Draft Horserace Betting Levy Regulations 2017

Lord Benyon Excerpts

Monday 27th March 2017 General Committees

[Richard Benyon (Newbury) (Con)]

I want to start by saying how important the issue is for my constituency. I estimate that between 700 and 1,000 jobs relate directly to the racing industry in West Berkshire. We are one of the three big training centres in the country, and the Lambourn valley is, of course, the home of national hunt racing. A lot of businesses on which my constituents depend have been looking carefully at the sometimes tortuous negotiations that have taken place on the subject over many years. Those of us who are members of the all-party group on racing and bloodstock industries will have sat in on frequent meetings with the Minister and her predecessors on either side of the House about how to fund such an industry fairly.

In addition to Lambourn, where there will be an impact, we have one of the premier racecourses in the country at Newbury. There are direct jobs there, as well as tourism throughout that part of the Thames valley, and the effect will be enormous. To understand the issue, including the reduction in income from the levy, we need to understand the extra costs of putting on a day’s racing at any course—leaving aside Newbury, which has the ability and location to generate other funds. There are racecourses in some of my hon. Friends’ constituencies, and in Scotland, that rely on racing for nearly all their income. We want a system that supports racing across these islands and that makes sure that the industry is set for the future.

The industry has relied for too long on an analogue system in a digital world—the hon. Member for Tooting put it well; it was brought in three years after I was born, when there was no online betting. The system by which people can now bet did not exist. Betting has of course changed in other ways. People can now bet on a place—or, to put it better, a variety of different conclusions to a race. Income to the industry has reduced because of online—and in some cases offshore—betting, from £115 million in 2007-08 to £54.5 million in 2015-16.

To answer the question of the hon. Member for Tooting about the Government’s predictions, according to the explanatory memorandum the figure of 10% will, on 2015-16 predictions, bring in an income of between £72 million and £84 million. That is not back to where we were in 2007-08, but it is certainly a big improvement. It is entirely right to implement a percentage, because then we will not have to rely on an annual review as we go forward.

Will the Minister give a little more explanation of how the governance of the levy will work and what systems will be in place following the ending of the current arrangements with the levy board? I felt at times that this issue was as difficult for Ministers of all parties to deal with as trying to pick up mercury with a fork. I congratulate the Minister on not only nailing this, but doing so with agreement right across the industry. There may be some outliers who disagree, but the conversations I have had seem to suggest that she has achieved the alchemy that has been missing; perhaps it will set her straight for a future career in negotiating a power sharing agreement in Northern Ireland.

As things stand at the moment, we are now able to say that all betting—offshore, online, onshore or in the traditional way on racecourses—will be subject to a system that will result in a fair income for racing. I congratulate the Minister on achieving that.

--- Later in debate ---

[Sir Edward Garnier]

“No chance”, he says. There we are—there is a God.

While we are getting excited about what my hon. Friend may think is the unfair nature of this new arrangement on the bookmaking industry, I think it is important that we also discuss the unsung heroes of the racing world who work at and run, shall we say, the less famous racecourses throughout the country.

The last time I went to Leicester Racecourse—last summer, for one of the summer meetings—the number of people working backstage was probably just as great, proportionally, as it would have been at Cheltenham, Newbury or Aintree. However, the cash flow and the money going through that particular racecourse is not nearly as great as at some of the great festival racecourses.

[Richard Benyon]

Does my right hon. and learned Friend also agree that the cost of putting on a day’s racing and complying with all that we now require—on crowd management, health and safety and all of the other good policy changes that have been made for the public’s safety—is extremely burdensome on precisely those smaller courses?

[Sir Edward Garnier]

My right hon. Friend makes the point I was trying to make rather better than I was making it myself; I am grateful to him for having done so.

It is perfectly true that the number of people from the medical services, vets, stewards and other officials now needed to put on a day’s racing is enormous. From the stable yard right the way through to the car park, there are lots and lots of people, all of whom have to be paid, apart from some of the kind volunteers who help out for the love of it. Those are not racecourses that are putting on tens of meetings a year or attracting the greatest of the prize money. Of course, the famous yards that my hon. Friend the Member for Shipley mentioned will no doubt benefit from the regulations, but I hope the money will trickle down and enable racecourses such as Leicester and—is there a racecourse at Hexham?