Clause 32 - Dissolution
Horserace Betting and Olympic Lottery Bill
10:15 am
Mr Nick Hawkins (Surrey Heath, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 68, in
clause 32, page 17, line 8, at end insert—
'(aa) Paragraph (a) applies only on the basis that the net assets shall then all be used for the benefit of sport in the UK'.
The amendment concerns the question of what happens on the dissolution of the Olympic lottery distributor. I have already said that we hope that this will not be necessary until after a successful Olympic games in 2012.
We wanted to put forward an amendment to probe the Government and to suggest that the transfer of property rights or liabilities should go, as set out in the Bill, to the Secretary of State, or any other person, but, as the words of our proposed amendment suggest, only on the understanding that the net proceeds should be used for the benefit of sport in the UK. This is a genuine attempt to improve the wording of the Bill. I hope that the Minister will respect the spirit and intent of the words we seek to add. I do not claim any particular perfection in our drafting, and the Minister may well say that he is advised that the drafting may
not be quite right. If he cannot accept the amendment, I hope that he is able to say that it is the clear intention of the Government to ensure that whenever the Olympic lottery distributor is dissolved, the net assets arising from that dissolution will be provided for sport, and will not go into the all-encompassing maw of Her Majesty's Treasury.