Coinage (Measurement) Bill

Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton Excerpts

Friday 1st April 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mark Lancaster (Milton Keynes North) (Con)]

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time.

Although today is April fools’ day, I can assure hon. Members that the Bill is no joke. It is relatively simple, but it will have a weighty impact, for it enables the Royal Mint to commemorate events of cultural significance and national importance with kilogram coins, starting with, but not limited to, the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games. Indeed, the only question raised in Committee was from the hon. Member for Dundee East (Stewart Hosie), who queried whether the Bill will enable future events such as the Commonwealth games to be similarly commemorated. The answer, of course, is that it will do so, subject to the permission of Her Majesty and the agreement of the Chancellor.

By making two small amendments to the Coinage Act 1971, the Bill removes a technical obstacle that currently prevents the Royal Mint from striking kilogram coins. The Act governs the striking of coins by the Royal Mint and contains various standards in respect of a coin’s weight, fineness, composition and dimensions, with which coins struck by the Royal Mint must comply.

The Act also makes provision for permitted variations from those standards. Section 1(6) requires that the variation from the standard weight of any coin be measured as the average of a sample of not more than 1 kg of that coin. As I have said before, that is perfectly fit for the everyday coins that we have in our pockets, but in the competitive collector-coin market it is important to be able to push the boundaries and exploit growing technical capabilities and expertise to develop new and exciting products that will provide an enduring and lasting way of commemorating special events.

The Royal Mint intends to strike the coins in fine gold and in fine silver. They will have a standard diameter of 10 cm, and will weigh 1 kg. The coins will be legal tender, although their inherent metal value will far outweigh their nominal face value, which will be £1,000 for the gold coins and £500 for the silver coins. Their retail price will be heavily dependent on metal prices at the time of release. The choice of design will ultimately be a matter for Her Majesty the Queen and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, on the advice of the Royal Mint advisory committee on the design of coins, medals, seals and decorations.

The striking of kilogram coins has recently become part of the Olympic games tradition. Most other host nations in recent years, such as Australia, Canada and China, have issued coins of this type, and they have proved extremely popular with collectors internationally. Indeed, kilogram coins have featured in the international commemorative coin market since they were first issued in 1992. In the past 10 years, more than 40,000 Olympic kilogram coins have been issued around the world, and their ongoing popularity makes them an important addition to any international mint’s commemorative coin range. Not only are these coins highly attractive to numismatists across the world, but due to their size and the high-profile artists who will be approached to design them, they become works of art as well as an investment opportunity.

[Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)]

Obviously the word “kilogram” makes me slightly nervous, because it is not really British. However, my hon. Friend was referring to the other countries that have done this. When the Olympic games were held in America, did the Americans issue a kilogram coin?

[Mark Lancaster]

That is a good point. I have some sympathy with my hon. Friend over the use of the word “kilogram”, but he will appreciate that the coins would be sold on the international market, which is why a kilogram coin is more appropriate. There seems to be some doubt about whether the United States issued such a coin. I think that it did, but I might have to come back to him. Inspiration might arrive before I finish my speech.

The Royal Mint anticipates similar demand for kilogram coins for London 2012, and plans to produce approximately 60 gold coins and 14,000 silver coins. This plan is based on more than 50 years’ experience in the international commemorative coin market. The Royal Mint also attends regular international seminars with other mints, numismatists, collectors and trade partners, from which it is clear that there is a sizeable international market for kilogram coins. In anticipation of the London 2012 Olympics, the Royal Mint has put together an Olympic coin programme that, if this Bill is successful, is likely to be the largest ever seen.

This Bill will allow the Royal Mint to produce kilogram coins that will form the pinnacle of the programme. It has been endorsed by Jacques Rogge, President of the International Olympic Committee, who wrote:

“I have no doubt that the Royal Mint’s Olympic Coin Programme will continue the worldwide success story of Olympic coins, and will take its place in the Olympic Museum at Lausanne alongside the 700 or so Olympic Coins of past years”.

The Bill will allow the Royal Mint to crown its Olympic coin programme with kilogram coins, but they are just part of a range of products designed to offer something for everyone. By providing royalties to the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, the kilogram coins will contribute to financing London 2012. I understand that royalties will also be paid to the Treasury.

The Olympic coin programme in its entirety has been designed to ensure the widest possible participation. Design competitions have been run for “Blue Peter” viewers, for secondary school children, for art and design college students, and indeed for members of the public in general. The intention throughout has been to maximise the social and educational benefits of the programme. At the other end of the scale to the kilogram coin is the London 2012 sports collection, which features 29 50p pieces, each representing a different Olympic or Paralympic sport. Indeed, I thought that the hon. Member for Bristol East (Kerry McCarthy) was slightly cruel to me in Committee when she suggested that each coin should have a picture of me doing different decathlon events, whether the discus, javelin, the 100 metres, or perhaps even the 800 metres. I fear that that will not be the case.

The Royal Mint launched a competition inviting the British public to design the 50p sports series, and received more than 30,000 entries. The athletics 50p was designed by the nine-year-old winner of a “Blue Peter” competition—the first child ever to design a UK coin. Of particular relevance to my own constituency, the goalball 50p was designed by a Buckinghamshire artist, Jonathan Wren. I am pleased for the opportunity to be sponsoring a Bill that has wide-reaching implications for the whole UK and beyond. My constituency is home to one of the Olympic training villages—and indeed was the birthplace of the Paralympic games—so this Bill further cements a long-standing and important association between my constituency and the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games. I am grateful for the swift passage and warm welcome the Bill has enjoyed throughout the House to date, and I would like to thank hon. Members for their support so far. I commend the Bill to the House.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr David Nuttall (Bury North) (Con)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Milton Keynes North (Mark Lancaster) on piloting the Bill so swiftly through its stages in the House. I should like to make a couple of points following on from the remarks made already.

My first comment concerns the value that the coin will bring to the Treasury. I understand that there are to be two coins—a gold coin with a face value of £1,000, and a silver coin with a face value of £500. I also understand that 60 of the gold coins and an estimated 14,000 of the silver coins are to be minted. The value of the coins will depend on the prevailing cost of precious metals, but if we were to base the cost on the best current estimate, a gold coin is likely to fetch about £40,000 and a silver coin about £500. Taking those together and doing a quick bit of maths, that makes £19.9 million—not bad for a morning’s work—which I am sure would be gratefully received by the Treasury. Indeed, I understand that 20,000 coins were sold in the Beijing Olympics, so I wonder whether there might be scope for minting more than is currently allowed for.

[Mark Lancaster]

I fear that the figure might even be slightly larger than my hon. Friend realises. The estimated retail value of the silver coin will actually be £1,250.

[Mr Nuttall]

In that case the amount from the silver coins would be more than doubled, and there are more of them as well.

Let me turn to the size. On Second Reading I mentioned my disappointment that the coins were to be minted in kilograms, and suggested that they be minted in a multiple of a troy ounce. It was said that the coins are for the international market. If the object of the enterprise is to raise as much money as possible for the Treasury, the coins might be worth even more—with more collectors for them, raising even more money for the Treasury—if they are minted as a multiple of a troy ounce, because of their rarity on the international market.

Mention has been made of the suggestion made in Committee that the coin should perhaps bear an image of my hon. Friend in an athletic pose. He has been very modest today, because he has not mentioned the fact that, as he told the Committee, on the weekend before it sat he did his combat fitness test for the Army, running 8 miles while carrying 25 kg on his back. That is no mean feat, and I am not sure that many of us in the Chamber this morning could do that.

[Mr Nuttall]

That is a good point.

[Mark Lancaster]

I wish they had been.