Schedule 18 - Relief for community amateur sports clubs
Finance Bill
10:30 am
Mr John Healey (Economic Secretary, HM Treasury; Wentworth, Labour)
It is a privilege and a pleasure to join this Committee, albeit in slightly unusual circumstances, and my hon. Friends on the Front Bench. It is a particular pleasure to join the Committee under your chairmanship, Mr. Benton, and that of your co-Chairman, Mr. Gale. It is clear from the Official Report that your firm and fair chairmanship has helped the Committee to make good progress.
I could not help noticing in the Official Report that the first sitting was peppered with sporting metaphors from jousting to ''Just a Minute'' and from saloon car racing to stunt wrestling. My right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, whose brief I have inherited but, confusingly for some, not his title--he is still a member of the Committee--was almost prescient in his reference to the World Wrestling Federation because I feel like a tag wrestler being introduced into the contest in the middle of a round. However, I shall do my best to pick up the excellent work that he has done and to play my part on the Treasury's excellent Front-Bench team.
Although we are discussing the narrow amendments Nos. 69 and 70, the hon. Members for Arundel and South Downs (Mr. Flight) and for Southport (Dr. Pugh) introduced points that range much wider. With your indulgence, Mr. Benton, I shall deal with them as well as the amendments.
I was disappointed to hear the hon. Member for Southport dismiss the clause as modest. In many ways, that talks down the value of the measures, which are widely welcomed by sporting federations and, more important, the local community sports clubs that they are designed to benefit. If the hon. Gentleman's experience in his constituency was reflected in his comments, I must tell him that it is not the universal reaction that many of my hon. Friends and I have had from sports clubs in our patch.
Both hon. Gentlemen raised the question of business rate relief. I am aware that sports clubs and some of their organisations are making a case for that, but I point out to Opposition Members that decisions on business rates are not for the Treasury but for the Department in charge of local government policy and finance. The matter cannot be dealt with in the Finance Bill. However, the measures in the Bill represent a generous package of support for local community sports clubs.
Both hon. Gentlemen also posed a question about the Treasury definition of sports.