apply for more. I would appreciate your help. Thank you

[14:30] SirCliveBooth_BIG: Hello CD-Day. Thank you for the question about diversity within BIG. We take diversity in our grant making committees very seriously. Just to take one example, the UK Board of BIG includes four people out of twelve who are from ethnic minority backgrounds and one person who is registered disabled. We also have a good gender balance. To sum up, we are trying hard to see that the composition of our committees reflects the composition of the community in general.

[14:31] David: : Sir Clive i am glad to hear the news about money being made readily available for veterans would you consider supported housing for homeless ex service personnel with additional supportneeds as the type of project that could benefit from the funding on offer

[14:33] martynriley: Sir Clive, thanks for the reply but I query why Big need to leave such an annoucement until the end of March when you have already given an indication of what the budget for Reaching Communities will be for next year? Is the delay related to badnews i.e. a cut in funding??

[14:33] kathryn: Hi, could you tell me when the new BIG programmes are likely to be launched? I know that details of the new Veterans programme were released last week - when can we expect further updates on other new programmes? Thanks!

[14:34] rosanna: Hello Sir Clive, in your future funding plans will you be continuing your support of children's play access and provision?

[14:34] SirCliveBooth_BIG: Thank you Suzy for clarifying your question. Our programmes do differ across the UK because we believe that different countries have different needs. You obviously have been in touch with my colleagues in Scotland and it sounds as though you will have to wait until new programmes come on stream.

[14:36] MartinCarr: I don't understand why it is that you need to have financial limitations on major projects. I have just seen your response to a problem on Central Heating and we have a similar problem with replacement windows. Why can't these infrastructure project be taken on their individual merits rather than be limited to a random top sum?

[14:38] SirCliveBooth_BIG: Hi David. It is too early to say whether the Capital Programme we envisage introducing in England will include your kind of project in the list of eligible categories. However, I will pass on to my colleague Sanjay, who is the England Chair your message so that this kind of project can be looked at.

[14:38] suzyblues: thank you for your response but unfortunately if that is the case it will be too late for this year. We will just have to hope that we do not have another winter like the one we have just had.

[14:41] David: Thank you Sir Clive we have already opened one scheme which is now a year old and achieved some great results with vetrans but would like to replicate this service in other regions of the country, i feel the vetrans funding should be accessable to those who are in most need for it, thank you for spending time to answer the querie

[14:44] SirCliveBooth_BIG: Hi Martyn. There is nothing at all sinister about the timing of our budget announcements and I can assure you that we are not facing cuts in the BIG Lottery Fund's budget, assuming that people continue to buy lots of lottery tickets! There may always be adjustments in the way we distribute money across our programmes with some rising and some falling but we do this to reflect demand and the needs of communities. We announce budgets for projects across a period of time because we need to phase our programmes so that we as an organisation can manage them efficiently.

[14:45] middleway: hello there, thank you on behalf of Crisis for the grant today for informal learning work with homeless people in Tower Hamlets, much appreciated

[14:47] SirCliveBooth_BIG: Hi Lizzie. The reason I like doing web chats is because some really interesting questions come up like yours. It's a new one on me and I will ask our Scotland Chair, Alison if she can take a look at it with our Scotland office. At this point I can only say that I think it would be a new departure for us and so I wouldn't want to make any promises but it is a very interesting issue for us to consider.

[14:53] SirCliveBooth_BIG: Thank you Margaret for the suggestion that BIG runs a programme to help people get back into work. I liked your reference to encouraging innovation and will ask my colleagues to look seriously at what we might do in this area.

[14:54] SirCliveBooth_BIG: Hello Middleway. It is always good to get messages of appreciation - so thank you. I am very pleased that we have been able to announce today £41 millions of projects in our Reaching Communities programme. Good luck with your project!

[14:55] ChristopherKnight: I would just like to finish by thanking you Sir Clive for taking time from your busy schedule to talk to us today it has been very interesting and I look forward to more of these in the future

[14:55] margaretmcculloch: That is excellent news Sir Clive. This is much needed to help blind or partially sighted people. Thank you!

[15:00] middleway: Thank you Sir Clive, it really enables Crisis to deliver a programme of work over the next three years. I was looking at the list of other awards and there are some really great organisations there. I am absolutely delighted that Cardboard Citizens are there, they are one of our partners and deliver courses brilliantly. REally pleased for them.

