Schedule 1 - National lottery licensing
National Lottery Bill
4:15 pm
Richard Caborn (Minister of State (Sport), Department for Culture, Media & Sport; Sheffield Central, Labour)
I am not going to give a yes or no answer. I think that subsection (5)(a) defines that person. Let us go back to section 6(4):
''The Commission shall not grant such a licence unless it is satisfied that the applicant is a fit and proper person to promote lotteries under the licence'',
while subsection (5) reads:
''In determining whether to grant such a licence, the Commission may consider—
(a) whether any person who appears to it to be likely to manage the business or any part of the business of promoting lotteries under the licence is a fit and proper and person to do so''.
We are using ''person'' to encompass two different categories of people. The first is, as we said, the person and the body corporate. This is what the lawyers say. I acknowledge what members of the Committee are saying; it is a little confusing. We will try to give an explanation in layperson's language and I have given a commitment to do that. In the second case, ''person'' is given definition by the reference to the fact that it means the person who will
''manage the business or any part of the business of promoting lotteries under the licence''.
It also stresses the importance of their being
''a fit and proper person to do so''.
That is clear to me. Following the discussion on the body corporate that we had this morning, the change from ''body'' to ''person'' in section 6(4) needs clarification. I will communicate that clarification to the Committee by letter or by a different form of explanation.