London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (Amendment) Bill

Lord Stevenson of Balmacara Excerpts

Monday 3rd October 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Stevenson of Balmacara]

My Lords, the London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act 2006, introduced by the previous Labour Government, provides the overarching legislative framework that will successfully deliver next year’s Games. As we have heard, the amendment Bill provides a number of technical refinements to the 2006 Act. We accept that the general principle behind the Bill remains the same as in the original 2006 Act, which is to deliver great Games with a lasting legacy for the local area and for the country as a whole. I am grateful to the Minister, not only for her concise and clear introduction to the Bill today but for her assistance over the past few weeks in briefing us about the amendment Bill and for giving us access to the Bill team.

In ordinary circumstances, my place here today would have been as duty Whip and my noble friend Lady Billingham would have been taking the Bill through. Her illness prevented that, but I am sure that the whole House will join me in saying how delighted we are to see her in her place today.

In his Third Reading speech last month in another place, the Minister for the Olympics said that every time the United Kingdom has hosted the Olympics, we have left the Olympic movement stronger than we have found it. That is something that not every country that has hosted the Games can say, and it is an aspiration that we on this side of your Lordships’ House strongly support and, we believe, that we can and should deliver on.

Right across the country, people are aware of the Games and are looking forward to them. Part of the East End of London has been transformed from a contaminated wasteland littered with corrugated iron huts into what has been described as the largest urban park to be created in Europe for 150 years. There are several iconic buildings. Many people were sorry that the wonderful velodrome building did not win the Stirling architectural prize last week—although, to be fair, it lost out narrowly to an interesting and successful school design, whose designer, Zaha Hadid, has another building on the site.

Many of the Olympic legacy issues are in the extremely capable hands of the eponymous company chaired by my noble friend—and, if I may be permitted to add, fellow honorary graduate of Edinburgh Napier University —Lady Ford, who is in her place. I look forward to what she will say later in the debate.

All in all, we have every confidence that our shared ambition—that the Games should be about much more than 60 days of brilliant Olympic and Paralympic sport—will be achieved, so that as well as bringing desperately needed jobs and inward investment to the local area, communities up and down the country will be more optimistic and ambitious about their futures and will have a greater belief in the possibilities of their own achievements.

It is a sad feature of British public life that the media concentrate on things that do not go as well they could and should. So it will be with some aspects of the Olympics. However, there is a huge amount for this country to be proud of as we begin the final run- up to our Games. We should not lose sight of that as we scrutinise—as is our duty in your Lordships’ House—the Bill.

Turning to the Bill’s provisions, I shall highlight five areas where we will want to examine the provisions of the Bill in Committee. First, the Bill amends the 2006 Act by giving the ODA the power to store articles that have been seized for contravention of advertising and trading regulations. The argument for this, as the Minister has said, is that it frees up police resources so that they can be focused on security issues. However, the process is to be different in Scotland, following arrangements set in place already for the Commonwealth Games. Presumably, though, the police in Scotland will be as concerned as the police in England about security, so why the difference in approach to the storage of seized articles?

Secondly, the Bill makes provision to allow the ODA to alter advertising and trading regulations more quickly in certain situations. We will want to probe this to ensure that the regulations, which we accept are there for good reason, are able to be relaxed only in very specific situations.

Thirdly, on the advice of the police, the Bill raises the maximum penalty for the touting of Games tickets from £5,000 to £20,000. That is a huge increase. Popular though the Games will be, it is hard to believe that anyone in their right mind would pay anything like that for a ticket—in which case, the question is whether this high fine strikes the right balance. There may well be some conspiracy to which we are not privy, so there may well be a good reason. However, will this be a one-off for these Games, or will it become the new norm and be used for other sporting and cultural events?

On this point, as the noble Baroness mentioned, there is some concern about the impact that this provision may have on ticket-holders who cannot, with good reason, be present at the event. Obviously, the intention is to catch those who sell on tickets without consent and, as the Act has it,

“in a public place or in the course of a business”.

