Young People: Gambling Harm
Baroness Anelay of St Johns Excerpts(5 days, 1 hour ago)
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Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Con)
My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Foster, on securing this short debate and on his long-standing work on preventing gambling harms. Like him, I am very pleased to see the Minister continuing in her role at DCMS.
I will focus on the international implications of gambling harms experienced by young sports players. I am a member of our International Agreements Committee and we are currently scrutinising the impact of the Government’s proposal to ratify the Council of Europe Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions, known as the Macolin convention. It is the first and only international treaty on the manipulation of sports competitions.
I am grateful to all those who have given evidence to our committee. We have learned a great deal about how young sportspeople can fall into the traps set by those who organise international illegal operations and bribe them. Young people who are just starting out on their careers may be easy targets. We heard compelling evidence from ex-footballer Moses Swaibu about his experience of match fixing and the broader systems behind it, and about how easy it is to get sucked into the illegal gambling world, whether you are playing in league or non-league matches.
His entry into professional sports started when he was 16 and playing for his Croydon state school. He secured a one-year professional contract with Crystal Palace FC and entered an environment of mentors, structures, big brothers and discipline—a new world for him. When he moved to Lincoln City aged 19, a teammate introduced him to the world of match fixing for the first time. It was a phrase he had never even heard of. He knew that it was morally wrong; he just wanted to play football. However, he did not feel that he had the power or confidence to go to Chris Sutton, his first team manager, and say, “The teammate who introduced me to match fixing is the captain”.
Fast forward to 2015, and Moses was sentenced to 16 months in prison for conspiracy to commit bribery following his role in a 2013 match-fixing scandal during his time at Bromley FC. The prosecution said that two Singaporean businessmen were the central figures in the conspiracy. Since his release from prison, Mr Swaibu has devoted his career to combating match fixing. He has become one of the UK’s most active voices in sports integrity education and reform, with a particular focus on educating young footballers who might well fall into the same traps as he did.
Mr Swaibu told our committee that
“if you have a young Moses Swaibu at 18, look at his background, his family, and his siblings: what were the influences around him that shaped this opportunity for crime and corruption?”
We were also given evidence by Dr Madalina Diaconu. She told us that:
“In the past 15, maybe 16 years, we have seen a tremendous increase in the infiltration of organised crime into match-fixing”
of a wide variety of sports, including e-sports. She went on:
“This is where the Macolin convention comes in, because no single sports organisation or sports betting organisation can fight international organised crime syndicates. That is a job for law enforcement and international co-operation in this field, which is precisely what the Macolin convention does”.
The UK signed the convention in 2018, but the Government have only very recently brought it forward for ratification. Can the Minister explain why there has been a delay in seeking to ratify it? I understand that there may be good reasons for this, but what are they?
Live Music
Baroness Anelay of St Johns Excerpts(3 weeks, 5 days ago)
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Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Con)
My Lords, I will focus on the cultural importance of live music, which can enrich the lives of us all. The response to the noble Lord, Lord Brennan, shows that there is feeling around the House on just that. It supports artistic expression, preserves musical heritage and strengthens communities. Live events showcase artists from different backgrounds and cultures, promoting inclusion and cultural exchange.
Does the Minister agree that charities are vital in protecting and promoting opportunities to take part in producing live music or simply to enjoy it? Charities such as the LIVE Trust raises funds via voluntary ticket contributions to fund grass-roots music events and venues. Music for All provides grants and instruments to disadvantaged communities to ensure that everyone has the chance to participate in and experience live music. Youth Music invests in hundreds of grass-roots music projects, helping marginalised young people to learn about music production, singing and live performance.
Government can play a role in supporting the development of live music. In creating the Every Child Can fund for 2024-28, the Government pledged that they would work with the National Lottery Community Fund, young people and youth organisations to ensure that the monies would be spent in a way that reflected the priorities of young people to make, perform and produce music. What assessment have the Government made of the progress that has been achieved over the past two years by the Every Child Can fund”?
Charitable and Voluntary Sector
Baroness Anelay of St Johns Excerpts(6 years, 2 months ago)
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Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Con)
My Lords, I welcome the significant measures that the Government have taken so far to reduce the impact of Covid-19 on the ability of charities and the voluntary sector to continue their valuable work.
I want to refer to the challenges faced by charities whose main work is carried out overseas, especially in countries that are eligible for overseas development assistance. Like others, they face huge financial losses incurred by the immediate loss of income from charity shops and fundraising events. Oxfam, for example, is asking that the Government meet urgently with charity retailers to discuss limitations to the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund and to find a solution that works for the high street while complying with EU competition rules.
The extra challenge is the uncertainty about the amount that charities might receive in project support funding from DfID. This month, the Office for Budget Responsibility estimated that the UK economy is expected to contract by 12.8% this year, thus shrinking the size of the 0.7% of gross national income allocated to ODA. Some in the media have expressed concern about continuing ODA when we face Covid-19 here. Surely it is right to help charities to continue their ODA-funded work, which supports, for example, the provision of vital basic health services.
It makes economic sense too. Abiy Ahmed, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, said recently:
“Access to basic health services remains the exception rather than the norm … If Covid-19 is not beaten in Africa it will return to haunt us all.”
He is right.