Lord Higgins
Main Page: Lord Higgins (Conservative - Life peer)London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (Amendment) Bill
Lord Higgins Excerpts
Lord Higgins
It is always a great pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Faulkner of Worcester, on any matter regarding sport because of his great expertise in these matters. I shall pick up some of the points he has made that I think require further consideration.
The House should be grateful to my noble friend the Minister for her opening remarks, which clarify a number of points. As she rightly points out, it is a technical Bill, really a tidying-up exercise, which reflects how effectively the original legislation had been introduced and how little change is really needed—in contrast, I understand, with the situation in Australia with the Sydney Olympics, where they had to have no fewer than four amending Bills to the original legislation. I also think it is rather difficult for my noble friend, on a ministerial brief, to show the kind of passion which I believe she and all of us feel at the considerable progress that has been made in the construction of the Olympic site and the way in which matters there are progressing. It is very impressive indeed.
This Bill is very much in contrast with 1948, because in 1948 there was no legislation. Of course, that reflects both the commercialisation of the Games and indeed the professionalism of sport. But it is very necessary that we should have this legislation. It is even more important that we should get it right, otherwise an air of gloom would be cast over what I believe will be the overall success of the Games.
I am often critical of the way in which legislation in the other place is programmed and comes to us with lots of it not having been debated at all. I do not make that criticism now, although programming legislation is such a knee-jerk reaction now in the other place that even this legislation was programmed. I cannot imagine why that was felt necessary. However, I pay tribute to the debates in the other place, which were extremely good, as has been the relationship between the Minister for Sport and the Olympics, Hugh Robertson, and his predecessor, Tessa Jowell. It is very welcome that we have adopted such an all-party approach to the whole question of the Olympics, which we are completely united in wishing to see an enormous success.
I was rather surprised—I had not kept completely up to date—that the Committee stage in the other place took evidence, which certainly never happened in my 33 years in the other place. It was very helpful for the constituency Members surrounding the Olympic area and its venues to be able to express their views, and to question the officials and others concerned head to head. To what extent that was reflected in the amendments which followed was not entirely clear. None the less, it was very effective, although some of the discussions which took place gave reason for concern on some matters that we have to consider.
I shall talk about three of them—transport, tickets and legacy. On transport, we must hope that the arrangements for the Olympic route network work successfully. At the moment, I am not clear exactly what the position is on taxis. An enormous statistical sample of one this morning suggested that taxi drivers are not entirely clear what will happen. There is a tendency to react by saying, “We shall all go on holiday for the entire period”, which would not be helpful for transport.
I welcome very much the proposed ban on roadworks—for however short a period it may be. But I hope that we will distinguish between a ban on roadworks where, in fact, no work would be going on—that would be scarcely any change at all from the present situation—and where barriers and so on would still be there. Perhaps we might pursue this point in Committee.
There was also some concern expressed in the other place about how long the traffic restrictions would continue. There were fears that they would go on for 100 days. As I understand it, the Minister was clear that it would be for a short period before the Olympic Games, followed by a gap before the Paralympic Games. The entire period will not be for all that long and will be kept to a minimum, which is important.
On tickets, I welcome the increase in the penalty proposed. The police seem to be quite clear that we may be dealing with an organised crime arrangement, which certainly I understand occurred in Beijing and is likely to be a danger here. The increase to £20,000 is entirely reasonable. I think that the noble Lord on the opposition Front Bench said that tickets were going to be £20,000, which I am sure was a slip of the tongue. That is the penalty to be imposed.
I am concerned, as was expressed by the noble Lord, Lord Faulkner, about the position as regards the resale of tickets. The Minister, after our meeting which she kindly arranged, wrote to us about the details. She wrote that,
“a person who gives a ticket to a friend, colleague or family member or who sells it … at face value does not commit an offence”.
She continued:
“LOCOG has confirmed that it is one of its requirements that the lead ticketholder (being the person who ordered the tickets) must attend and use one of their allocation of tickets. The others can be given to friends and family, as in the case with any major sporting event. However, if the lead ticketholder can no longer attend, they can submit their tickets for sale through LOCOG’s resale platform”.
That does not seem to be a very realistic approach, because it may well be that the person who purchased the tickets is not able to attend at the last minute and will not have the time to resell them. The tickets will then go to waste and we will end up with empty seats, which we do not want.
