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Gambling Act (On-course Bookmakers)

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that intervention—so quickly something rises and then is shot down. The spirit of what my hon. Friend the Member for Barnsley, East and Mexborough (Jeff Ennis) is trying to achieve is the feel that I get from the tenure of the debate. We are alive to the concerns that exist. Anyone who has followed the development of the Gambling Act will know that it has been characterised by frequent and thorough consultation, as has been said. We raised the issue of the administration of on-course betting in a consultation in 2000, and again last year. We received representations from bookmakers and race courses, and we examined them all closely. I know from letters that we have received from constituents that many are worried about the future of their bookmaking businesses post-1 September. It is worth saying straight away that the Gambling Act itself does not threaten bookmakers’ businesses or livelihoods in the way that has been described. Let me explain why. As I have already mentioned, the mandatory and default conditions attached to premises licences continue to require race courses to provide a place on course for bookmakers to carry on their business. It is worth reflecting on the position paper issued by my Department in 2003 on the licensing of betting premises, to which the hon. Member for Ryedale (Mr. Greenway) referred. It set out the Department’s views very clearly. Paragraph 2.6 said that"““it would seem odd that racecourses should not be able to ask for market prices from on-course bookmakers for using areas of their land on which bookmakers are conducting a business.””" The paper went on to suggest that bookmakers would need a transitional period during which to recoup the value of their pitches and place their businesses on a profitable footing before the fully commercial system was introduced. We have honoured that proposal by providing a transitional period in the mandatory and default conditions: the five times rule will continue until 2012. For its part, the RCA has confirmed its current intention to honour the existing pitch list system for the same period. I understand that the NJPC continued to run auctions for pitch list positions up to February this year. That was the NJPC’s own decision. I note, however, that in auctions since 2005, a clear warning has been given to potential buyers that they should familiarise themselves with the new arrangements set out in the Gambling Act before deciding whether to bid for positions. That is why I asked my hon. Friend the Member for Hove about that point. I am not unsympathetic to some of the things that she said, and I wanted to hear her view. As the hon. Member for Bath (Mr. Foster) has said, we have facilitated an industry working group to look at the wider administrative issues that relate to on-course betting. There are copies of the group’s terms of reference and membership in the Libraries of both Houses. On the question that he asked me, I should make it clear that the working group, which is drawn from representatives of betting and racing, took a decision not to include consideration of this issue in its terms of reference. I realise that the definitive nature of the RCA’s announcement has caused some alarm, and, in the spirit of continuing consultation and co-operation, I want to propose two areas for further action. First, I want the conclusions of the working group on the regulation and administration of on-course betting to be put out to consultation. Although, as I have said, the working group is not charged with examining the allocation of pitches, it is developing important proposals about an administrative framework to ensure the continuing smooth operation of on-course bookmaking, in the interests of the punter. I should like the proposals to be published and thus open to consultation for all interested parties as soon as possible. I make it plain now that I should also like them to enshrine principles of integrity, propriety and proper accountability. Secondly, I want the race courses’ representatives and on-course bookmakers to sit down together to consider how the existing pitch lists and the new commercial arrangements after 2012 can co-exist. It is only right for a mature and modern industry to come to a sensible and workable conclusion of its own making. I say that not only as the new Sports Minister, but as a former Competition Minister in the former Department of Trade and Industry. We have tried to make industry become responsible for its own decisions and its own future. There is clearly a divergence of viewpoint between what the RCA wants to achieve and what the on-course bookmakers want to achieve. I am grateful to the hon. Member for Ryedale for offering the all-party group on racing and bloodstock to facilitate those discussions. It is only by the bodies that I mentioned coming together that we can get an agreement. People have got the right to go to law, and nobody can take that away from these individuals.