Mr James Paice (South East Cambridgeshire, Conservative)

I, too, welcome you to the Chair, Mr. Sayeed. I also welcome Mr. Illsley, in his absence. We do not have any qualms about the programme motion, not least because it was agreed with us all last night. As the Minister rightly said, there is probably plenty of time to deal with things.

The Bill is slightly unusual in that it involves little party politics and few issues of party principle. My colleagues and I come to consider the Bill with the interests of horse racing and the Olympics at heart, and we will address it in that context. Certainly, when it comes to the first two parts of the Bill, which relate to horse racing and which I shall handle on behalf of the Opposition, the purpose of most of our amendments, and of what I hope will be a sensible debate, will be to persuade the Government simply to include measures that they have already agreed verbally and made announcements about. There are one or two other issues of principle, which we shall come to in due course, but I want to stress that overall we welcome the Bill and want it to go forward. There are some areas where improvements could be made and I look forward to constructive consideration in Committee.

Mr Don Foster (Bath, Liberal Democrat)

I, too, welcome you to

the Chair, Mr. Sayeed. The Minister's proposal for the programme for our sittings already has the support of the hon. Member for South-East Cambridgeshire (Mr. Paice), and the Liberal Democrats are also happy to support the motion. It sets out a reasonable timetable for dealing with some quite important and complex issues. Judging from the debate on Second Reading, there appears to be a fair degree of support on both of the House for the various measures. On Second Reading, however, the hon. Gentleman suggested a number of concerns, some of which relate to omissions and issues that should be covered. We have similar concerns, and there are some points of detail that we wish to explore with the Minister.

The programme motion, however, gives us ample time for deliberation. My wife, the current Mrs. Foster, will be disappointed with the show of unanimity. [Interruption.] I see that the Committee has at last woken up and twigged what I have just said. When I have been successful in obtaining major concessions from the Government in other Committees on which I have had the pleasure to serve, it has been my custom to write a letter to my wife explaining how successful I have been. Even small concessions have led to at least a postcard to the current Mrs. Foster. My fear is that, given the fair degree of support on all sides and the lack of controversy, she will not be anticipating much correspondence from me.

Question put and agreed to.

Mr Jonathan Sayeed (Mid Bedfordshire, Conservative)

I remind the Committee that there is a money resolution, copies of which are available in the Room. I also remind Members that adequate notice should be given on the tabling of amendments. As a general rule, my fellow Chairman and I do not intend to call starred amendments, including those that the Committee may reach during an afternoon sitting.Clause 1 Dissolution of the tote