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Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (Disclosure of Information by SOCA) Order 2010

My Lords, first, I apologise to the Minister for rising before she had had an opportunity to respond to the speech of the noble Baroness. Your Lordships will be relieved to know that my contribution to our proceedings this afternoon will be very brief—in fact, less than three minutes. I hope that that does not diminish the impact of what I say on this most important subject. Illegal drugs have become the scourge of modern society throughout the world. Thousands of deaths are recorded annually, and national and international organised crime thrives on that disgraceful trade worldwide. In some areas of the globe, sport has been wholly corrupted by the poison of performance-improving drugs. No longer, when we see an outstanding sporting performance, can we cheer unreservedly without thinking the unthinkable: was he or she using a performance-enhancing drug? That cynicism among spectators is grossly unfair to those athletes and sportsmen and women who are honest and cast aside the temptation to cheat by the use of such substances. I believe that, fortunately, the honest athletes and sportspeople are still in the majority, but we must be vigilant. Only by law-abiding individuals and organisations sharing intelligence about the trafficking, sale and use of illegal or performance-enhancing drugs can action be taken to prevent or reduce this evil and destructive business. It is now recognised that the testing of athletes is not 100 per cent successful and that it does not always expose the cheats. The trade in, and use of, performance-enhancing substances not only change performances but make organised criminal gangs and individuals far richer by their evil trade. Also, tragically, they destroy trust between otherwise good people. This order will enable SOCA—or whatever it is called in future—to act as a gateway for information and intelligence to and from the police service. Over the past weekend and this morning, I have spoken to both the chairman of UK Anti-Doping, which is responsible for preventing and detecting the use of banned substances by sports people, and to Mr Bill Hughes, the director-general of SOCA. They were keen to stress that the order, for which provision is made under Section 33 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act, is essential to the fight against the use of performance-enhancing drugs. With the London Olympic Games only two years away, we should do everything we can to reduce the chances of the Games being ruined by the use of such drugs by those who are determined to win at all costs. By sharing intelligence we stand a much better chance of catching both the users and suppliers of such substances. I fully support the order.