The Big Lottery Fund is reviewing the practice of soliciting bids for projects, such as its £1m grant to the Big Society Network charity for Britain’s Personal Best.

BIG awarded £1m to Society Network Foundation in May last year to run Britain’s Personal Best but withdrew the grant earlier this year after it became apparent that the project was nowhere near meeting its targets. It withheld the final £250,000 of the grant but has not requested any money be paid back.

The bid for the project was solicited by BIG, meaning the charity did not have to enter a competitive pitch for the money.  

But the grant has been called into question by Labour politicians who have suggested that the charity was shown favouritism by BIG because of its close links to the Conservative Party.  Both BIG and Society Network Foundation have strenously denied this was the case.

A BIG spokeswoman said: “The National Lottery Act enables us to invite applications in appropriate circumstances, which is known as solicitations. This requires the applicant to engage with us before a decision is taken as to whether we will invite them to apply for funding.

“We are reviewing solicitations along with all the different methods of distribution,” she said.

She denied that the decision to review solicitations was in any way prompted by the public and media scrutiny of the Britain's Personal Best grant, or of an earlier £830,000 solicited bid to the same organisation.

"As a new chief executive, Dawn is reviewing everything," she said.

Nandy meeting with Austwick

Lisa Nandy, the shadow minister for civil society, met with Austwick last week to discuss Nandy’s concerns about the grants to Big Society Network and Society Network Foundation.

Nandy followed up the meeting with a letter to Austwick seeking further clarification on a number of issues relating to the grants.

Former shadow minister for civil society, Gareth Thomas MP, has continued to heap pressure on BIG over its relationship with Society Network Foundation.

Now his successor in that post, Lisa Nandy, is also demanding more answers about the grants.  She has asked Austwick to clarify a number of points about the grant for Britain’s Personal Best, and about an earlier grant for £830,000 to the same organisation to run a project called Your Square Mile.

Specifically, Nandy has asked:

• Whether any BIG trustee or staff member approached Big Society Network initially and whether any discussions were held with ministers or government advisers before taking the decision to award the Your Square Mile grant.
• Why the BPB grant was approved when Your Square Mile was already struggling to meet its objectives.
• Why BPB was funded through BIG’s marketing budget, and
• Whether the decision to cancel the project was related to concerns raised by Gareth Thomas.

Nandy also wrote: “I would also be grateful if you could reassure me that at no point did ministers or government advisers request, verbally or in writing, that the Big Lottery Fund provide funding to the Big Society Network, the Society Network Foundation, Join In, Get In, Your Square Mile, Britain’s Personal Best, the Big Society Awards or any other projects associated with them.”

A spokeswoman from BIG said a response was being prepared.

Nandy is also still awaiting responses from the Prime Minister and Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood to questions she has tabled about potential government involvement in decisions to fund Big Society Network.