Sports Grounds Safety Authority Bill

Lord Grantchester Excerpts

Friday 13th May 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Grantchester]

My Lords, I support wholeheartedly the introduction of this Bill today. It is welcomed and supported on all sides and widely throughout sport. That football has changed and developed in this country to such wide acclaim today throughout the world is due in no small measure to the safety and ground improvements implemented following Lord Justice Taylor's report into the Hillsborough disaster. Like other noble Lords, I can recall clearly the events that fateful day in April 1989, as I was at Villa Park watching the other semi-final between Everton and Norwich City. I declare my interest as an Everton shareholder and former director of Everton Football Club.

Noble Lords will recall that many spectators in those days went to football matches carrying radios to listen to other games while watching their team. It was a very eerie atmosphere that day as news of events at Hillsborough rippled through the crowd. I pay tribute to the work of the Football Trust and to my noble friend Lord Faulkner of Worcester for his tireless work on safety issues as deputy chairman of that body and since.

My noble friend has explained that the core safety and licensing function and local authority oversight role of the FLA will remain, while it will extend its advice, expertise and experience gained to other grounds, venues and sports on request. As a result, it will change its name to the Sports Grounds Safety Authority. He gave an excellent account of the Bill and its passage through the other place, where it has been endorsed on all sides and has afforded another opportunity for the Government—given the high regard that they and the football authorities have for safety—to reassure us of their continuing funding and expertise.

It makes abundant sense that that valuable knowledge and experience regarding safety at football stadia be shared. That is especially pertinent to LOCOG in the run-up to the Olympics and Paralympics in 2012. The conduct of the Football Licensing Authority has been admired widely and its work endorsed by the Football Supporters’ Federation and supported by the Hillsborough families and their Members of Parliament in another place.

I just ask one or two questions for clarity to my noble friend and one question to the Minister. I appreciate that safety is not a devolved matter and that the Bill extends to England and Wales only. Bodies in Scotland and Northern Ireland will be able to access the expertise of the new Sports Grounds Safety Authority on request. Is my assumption correct that the original footballing provisions of the Football Spectators Act 1989 setting up the FLA applied to Scotland and Northern Ireland? Can my noble friend or the Minister confirm that? Can my noble friend clarify that football grounds in Scotland and Northern Ireland are subject to the same rigorous control regimes and that that will be undertaken free of charge?

I follow up with a question about charges and fees. Although I understand the sensitivity of costs in any new order, the Bill will not require additional funds as the safety authority extends its services. The safety authority will be able to charge for its advice and expertise extended to other sports grounds and venues. However, I understand that that is discretionary. Has my noble friend any more information on how that may operate? Has he any guidance on what level of fees may be levied and in what circumstances? It would be a matter of great regret if safety were jeopardised should advice not be sought from the safety authority because it incurred a cost that the relevant sports ground did not want to pay.

Lastly, can the Minister clarify the position of the Sports Grounds Safety Authority under the Public Bodies Bill, now starting its passage through the other place? The position was debated in your Lordships' House in Committee on the Public Bodies Bill, and the Bill was subsequently amended and provisions of various clauses altered. I understand that post-2012, the new authority is in jeopardy of being taken over by some other authority. Can the Minister, on behalf of the Government, be any clearer today regarding their intentions for the safety authority? Will she correct any impression—perhaps inadvertently given in Committee—that once the high-profile events of the Olympics and Paralympics during 2012 are over, the Government will drop their guard regarding safety issues and that the focus on safety can be downgraded or subsumed under some other authority. Can she reassure us that the operation of the safety authority will not become historical; that its work will not be finished and its licensing function will continue? Football and other sports grounds need to continue upgrading, and the work continues under the Football Stadia Improvement Fund, which has now reached its 10th anniversary, funding more than £102 million-worth of benefits through funds provided by the Football League and the FA.

As has been stated, the Bill has made progress through the other place without amendment. I can remember only one other such Bill, the Gangmasters Licensing Authority Bill, achieving such a measure of success. It is an indication of widespread support. I wish for similar speedy passage for the provisions of the Bill.