There is another point about which I am not clear, since I have not seen a ticket. Does it say on the face of a ticket who the main purchaser is? If it does not, I do not see how one can possibly carry out this operation anyway. We need to look at that again in Committee. The arrangement as it is now put forward does not seem practical as far as the use of tickets is concerned. There are real problems with identification, particularly because the name of some family members may be quite different from that of the person who happened to have bought the ticket in question.
I agree with the point made passionately by my noble friend Lord Moynihan, who stressed the importance of getting a genuine, grass-roots sporting legacy from the Olympics. It is clear that this is to some extent in conflict with the proposals that the Government are making with regard to planning law. It is quite wrong that planning law should not take into account the importance of sport. If a particular planning application is likely to have an adverse effect on sporting facilities, which is not uncommonly the case, it should be granted only if equal or even better sporting facilities are put in place by the person asking for the planning permission.
I have a further, more specific point on legacy. I was not terribly keen about the equine facilities being in Greenwich; I have serious concerns about the transport arrangements and the effect on the park. I have recently received a letter from the British Equestrian Federation advocating a plan for an extension of equine facilities in Greenwich after the Games. I have not come across this before; I should perhaps declare an interest since my daughter has just finished her term as president of the British Equine Veterinary Association, but she has no connection with what I am discussing. On the face of it, this proposal seems to provide a degree of legacy to the equine situation which it is clear would otherwise be non-existent once Greenwich Park is returned to its normal state. I do not imagine that my noble friend the Minister is able to reply to the point at this stage, but I hope that she can let me know whether it is a sound proposition which we can enthusiastically support, since legacy is very important.
We can pursue some of these matters further in Committee. I wish the Bill well. It is important that we get these matters right and I am sure that we are doing all that we can to ensure that the Games succeed in their objectives.
Baroness Heyhoe Flint
My Lords, I feel a little bit like the night watchman, batting at No. 13. I am more used to coming in at No. 3, she says immodestly. However, it is a pleasure to follow my noble friend Lord Clement-Jones on to the field of play, albeit he seems to be making a rather gloomy prediction.
The gratifying factor about the London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (Amendment) Bill is that it is short and technical, but not too technical—more of a sprint than a marathon. These are nurturing amendments which allow for the filling out of the legislation in the spirit of the 2006 Act. At Second Reading of the Bill in the other place, the honourable Member for Croydon South, Richard Ottaway, said:
“If we get it right, it enhances perceptions; if we get it wrong, it is very dangerous”.—[Official Report, Commons, 28/4/2011; col. 401.]
The Bill and, indeed, the whole creation of our 2012 Games dream have received a full cross-party consensus. The amendments in the Bill before noble Lords should be accepted to enable the original commitment to legislation in the 2006 Act to have its full effect. It is part of our contract pledge to the IOC, and the lead runners in this mega-project deserve our fullest support. The Minister for Sport and the Olympics, the honourable Hugh Robertson, and his predecessor, the right honourable Member for Dulwich and West Norwood—I wonder whether there is an ORN going through in that direction—deserve our greatest support, as do all the myriad agencies involved, all seemingly having initials, such as OPLC, LOCOG, ODA and the BOA.
The right honourable Member for Dulwich and West Norwood, Tessa Jowell, Minister for the Olympics in the previous Administration, who is praised on all sides for her contribution to the whole 2012 Olympics and Paralympics dream from bid to almost fruition, when speaking of the three major amendments before us today, referred to the multitude of measures that have been put in place to address the complexity of the logistical planning. She also commented:
“It is not often in government that one is dealing with a project one knows will extend beyond a general election … beyond the interests of the governing parties at the time, and held in trust for the people of this country”.—[Official Report, Commons, 28/4/2011; col. 379.]
I feel no guilt in fully supporting the amendments before us, although in international sport I have not been an Olympian, just a humble cricketer, although cricket was in the 1900 Games in Paris, and England—also known as Devon and Somerset Wanderers—won gold by beating France, which of course is a very well known cricketing nation. I was not there at the time, contrary to popular belief.
The Government must do all that they can to achieve Royal Assent by the end of 2011 to enable appropriate vital communication to all agencies involved. Many noble Lords have mentioned the word communication. That is to all agencies involved: the ODA, the police, trading standards, advertising and street trading and local authorities. That vital communication brings to mind that well-known sporting cliche: “Fail to prepare? Then prepare to fail”.
