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Ticket Touting

I apologise to the Select Committee Chairman for the time that it took the Government to respond to the report. Conventionally, the deadline for a Government response is two months, but as the hon. Gentleman will know, there was a change in the Department, and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State was new in post. However, as we have heard from his public utterances, my right hon. Friend is very concerned about the issue. I think that that will reassure the hon. Gentleman that the Department takes it seriously. We need to move at a pace with colleagues throughout the process. My only word of caution is that we are talking about diverse issues. The hon. Member for Shipley says, ““Don't legislate in this area; don't go anywhere near it,”” and my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow, North-West tells me that we must legislate with urgency. We must consider that point. The live entertainment industry has experienced unprecedented growth and an increase in popularity over the past few years, as hon. Members have said. That is to be celebrated. The UK now has world-class live sporting and entertainment events whose value stretches beyond their contribution to our leisure economy, and into improving the well-being of citizens through increased participation and engagement with those sectors. In parallel, how businesses and consumers use the internet has become increasingly sophisticated. New online markets have been created and significant changes made to how consumers shop for goods. Embracing those technological changes, event owners and promoters selling tickets for sporting and cultural events can now reach more customers more quickly than ever before, but that has brought its own challenges. We often hear about websites crashing due to the number of people trying to buy tickets at any one time, individuals missing out when tickets go on sale and concerns about additional fees on top of ticket prices. Of course, online trading has also facilitated the growth of secondary ticket brokers and auction sites such as eBay, as has been mentioned, which provide platforms for consumers to resell tickets to each other. That has substantially changed the character of the secondary market, and both the Government and the Select Committee have focused largely on it. The debate has moved on. It is not just about ticket touting. There are fundamental questions about how ticketing markets are working for the consumer, especially given the recent changes in how some tickets are sold to fans. The Government believe that the marketplace should work better for fans—the people who actually want to go to the match or concert. All too often, fans find that they cannot secure the tickets that they want from the initial distribution, as they are snapped up by people whose only interest is reselling at a higher price. I want to make it clear that we have no problem with the principle of a secondary market for most events. An honest and well-functioning secondary market provides valuable services for consumers. That market works for those who have surplus tickets because their plans have changed and for those prepared to pay higher prices for last-minute availability. We do not think that any general restraint on resale would be justified or in consumers' interests, but we do have concerns about the impact of resale and some ticketing distribution practices on certain events, particularly events of national importance. I shall come to those in a moment. I think that we can all agree that whatever the event, the ticketing and events industry has a responsibility to get tickets to the fans—its customers. Ultimately, that is its business, and we want it to be delivered in innovative ways. That brings me to my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent, North and her plea for me to acknowledge the work of Port Vale football club, which I am happy to do. She kindly referred to Bradford City. I think that the only point on which the hon. Member for Shipley and I agree is that the effort that went into work on the season ticket prices for Bradford City made it a leader in the field. The average crowd at Bradford City is 14,000 as a result of that innovation. Next season, we hope that it will be 20,000, because tickets will be buy one, get one free. I am happy to endorse Bradford City's work and if Port Vale can operate a similar scheme, of the sort suggested by my hon. Friend, it will be in its interests and those of its supporters. I acknowledge her point about football—you would not want me to get into a debate about the future of football, Mr. Weir, as I am sure that we can return to it at some other time—and I congratulate her on all the work that she does for Stoke-on-Trent, particularly her support for Port Vale. I wish the club every success in its venture. I am happy to see that the Rugby Football Union is doing lots of innovative work. The hon. Member for Shipley is right that the primary market can and should be doing a lot more. He might be getting a letter from the RFU soon, though, about his comments on genuine fans' opportunities to get to rugby union games.