[15:02] SirCliveBooth_BIG: Hello Rosanna and thank you for your question about Children's Play. With funding of well over £150 millions in England, BIG has made a huge investments in Children's Play and we are proud of what we have achieved, not least in involving children and young people themselves in the development of projects. To be honest, I don't think it is likely you will see further funding on anything like this scale. However, play projects will still be eligible to apply under BIG programmes such as Awards for All and Reaching Communities plus some of the new programmes coming on stream later.

[15:03] Moderator_BIG: Due to the technical difficulties earlier, Sir Clive is going to continue to answer questions for another 20minutes, as long as he's still able to use his cheap day return for his 4:20 train!

[15:05] margaretmcculloch: glad Sir Clive is watching the pennies like the rest of us! :)

[15:07] user: agreed!

[15:08] SirCliveBooth_BIG: Thank you for your Martin. We try to offer a range of programmes with different levels of funding to meet a wide range of needs in communities. We do have to set maximum limits because if we did not do that programmes would become unmanageable and many people would also think it unfair. To take your particular example of window replacement, it may be possible to apply for building improvements in our future Capital programme but at this stage, it is too early for me to give any detail or make any promises.

[15:11] ChristopherKnight: Does the lottery intend to have any more programmes like the wellbeing programme, which support a portfolio of projects rather than only one project at a time.

[15:14] SirCliveBooth_BIG: Hello Kathryn. Thank you for your question about releasing information about our future programme plans. You were lucky - Peter Wanless our Chief Executive dropped in on the web chat and said "why don't we put this information into a special section of our website so that people can see at the touch of a mouse what our plans are". So, you hit the jackpot! We will try to put this up as quickly as possible and give as much information as we can about the timing of our future programmes. I hope this helps.

[15:14] MartinCarr: Tahnk you for this - I'll keep a look out for the Capital programme. Thanmks for a very interesting session. Not only your answers but many of the questions I have found most illuminating.

[15:14] rosanna: Hello Sir Clive many thanks for your response, do appreciate you taking the time. Indeed great and vital progress has been made as a result of the Children's Play Initiative. A real step change. Localised funds for voluntary and community sector organisations are obviously critical however with regards to how these groups are supported and staffed to ensure best practice and sustainability, how do you see this need being addressed?

[15:15] Moderator_BIG: Five minutes to go... last questions please.

[15:15] margaretmcculloch: Quote " the UK Board of BIG includes four people out of twelve who are from ethnic minority backgrounds and one person who is registered disabled. We also have a good gender balance. To sum up, we are trying hard to see that the composition of our committees reflects the composition of the community in general." Any service users on the board?

[15:18] SirCliveBooth_BIG: Hello again Christopher. We feel that the experience of running portfolios has been a very positive one, bring people together into very successful partnerships. We have learned that when constructing a portfolio we need to be very clear about our objective so that all the portfolio participants are singing to the same hymn sheet, so to speak. I certainly feel that we will want to have more portfolios in the future where we can identify a need that will be best met through that method of delivery.

[15:24] SirCliveBooth_BIG: Hi Rosanna. I am always conscious that BIG cannot provide permanent funding for any area and that, having funded a major activity like Children's Play we have to hand on the baton to people in the field to make the case with funders so that their projects can continue. Working with Play England we will share and promote the good work of projects so that their value is properly understood by everyone interested in supporting children's play.

[15:34] SirCliveBooth_BIG: Hello again Margaret. The best examples of service users being involved in our grant making are the inspiring young people aged between 16 and 25 on the Youth programmes and also the community representatives in the local Fair Share Trust panels. They really have been tremendous. I think this web chat has been a great experience in drawing in lots of creative ideas and comments from the "real world" which is where the service users are. Thank you to everyone for taking part.

[15:35] Moderator_BIG: The BIG chat is now closed.

[15:35] Moderator_BIG: Thanks to everyone who took part in this afternoon's web chat with Sir Clive. A transcript of this chat will be available on this website soon. We also received over 100 pre-submitted written questions so if Sir Clive wasn't able to answer your question this afternoon, his response will be published on this website within two weeks. (www.bigchat.org.uk)