London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (Amendment) Bill

Debate between Lord Beamish and Hugh Robertson

Thursday 28th April 2011 Commons Chamber

[Hugh Robertson]

My hon. Friend asks a very good question. The key thing in dealing with people in that respect is applying a sense of proportionality. The regulations are designed to address big, corporate ambush marketing stunts, not individuals who through some error, act of omission or forgetfulness, or otherwise through no fault of their own, take the wrong thing into a venue. They will simply be asked to hand that over, as is normal.

Any venue that is an Olympic venue will be affected—effectively, there is a curtain around every venue, meaning not just the park, but anywhere that an Olympic event takes place. All football stadiums used for the football competition are covered. Outside London, the venues for sailing at Weymouth, for rowing at Eton Dorney, and for white water rafting at Broxbourne, and the mountain biking venue, are covered. If that is a pub quiz question, I think I have got the lot.

[Mr Kevan Jones (North Durham) (Lab)]

The Minister says that local authorities will have an enforcement role. Has he estimated what additional costs they will incur in enforcing the regulations?

[Hugh Robertson]

I apologise if I did not make that clear. The enforcement officers will, if possible, be drawn from local authorities precisely because those people have the expertise. We are in the process of working out the full costs of that as part of the consultation.

[Mr Jones]

Local authorities are having their budgets slashed by this Government. Will the Minister therefore make the argument for additional money to be given to the affected authorities because of the additional costs that they will incur in implementing this measure?

[Hugh Robertson]

Provision has been made in the budget for extra support to be given to local authorities for a variety of services—the Mayor has control of that budget and the local authorities affected are happy with the settlement, which may surprise the hon. Gentleman. There is contingency funding precisely for any large bills. If a case is made, and if we think there is real hardship, we could look at using that.

[Mr Jones]

The Minister says that the Mayor controls the budget for London, but also referred to authorities outside the London metropolitan area. How will they access additional funding if they incur additional costs in implementing the regulations?