Schedule 1 - New Schedule 1A to the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act 1963
Horserace Betting and Olympic Lottery Bill
4:00 pm
Mr Richard Caborn (Minister of State (Sport and Tourism), Department for Culture, Media & Sport; Sheffield Central, Labour)
I beg to move amendment No. 47, in
schedule 1, page 24, line 36, leave out 'qualified accountant' and insert
'person who is eligible for appointment as a company auditor (in accordance with section 25 of the Companies Act 1989 (c.40))'.
The amendment makes it clear that the Gaming Board may appoint an individual or a firm of accountants to fulfil the role of the supervisor's accountant.
Amendment agreed to.
Mr James Paice (South East Cambridgeshire, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 39, in
schedule 1, page 26, line 2, leave out 'seven' and insert 'twenty-eight.'.
Mr Jonathan Sayeed (Mid Bedfordshire, Conservative)
With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:
Amendment No. 40, in
schedule 1, page 26, line 15, leave out 'seven' and insert 'twenty-eight'.
Mr James Paice (South East Cambridgeshire, Conservative)
The short amendments in this group have the same import and relate to the same portion of the schedule as amendment No. 47 did. The amendment concerns the time scale in which the person who operates a pool betting business will send the supervising accountant a statement of the accounts of that business for any particular month. The Bill gives only a seven-day notice for both submission and resubmission of the accounts, if that proves necessary. I am certainly not a person who likes delays, but I think that seven days is a very short time and have tabled amendments to make it 28 days. The Minister may have an alternative viewpoint but in all reasonableness seven days is a very short time in which
to table those accounts. From reading the clause, it strikes me—I may have misunderstood—that if at any time the supervisory accountant requested accounts, they must be provided in seven days. My amendment suggests that seven days be replaced by 28 days, which is a more reasonable period.
Mr Richard Page (South West Hertfordshire, Conservative)
Mine will be a very short intervention. I wish to support my hon. Friend the Member for South-East Cambridgeshire with a logical argument. The Tote is not a small business. It is not a corner shop but a relatively large organisation. The idea that one could cobble together accurate figures, if required, in seven days is an impossible imposition. The clause does not even say seven working days, so if the request was received on a Friday and there was a bank holiday, there would be only three days in which to produce the figures.
It is a simple matter of logic. Anyone with any business experience would require more than seven days to comply with the regulations to make sure that the figures are presented correctly. I am sure that the Minister will see the eminent logic of the amendments and be only too happy to accept them.
Mr Richard Caborn (Minister of State (Sport and Tourism), Department for Culture, Media & Sport; Sheffield Central, Labour)
Based on that powerful contribution, amendments Nos. 39 and 40 increase the time allowed by pool operators to submit their pool accounts for inspection by supervising accountants. The period of seven days specified in the Bill is based on the regime that operates, as already indicated, for greyhound pools and we see no reason to diverge from that. However, I recognise that horse racing and dog pools differ. We keep hearing about little pools, but are talking about dog pools not little pools.
Mr Richard Caborn (Minister of State (Sport and Tourism), Department for Culture, Media & Sport; Sheffield Central, Labour)
Pools. If information comes to light that shows that horse race pools accounts take longer to prepare than greyhound pools accounts, we will look again at the time scale. In the meantime, I ask the hon. Member for South-East Cambridgeshire to withdraw the amendment. We will agree to consider it on the basis of any further information that we are given.
Mr James Paice (South East Cambridgeshire, Conservative)
I am grateful for the Minister's response. Surprise comes in many forms and I am delighted at his emollient words. I therefore beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
Schedule 1, as amended, agreed to.