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London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Bill

I am sure that my noble friend Lady Hamwee will deal with the substance of the Minister’s remarks. However, I want to return to the detailed structural points he made, for which I thank him. He made it clear several times—indeed, the Olympic staging structures chart makes it clear—that the chairman of the ODA, Mr Lemley, will be only an observer; he will have no representation on the board, yet the Minister, throughout his remarks, has made clear the importance of the role of the ODA. Getting the structures right at the beginning is crucial and I do not understand why observer status has been granted to the chairman of the ODA and not full membership of the board. As the Minister said, the Olympic board is responsible for oversight and monitoring of the entire Olympic project. Surely, having the chair of the ODA on the board as a full member would be a more effective way of doing that.