Schedule 1 - The Olympic Delivery Authority
London Olympics Bill
10:00 am
Richard Caborn (Minister of State (Sport), Department for Culture, Media & Sport; Sheffield Central, Labour)
That is absolutely right. That tripartite partnership is how the bid was won; it is that partnership, and the honesty between those partners, that did it, and I do not see that altering at all in future in respect of the Olympic delivery authority.
For the record, the hon. Member for Bath and I have served on a number of Committees together, and I know that from time to time he consults Mrs. Foster in Bath. He ought to consult her on this occasion, to give clarity of purpose and argument to what he is saying.
We are talking about the membership of the government of the ODA—that is what the amendment is about—and appointments and directions. The Mayor is consulted as a funder; there is direct responsibility in terms of funding. LOCOG is not a funder, so it is not specifically committed in these areas. On other matters, as the hon. Member for Faversham and Mid-Kent said, there will be wider consultation through the Olympic board. If the chairman of LOCOG wants to raise any issue to do with the governance and operation of any part of the structure, he will be at liberty to do so through the board. It can be on the wider issue of policy, or indeed on any issue that he wants to raise.
We believe that in the structure before us the lines of command are as short as possible. There is a clear division of responsibilities—I say this very seriously—between politicians and the operations, both in terms of delivering infrastructure, and in terms of the games themselves. We think that that will pay huge dividends as we move towards 2012.