Clause 65
Finance (No.2) Bill
11:30 am
John Healey (Financial Secretary, HM Treasury; Wentworth, Labour)
Clauses 65 to 68 deal with the status of activities relating to the Olympics. As part of London’s bid for the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympics, the Government gave an undertaking to introduce the necessary legislation to exempt the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games from corporation tax. Clauses 67 and 68 would do the same for the International Olympic Committee and for non-UK resident competitors and support staff. That is a recent innovation by the IOC, and all bid cities were required to give such tax undertakings.
Clause 65 and the supplementary provisions in its sister clause 66 will provide the exemptions required for the London organising committee as well as powers to enable that exemption, where appropriate, to be extended or restricted as the committee’s plans and arrangements for delivering the Olympics in 2012 become clear.
That is an essential part of a major event, not just for London, but the country, and to which I think that we are all looking forward. The exemptions are important also so that the committee can deliver the best ever Olympics, and do so in London.