I turn to the advertising and trading amendments. Because of the high profile of the 2012 Games, branding protection and preservation of intellectual property rights is vital to ensure that the Games are not overly commercialised. Rogue advertising and trading must be prevented to preserve the sanctity of the Games. Does that sanctity include airspace? There is a vision of light aircraft trailing banners behind them, for example—possibly with the noble Lord, Lord Pendry, as pilot, because at least that way he would be able to see the Games—and, on the ground, innocent athletes, officials and spectators displaying illegal branding on those freebie T-shirts handed out just as you are entering the special event zones.
In world cricket events, unsightly pieces of sticking plaster have had to be stuck over offending logos on pads and bats to avoid contravening legislation. It is vital to agree the practical amendments in the Bill to pre-empt and outlaw ambush marketing and, in marketing speak, to ensure clean venues and routes. The exclusivity of the main sponsors and commercial partners, who have contributed a vast £700 million to the Games, must be protected at all costs at all the 26 event zones. Beware even the rogue mascots, defined in the broad description of advertising activity.
Next, we deal with ticket touting. The global profile of the Games and the excessive ticket demand, as demonstrated when the initial 6.6 million tickets came on sale in March, may lead to organised criminal groups exploiting the system. The noble Lord, Lord Faulkner, and the noble Baroness, Lady Doocey, mentioned their qualms about LOCOG operating an official exchange system. Those qualms must be listened to, but let us remind everyone that the only official tickets for sale will come from official outlets. For criminal groups, the intention is there. The amendment under consideration states that the deterrent maximum penalty for the illegal touting of Olympic tickets must be raised from £5,000 to £20,000. One hopes that that is sufficient.
We are not here dealing with one ticket here and one ticket there; we are probably talking about huge volumes of illegal trafficking of tickets. We hope that we can calm the fears of noble Lords who have expressed their disquiet about the system. Ticket touting is a £10 billion worldwide criminal activity. Staging the Olympics and the Paralympics is like staging 26 world championships all at once. In Beijing, tickets were being touted at five times their face value. What a market this offers to those with criminal intention. Once again, the deterrent and the message must be communicated loud and clear, with regular repetition.
Several noble Lords mentioned traffic management. If you listen to any London taxi driver, you will be told in no uncertain terms how they fear the whole of the July, August and September period of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Mind you, if you listen to any London taxi drivers in any day, month and year, you will probably get the same rumbles about traffic flow; and it is always the fault of the Government—and the Mayor of London, of course, whether that be of the Livingstone or Johnson dynasty. It is our responsibility, as a requirement of the host nation’s contract, to control official traffic flow, thus avoiding, as mentioned by the noble Baroness, Lady Grey-Thompson, the horrors of the 1996 Games in Atlanta, when athletes and officials arrived late at various venues. Just imagine it when they say in London E13, “On your marks, get set… Oh, sorry, we’re still waiting for some athletes to appear”. For our 2012 Games, all arrangements must be the best to help put the “Great” back into “Britain”. The logistics are enormous for athletes, officials and spectators, and everything possible must be done. In-depth consultations have taken place, are continuing and will continue with Transport for London, highways agencies and various transport bodies that administer the livelihoods of HGV drivers and firms and taxi businesses.
Just compare the logistics of the 2012 Games with our last Olympics in 1948. In 1948, 59 nations participated; in 2012, 205 nations will participate. In 1948 there were 4,100 athletes; in 2012, there will be 14,700 athletes in the Olympics and Paralympics. The other week I read the words of 86 year-old Bill Nankeville, father of entertainer Bobby Davro, who was a 1500-metre finalist at Wembley in 1948. He wrote:
“During the Olympics, I was billeted in a Nissen hut at RAF Uxbridge”.
So he would have had little problem getting to Wembley Olympic Stadium. However, the 2012 Games athletes and officials have to be rocketed across London and the country to and from the Olympic Park in E12, where 180,000 spectators alone are expected daily. Furthermore, they are going to be spread among venues at Wembley, Horse Guards Parade, Earls Court, Egham to Eton Dorney, where the rowing takes place, Wimbledon and even Weymouth. I was delighted to read that Weymouth may have a new problem by the entry into the town, where they are going to have a hamburger junction. I do not know who might be sponsoring that.
