I thank Kenneth Gibson for organising today’s debate on the £50 million cap on charity lotteries and for setting out so clearly what he described as the “absurdity” of that unique limit.

It is lovely to have consensus today, although it is not a surprise, given how ridiculous the cap is. The fact that we have all agreed on that highlights how inarguably absurd the cap is, particularly when we consider that, as Kenneth Gibson and Alasdair Allan mentioned, such lotteries are a less addictive form of gambling than the potentially harmful forms of gambling that are not subject to the same limit. Stephanie Callaghan was right to mention that charity lotteries often play a part in supporting people who have suffered harm as a result of gambling addiction.

Charity lotteries play an important role in funding thousands of good causes in Scotland, from large national charities that operate across the country to grass-roots good causes that are focused on their local communities. In my Highlands and Islands region, charity lotteries have raised millions of pounds for local good causes, such as Inverness Highlanders junior ice hockey club, Aviemore and Glenmoor Community Trust and the Ledge.

Charity lotteries also support large charities, such as Maggie’s and Guide Dogs, that have a presence across all of Scotland. Having just visited Maggie’s Highlands, I know that even the smallest amount of money can make a huge difference to the people whom it supports. Mary’s Meals, which was founded in my region, has received almost £4 million from charity lotteries across the years. Valued partners of the Scottish Government, including Crisis and the British Red Cross, which I work closely with in our efforts to support asylum seekers and other new Scots, are also missing out.

The Scottish Government fully supports the removal of the charity lottery annual sales cap. As Alasdair Allan pointed out, we have written to the UK Government about that on numerous occasions. Simply put, it would free up more funding for charities at no cost to the taxpayer. Unfortunately for charities across Scotland, the merry-go-round of secretaries of state at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has led to that important campaign not getting the attention that it deserves. It is bizarre that the UK Tory party, which is purportedly the party of scrapping red tape and regulation, has allowed an outdated and unneeded limit to remain in place for the 12 years for which it has been in power.

I was glad to hear Jeremy Balfour, on behalf of the Scottish Conservatives, urge the Chancellor of the Exchequer to take action and agree that the current limit falls short even of the preferred option in the UK Government’s previous consultation—indeed, it sits at half that level. He is right that removing the cap would be in everybody’s best interests. Unfortunately, the infighting and chaos in his party down south have directly led to charities missing out on millions of pounds of essential funding at a time when it is needed more than ever.

After more than a decade of Tory austerity, many charities face incredible demand for their services, coupled with skyrocketing costs as a result of inflation. Those charities often fill the gaps in areas where the UK state has pulled back, and they should be given the opportunity to receive as much funding as possible. In Scotland, we have many charity lotteries, such as the People’s Postcode Lottery and the Scottish Children’s Lottery, which raise millions of pounds of funding each month. Regardless of whether Paul O’Kane’s Enable Lottery is currently harmed by the cap, I know what good work Enable Scotland does, and there should not be a limit on its aspiration to help as many people as possible.

Players of the People’s Postcode Lottery alone have raised more than £1.2 billion for good causes, which is a truly astronomical sum of money that has made a real difference to thousands of organisations, including many in my region of the Highlands and Islands. Recently, those that have benefited have included An Talla Solais in Ullapool, which is a fantastic organisation that I had the privilege of visiting last year, as a local MSP and in my ministerial role, to learn about how the opportunities that it offers help to address social isolation and loneliness in Ullapool, as well as tackling depopulation in the area by retaining local artists and offering those who have left the option to return. Last year, the organisation received £18,000 from the People’s Postcode Lottery.

People’s Postcode Lottery support for Transition North Ronaldsay has had a widespread positive effect, including regular beach cleans, an extremely beneficial community garden and the promotion of sustainability throughout Orkney’s northern isles. That group got £24,950 from the People’s Postcode Lottery last year.

I was shocked to learn that figures from the People’s Postcode Lottery show that dozens of charities are set to miss out on millions of pounds of funding over the next five years, due to the current £50 million cap. To highlight just one example, Mary’s Meals faces a funding shortfall of more than £1.1 million over the next five years, because of that cap.

The charity sector, charity lotteries and politicians from all parties have been calling for further reform for some time. I can see no logical reason why the outdated law should remain in place. It is, frankly, unclear why there is any limit in place when all that does is to act as a blocker on the ability of charity lotteries to raise funds.

Scotland’s brilliant charities deserve access to the largest possible amount of funding. As Kenneth Gibson said, we would be happy to make changes here in Scotland if we had the power to do so, but we do not. I, and the rest of the Scottish Government, will, as a matter of urgency, continue pushing the UK Government regarding those limits and calling for the cap to be removed, and I am sure that many colleagues here today will do so too.

13:21 Meeting suspended until 14:30.

14:30 On resuming—