However, according to the correspondence that has recently been circulated, the person who paid for the tickets is expected not only to be present at the Games but to have some ID with them to prove their ownership of the tickets. If they cannot attend, they are supposed to return their tickets. This is becoming a little difficult to understand. Sadly, I was not successful in trying to buy tickets but my brother-in-law kindly bought tickets for my children as a gift so that they could attend events in which he has not the slightest interest—shame on him. What is he to do—use one of the tickets and disappoint one of his nieces or, as LOCOG has recommended, submit the tickets for sale through LOCOG’s resale platform? Something does not quite stack up in this. I am sure that there must be a better way to resolve the problem of ticket-touting and the practical problems of what will happen at the turnstile on entrance if someone is challenged, even though they have bought a ticket in good faith, within the rules as set out, but which does not have their name on it.

Fourthly, the traffic management provisions in the original Act cover the Olympic route network and the area around the Games venues. The powers were introduced because it was said that there was complete traffic chaos at 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Competitors missed their events and officials failed to turn up at the right time because the city became gridlocked. However, these provisions in the Bill caused the most discussion in the other place, and I am sure we will need to scrutinise them carefully in Committee. We need to ensure that enough information is provided about the ORN plans so that Londoners and others affected support the serious disruptions that they will face. We need to learn more about the impact of changes to traffic signals and assuage the fear that they will significantly increase congestion throughout London. We need to minimise the number of people who will use the Olympic lanes and stress again and again that these are public transport Games. If a sense gets abroad that there are two classes of traveller to the Olympic park—those whose journeys are hell and those who glide down the Olympic lanes—we must anticipate that that will quickly become a source of tension. London is that type of city. Indeed, I wonder why more use is not being made of the river transport system for the Games. That might well be a solution to many of the problems that I know are worrying the authorities. It might also show off a new aspect of London to the Games family travellers.

There is concern about the extent of pedestrian crossing closures and the impact that this may have on road safety. Again, we need to probe that. We also need to examine whether it is feasible for taxis to use the Olympic road network in specified areas or at specific times—another matter that is causing concern. Again, this is a matter that has been raised in correspondence. I note from the Minister that further discussions are taking place; I hope she will update us at some point.

Fifthly, the final group of provisions deals with the relaxation of licence conditions, which will make it easier for haulage operators to adjust to the difficulties that they may experience as a result of the Games. The sustained duration of the Games, compared to big one-off events such as a royal wedding, creates a very different proposition for businesses in London. What happens if a business has not been far-sighted and efficient enough to plan with its suppliers for the deliveries that it needs to keep going? That, I am afraid, will inevitably happen but there are also concerns about companies that have daily delivery schedules. We need to be sure that their livelihoods and working conditions are not affected disproportionately.

I should like to make one further point. The security operation for the Games will be the largest peacetime security operation ever mounted in the UK. It will place tremendous demands not only on the Metropolitan Police but on all police forces as officers will be drawn from forces throughout the country. In the wake of the disturbances that swept across London and other parts of England we have learnt how vulnerable parts of the country and, indeed, of London, can be when there are simply not enough police on the streets. By the time the Games come round, London and the national police forces will be significantly diminished in numbers. The Police Federation has raised concerns that forces outside London may struggle to find the finance and the manpower and womanpower to send officers to the capital, and that that could heap further pressures on an already stretched metropolitan service. It would be helpful if, at the appropriate point, there is a discussion in Committee of just how the Met police force will be able to cope not just with the Olympic security operation but with any public order disturbances that may come its way in this crucial period and how it is intended to strike a balance between keeping this city and the Games secure while recognising that there will be a fantastic public spectacle and that we want people to be able to move in and out of and enjoy all aspects of the Games to the maximum extent possible.

As the shadow Minister for the Olympics said in the other place, we strongly support this Bill, which, as she said,

“is a staging post on a journey that will see many major hurdles needing to be negotiated before we get to the closing ceremony of the Paralympic games”.—[Official Report, Commons, 8/9/2011; col. 634.],

which is now less than a year away. It is very important that the Government continue to tackle the tricky problems and take the sometimes unpopular decisions that inevitably come with organising such a huge event. We look forward to playing a constructive part in that process.