Clause 26 - Payments out of Fund
Horserace Betting and Olympic Lottery Bill
9:30 am
Mr Nick Hawkins (Surrey Heath, Conservative)
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman. He anticipates a point that I was about to make. It is something that will unite both sides of the House of Commons and of the Committee.
All of us who care about sport are much aware of the development of sport for the disabled in the UK in recent years, particularly in London, as the hon. Gentleman said. I have been involved with many disabled athletes over the years and have met a number of competitors in wheelchair basketball and my original competitive sport of swimming. Many paralympic swimmers have been successful, and I have met a number of them. With the hon. Member for Monmouth (Mr. Edwards) and hon. Members from all parties, I took part in a match at Lord's involving disabled cricketers at the beginning of the last cricket season. I was fortunate enough to share a long partnership with the colleague of the hon. Member for Bath from the far west. It was an inspiring occasion and I am proud that the MCC and Lord's do so much for disabled cricketers.
All sporting bodies in this country have taken great care over disabled athletes in recent years, and we are right to be proud of that. I would like to see the NPC included in the Bill as a body that can receive payments out of the fund. I hope that the Government might be minded to accept the amendment.