The scale of the whole operation of the Olympics is enormous. Some 700,000 people—staff, athletes and audience—will attend daily at all the venues. The amendments under consideration will enable the ODA—on the Olympic route network only—and traffic authorities to make temporary traffic regulation orders purely for traffic management and Games purposes only. This must be done, and flexibility must be allowed within the regulations to cover even late changes to venues through special event traffic orders.
The London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (Amendment) Bill is well considered, sensible and practical to ensure that, wherever and however, we host the best Games ever. All the messages within the Bill need to be communicated with clarity to the general public and to the communities affected by the legislation, not just by one leaflet drop but by an incessant bombardment of high-powered communication by all forms of modern technology, not forgetting Twitter, of course. If you want to let the world know something in a matter of seconds, or even faster than Usain Bolt will be ripping down the track in the 100 metres final, this is a very convenient method of communication.
The Corinthian amateur approach to the 1948 Olympics is captured by the recent words of 91 year-old Dorothy Tyler, Britain’s high-jump silver medallist.
Baroness Heyhoe Flint
It was the high-jump. I know that the noble Lord was there. He was saying, “Come on, Dorothy”. Dorothy Tyler said:
“We were staying in a pretty unpleasant hotel in Victoria. We only went training once to Motspur Park in the fortnight before the event”.
Compare that almost laid-back comment with the intensity and pressure of staging the 2012 Games and we all know why we must give the fullest support to the amendments in this Bill and the Bill as a whole. Let us echo the words of Dan Hunt, coach to Ed Clancy, Britain’s legendary gold medal-winning pursuit cyclist in Beijing:
“Unless we achieve the epitome of excellence we are disappointed”.
Paralympian Darren Kenny said, following Lance Armstrong’s mantra:
“Pain is temporary, failure is forever”.
Finally, the Olympic motto, “Citius, Altius, Fortius”, is very appropriate to these amendments—“citius”, faster: traffic-management; “altius”, higher: fines for ticket-touting; and “fortius”, strong: enforcement of advertising and trading regulations.
Baroness Garden of Frognal
I thank my noble friend for that. We will be talking to LOCOG and would hope that we might have further news or details before we come to the Committee stage. I know that a lot of thought went into the balance of access to the Games and the security implications. As a number of noble Lords have said, there are intense security implications over these Games. Getting the balance right is a delicate matter for consideration. Undoubtedly, it will be a subject for further discussion.
The ballot for tickets was also raised. Once again, it is a matter for LOCOG. I am not trying to pass the buck here, but these are not matters for the Government. It was always the difficulty of trying to ensure that the tickets were sold and that we had a really good attendance at events, which has not been the case at some Olympic Games held in other places. It was an astonishing and delightful surprise that the British public was so manifestly enthusiastic when the tickets went on sale. Anyone who had read the media in the run-up to the sale would not necessarily have assumed that people would be so enthusiastic about tickets. Inevitably, with that comes the disappointment of those who were not successful in the ballot. But, once again, I would not wish us to focus entirely on the disappointment and that which has denied people the opportunity of the Games. There will be a number of other opportunities when people will be able to buy tickets for particular events. However, I would stress again that this is not within the remit of the Bill and is a matter for LOCOG.
Lord Higgins
I realise that my noble friend may not be able to give me an answer immediately, but will the name of the purchaser appear on the ticket?
Baroness Garden of Frognal
I have not seen a draft ticket and I am not sure how it will be done, but I imagine that the only way would be for the name to appear on the ticket or there is a complicated data system which immediately identifies a ticket with the ticket holder. We will have to ask LOCOG for more details of how it anticipates this will work. This is a major issue which has arisen in the course of the debate which will need to be taken further.
The noble Lord, Lord Faulkner, also asked about offshore gambling. The Government agree that there is a real need to address remote gambling regulations. It is a matter perhaps for a wider discussion than purely the Olympics. We may come back to this, but the consultation is ongoing until 9 November as regards the Gambling Act. We hope that we may make some headway and be able to introduce legislation on some aspects of the gambling regulations later in the year.
The noble Lord, Lord Higgins, and others asked about taxis, which I mentioned earlier. TfL and the ODA are aware of the concerns of the black cab and private hire trade, and are having discussions with the relevant trade organisations to ensure that as much information as possible is transmitted. The noble Lord, Lord Higgins, also mentioned the equine legacy at Greenwich, about which I will have to write to him.
