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Big Family Idea

Launch of the Big Family Idea at Legoland
From left to right: Pauline Quirke, Anthony Worrall Thompson, Baroness Morgan of Drefelin (spokesperson for the Big Family Idea), Teresa May MP, and Sanjay Dighe (Chair of BIG's England Committee)

Largest ever coalition on family issues launches a hunt for the ideas that will transform family life.

New findings show how badly we need innovative ideas to help families - most parents have too little family time together.

An announcement was made by National Family Week, at LEGOLAND Windsor to launch the new Big Family Idea competition to find the best new ideas to improve family life - with £150,000 from the Big Lottery Fund to make the winning idea a reality. The announcement was part of the launch of a programme of over 2500 National Family Week events for families around the UK.

The Big Family Idea, launched as part of National Family Week (25-31 May) will be open to anyone in the UK. They might have been working on family policy for decades, or be someone of any age, from any walk of life, who just comes up with a brilliant idea. The idea could be aimed at improving family life in their street, in their town or across the whole country. It might be a product, service, event, campaign or a great social idea. The winner will get to discuss their idea with senior political figures, and £150,000 of Big Lottery Fund good causes money will be used to turn the winning idea into reality. Written or video entries can be made online at www.nationalfamilyweek.co.uk.

Present at the announcement were Baronness Delyth Morgan, Government Minister for Children, Young People and Families, Theresa May, Conservative Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and Shadow Minister for Women, TV chef Antony Worrall Thompson and actress Pauline Quirke, as well as representatives of National Family Week, LEGOLAND Windsor and the Big Lottery Fund.

National Family Week is backed by over 100 national organisations such as the NSPCC, Save the Children, the Princes’ Trust, Relate, the TUC and the Football Association.

It is supported by celebrities such as Terry Wogan, “Supernanny” Jo Frost and presenters Richard & Judy, and by the Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the Conservative leader David Cameron, the Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, Scottish First minister Alec Salmond and London Mayor Boris Johnson.

In the survey conducted for National Family Week, over half (52%) of parents said that they did not spend enough quality time together as a family. For example, they wanted to be able to have more meals together (60%), play games together more (54%) and do more educational things together (64%). This shows how important it is that we mobilise the nation to use our ingenuity and creativity to improve family life.

Sanjay Dighe, Chair of the Big Lottery Fund’s England Committee, said: “The Big Lottery Fund is delighted to work in partnership with National Family Week and support the Big Family Idea. We hope that the £150,000 we provide will inspire people to generate great ideas, and for the winner to see their ideas turned into reality and have a positive impact on family life in the . The Big Lottery Fund has invested more than £470 million of its lottery good cause funding to enable over 1,700 organisations to support parents and families since its formation in 2004.”

Kevin Steele, co-founder of National Family Week, said: “In the past, innovative ideas have improved family life in many ways, from folding pushchairs and baby monitors to rubberised safety asphalt for playgrounds, home delivery of groceries and “walking buses” that enable children to go to school on foot. The Big Family Idea competition will encourage ordinary people all over to put on their thinking caps to come up with more brilliant ideas like these.”

Further Information

Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 020 7211 1888
Out of hours contact: 07867 500 572
Public Enquiries Line: 08454 102030
Textphone: 0845 6021 659

Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available on the website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk

Notes to Editors

About The Big Lottery Fund

• The Big Lottery Fund (BIG), the largest distributor of National Lottery good cause funding, is responsible for giving out half the money raised for good causes by the National Lottery.
• BIG is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the since June 2004. The Fund was formally established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.
• Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to good causes. As a result, over £22 billion has now been raised and more than 317,000 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.
• The awarding of the £150,000 for The Big Family Idea will be subject to a fundable idea being submitted.

About National Family Week

Thoudands of activities will be run by a huge range of organisations including community groups, charities, statutory bodies, schools, businesses and faith networks. Conferences and workshops will explore how policy and professional practice affect family life. Shops, restaurants, visitor attractions and other businesses will offer discounts on family-oriented products. Celebrities such as television presenters and sports champions will take part.

The UK’s first National Family Week will run from 25 to 31 May 2009. It will be a new national occasion, growing year on year, when we promote and celebrate family life.

National Family Week aims to help create a more family-friendly culture in the UK and the initiative offers non-profit organisations, town and city councils and community groups a celebratory national occasion through which to promote their family-friendly activities for free. Commercial partners supporting the initiative include Activision, Bupa, Butlins, LEGOLAND Windsor, Little Chef, Outwell, Pizza Hut, Sainsbury’s, Seat, Stagecoach and Vue Cinemas.  In addition, IPC Media and Capital Shopping Centres are confirmed promotional partners.

Supporting Organisations:

Over 100 not-for-profit organisations from across the UK including community, statutory, charitable, educational, sporting and faith groups have already committed their support to National Family Week.  Supporters include:

Political leaders including the Prime Minister Gordon Brown; First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond; Conservative leader David Cameron; Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg and Mayor of London, Boris Johnson.

Charities such as Save the Children, Action for Children, the National Federation of Women's Institutes, One Parent Families, the Princess Royal Trust for Carers, The Children’s Society, NSPCC and the National Childbirth Trust.

Uniformed services including the family federations of the Army, the Navy and the RAF, the St John Ambulance Service and the Chief Fire Officers Association.

Faiths including Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Hindu organisations.

Educational bodies such as Teachernet, Booktrust, the National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations and the Association of School and College Leaders.

Other major institutions such as the National Lottery, Trade Union Congress, Youth Hostel Association, Woodland Trust, Royal Opera House, Local Government Association and the Football Association

For a full list of supporters, visit the official website for National Family Week www.nationalfamilyweek.co.uk .

About the survey

On behalf of National Family Week, the online poll of more than 2000 parents was conducted by OnePoll in April 2009.