"Culture no longer simply means being familiar with a select list of works of art and architecture, but the accumulated influence of creativity, the arts, museums, galleries, libraries, archives and heritage upon all our lives."

Not my words, but those of Culture Secretary John Whittingdale in his introduction to the Government’s new Culture White Paper. 

Here at HLF we know a lot about how culture influences people’s lives, frequently changing them for the better – it is one of the main things that motivates those of us who work here.  For the past few weeks we have been using this website to tell the stories of people whose lives have been transformed by HLF investment in heritage, from the welder turned heritage blacksmith in Northern Ireland, to the London GP who relocated to Wales to be closer to her volunteering work with Ospreys – just two of countless other examples.

So will the proposals in the Culture White Paper continue this job of changing people’s lives for the better?  Let’s look at what’s in it.

The Culture White Paper

First of all, it’s really heartening to see heritage talked about throughout the Paper.  Sometimes the voice of heritage struggles to be heard but that’s not the case here.  There are several measures directly related to heritage, many of which reflect HLF’s work.

There’s a new Cultural Citizens Programme, which aims to create new cultural opportunities for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.  This reflects the values of HLF’s Young Roots programme and the work we do engaging young people, developing knowledge, skills and talent and setting them on a path for lifelong cultural experiences.

The Great Places Scheme is also new and builds on our work with the RSA and our thinking about the importance of ‘place’.  This will bring National Lottery Distributors and cultural organisations together to back local communities who want to 'put culture at the heart of their local vision'.  The aim is to support jobs, economic growth, education, health and wellbeing – all things that we know can be delivered when local knowledge and expertise is backed by National Lottery funding.

Our Skills for the Future programme funds work-based training in a wide range of skills that are needed to look after buildings, landscapes, habitats, species, and museum and archive collections and the Culture White Paper includes our commitment to a further £10million of this funding.  We share the Government’s commitment to attracting more diverse new entrants to the heritage workforce.

There will also be a review of museums in England but taking account of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, looking at some of the big questions around the national infrastructure, resilience and HLF’s role in supporting those museums which are not directly funded by the Government.

There’s much more too – a review of the use and sustainability of churches and cathedrals in England, ideas to develop financial resilience and funding diversity and measures to protect important heritage across the globe.

This is just a handful of some of the most significant measures – all of which will be developed in the coming months - and I think there is a lot to be positive about.

Certainly the White Paper fully embraces heritage as an essential part of the Government’s vision and there is a firm recognition of the role it plays supporting jobs, skills and tourism and making our towns, cities and communities better places to live.

We know from experience that heritage can make a positive and lasting difference to people’s lives whatever their background and in many cases this is only possible thanks to the money raised by National Lottery players.

Find out more

Read the Culture White Paper on the GOV.UK website.