My noble friend Lord Higgins and the noble Lord, Lord Pendry, asked whether there will be a ban on roadworks during the Games. I can assure them that there will be a ban on all non-essential roadworks on the ORN during the Games and that all associated barriers will be removed. As much as possible will be put in place for traffic to ensure that priority is given to Olympic people in the ORN and that the general public have as much roadway to get around as possible in order to keep London running.
The noble Baroness, Lady Ford, spoke with passion about the Olympic site. I congratulate her on the fact that it will be known subsequently as the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. I had the enormous pleasure of being shown around by the noble Baroness earlier when the site was perhaps not quite as advanced as it is now, but I came away completely overwhelmed by the immense work that had gone into developing it. I felt excited not only by the iconic buildings but also by the canals, waterways and other buildings, which will be a tremendous legacy once the Games are over. We are extremely grateful to her for all the work that has gone into ensuring that the Olympic site is of enduring advantage and benefit to London after the Games have finished.
My noble friends Lady Doocey and Lord Clement-Jones talked with passion about traffic lanes. There will be great encouragement for all non-essential members of the Olympic family to use public transport. We know that there will be a high demand for public transport. The noble Lord, Lord Pendry, talked about the Jubilee line. Once again, I am quite sure that Transport for London is paying close attention to those public transport routes which get the maximum number of people in and out of the Olympic venues as speedily and efficiently as possible.
My noble friend Lord Patten brought us into the realm of cyberspace and websites. We will almost certainly need to go into this in more detail in Committee, although the finer points of the security side of the Games have been under consideration right from the beginning of the planning. The Cabinet Office leads on co-ordinating cyber capabilities in every aspect—defence, law enforcement, intelligence agencies and so on—and it will take the lead also on countering potential Olympic cyber threats and liaising with the Games authorities in connection with them.
The noble Lord, Lord Pendry, asked about the police enforcing ticket-touting laws. As I said earlier, there will be sufficient police around to do that, and they have confirmed in evidence to another place that they intend to take ticket-touting very seriously and devote appropriate resources to it. The noble Lord also mentioned that hotel prices might become exorbitant during the Games. It is a free market, but we are encouraging the tourism and hospitality industry to make sensible decisions on pricing. VisitBritain and London & Partners, which is the mayor’s promotional agency for the capital, have created a fair pricing and practices charter for UK tourism businesses. We very much hope that tourists in London will not be ripped off by exorbitant prices during the Games. We will keep an eye on this to see that it remains the case throughout.
My noble friend Lord Clement-Jones mentioned the 82,000 people using the ORN. We will certainly come back to issues around traffic lanes and their use in Committee.
My noble friend Lady Heyhoe-Flint, apart from enlightening us about different cricketing activities and other sporting events, which was quite delightful to hear, asked whether advertising regulations would apply to air space. I can confirm that they will apply to air, water and land within the regulated events zone, so I am hopeful that we will not see small planes buzzing around completely unimpeded.
The noble Lord, Lord Rosser, mentioned the sporting legacy, particularly in relation to school sports. I can assure him that the Government are monitoring the situation. If there are further details to be had on that, I shall provide them to him in writing. It is the Government’s firm intention that schools sports should be a beneficiary of the Games when they end. There certainly will be schools activities going on in and around the venues to encourage young people into sporting activities.
I fear that I may have left a number of points unanswered. I will read Hansard carefully and try to sweep up the questions to which I have not responded. At the beginning of this debate, I said that the provisions in the Bill are technical and amending in nature, and serve to ensure that the original intentions behind the London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act 2006 can be delivered. The commitments given to the IOC on the regulation of advertising and trading, ticket touting and traffic management all play a part in the delivery of a safe, successful and memorable Games. They may not be as exciting as the Games themselves, but they are important as part of the infrastructure. This Bill goes some way to ensure that those assurances can be effectively delivered. It enjoyed cross-party support as it passed through the other place, and I pay tribute to honourable Members in another place whose hard work and vision has contributed to the position we are now in in relation to planning for the Games. I am most grateful to all noble Lords for continuing in the constructive vein of the other place throughout today’s debate, and I look forward very much to further discussions in the Bill’s remaining stages.
Bill read a second time and committed to a Grand Committee.