Scottish social justice secretary Alex Neil has written to the UK Government to say Scottish ministers must be given a say before any decision is taken to axe funding from the Big Lottery Fund.

The Department for Culture Media and Sport is believed to be considering reducing the amount contributed to the fund for charities from national lottery takings and diverting it to funds dedicated to art and sport.

This could mean charities in Scotland losing out on more than £30m of lottery funding.

In a letter to UK culture secretary John Whittingdale, Mr Neil said any cuts to Big Lottery funding would have serious implications and be 'simply devastating' for communities across Scotland.

He added: "Given the potential impact on people and communities here, I would expect to have the opportunity to discuss any cuts in Big Lottery Funding with you before final decisions are taken.

"It would be wholly unacceptable if decisions of this sort were to be taken without a full understanding of the potential impact in Scotland."

The Scottish Government says the Big Lottery Fund supports more than 2,000 organisations across the country in tackling a wide range of issues including poverty, loneliness, and ill-health. Additionally, more than 2,300 jobs are at least partly funded by Big Lottery Fund in Scotland grants.

Mr Neil added: “The Scottish Government has united with the third sector in its opposition to proposals to slash the Big Lottery Fund’s budget. The National Lottery is independent of the UK Government so it should not be raiding the Big Lottery Fund to subsidise its departmental spending cuts.”

Meanwhile Scottish charities have been speaking out about the impact loss of lottery funding could have on their work. Aberlour Child Care Trust and the Scottish Refugee Council are recent recipients of funding from the Big Lottery Fund in Scotland.

SallyAnn Kelly chief executive of Aberlour Child Care Trust said: “The impact of a UK Government cut to lottery spending in Scotland on this scale would be devastating for thousands of people who rely on services provided by lottery grants.

“Scotland’s charities are used to working with very tight finances but a cut of this size to the lifeline funding that the Big Lottery Fund in Scotland represents could deliver a hammer blow to many organisations currently delivering vital services in Scottish communities.”

John Wilkes, the chief executive of Scottish Refugee Council said: “Big Lottery funding has always been intended to provide resources for activities and projects that complement statutory and other sources of funding.

“The general public who provide all the funding that the Big Lottery Fund disperses should be concerned that the money they provide continues to be used for the purposes the lottery was set up for and not to subsidise UK Government cuts in other areas.”

The UK Government has declined to comment on its plans ahead of the forthcoming spending review.