Olympic Games: British Companies
Debate between Baroness Garden of Frognal and Lord Moynihan
Baroness Garden of Frognal
My Lords, it is not for the Government to persuade LOCOG to lift the ban because these firms will have signed a contractual arrangement when they made the contract with LOCOG in the first place. Of course they can promote their wares as long as they are within the context of the terms of the contract. As the noble Lord says, we have to ensure that they cannot promote their involvement in the Games in a way that undermines the exclusive marketing rights of the London 2012 sponsors. However, there are many other occasions and ways in which the Games will provide a focus for the very businesses that he wishes to support.
Lord Moynihan
My Lords, while my noble friend the Minister has responded on behalf of LOCOG, would she support the decision of the British Olympic Association which, following the return of the Olympic rights from LOCOG to the BOA on 31 December this year, will seek to ensure that all contractors and subcontractors can seek recognition of their superb contribution to the London Olympic and Paralympic Games to help them win national and international contracts in the delivery of sports facilities in years to come?
Baroness Garden of Frognal
Indeed, my Lords, the Government wholeheartedly support all the work that is going on to ensure that after the Games the contractors have a showcase for the outstanding work that they have done. Meanwhile, the Government in conjunction with UKTI and a number of other bodies are setting up visits, activities and promotional ways in which British business can be highlighted during the Games.
Baroness Garden of Frognal
As was explained in the debate yesterday, the Olympic site will be closed in order to be redeveloped for its legacy purposes into the future. It will be used for sport in the future. The athletics stadium will host the 2017 world athletics, for instance, and other events will be going on. However, there is a need to close parts of the site down immediately after the Games so that it can be redeveloped for its long-term future.
Lord Moynihan
My Lords, I apologise to the House as I should have declared my interest as chairman of the British Olympic Association.
Lord Stevenson of Balmacara
My Lords, just to get a flavour of what we are actually talking about, when the Olympic torch started out from Plymouth, LOCOG officials confiscated leaflets advertising an Olympic breakfast at a local café. The officials said that flaming torch bacon and egg baguettes were on the menu, which contradicted their guidelines. According to the Office for Budget Responsibility, GDP is set to grow by 0.1% because of the Olympics. Presumably, that figure would have been much higher if the enterprise of the supplier companies had not been so grievously shackled in their marketing and advertising operations that we have heard about. Is the conclusion that we have to draw from this sorry episode that the Government have missed a golden opportunity here by caving in to LOCOG and to the IOC, to the detriment of our supplier companies?
Olympic Games 2012: Tickets
Debate between Baroness Garden of Frognal and Lord Moynihan
Baroness Garden of Frognal
My Lords, the government allocation is 8,815 tickets, which is 0.1 per cent of the tickets available. I will not go into the detail of how that breaks down at the moment. On the allocation of the tickets, no one had ever before attempted to sell 3 million tickets at one go. Trying to weight applications would have added a layer of complexity which would have made the whole thing almost impossible. LOCOG had no way of knowing how many applications would come in, so it followed other rules rather than the weighting one.
Lord Moynihan
My Lords, while all of us associated with the London Games have, I believe, the humility to recognise that public expectation setting regarding tickets was unduly high and that lessons can be learnt, would the Minister nevertheless agree that it is welcome news that the British Olympic Association has secured the right to buy two tickets for every living British Olympian for their own sport and two further tickets for other sports and that many volunteers will benefit from the decision of Olympic governing bodies of sport to use a substantial part of their allocations for athletes, families, friends, supporters and, above, all volunteers?