Secretary of State's speech to the Business In Sport and Leisure annual conference
Secretary of State's speech to the Business in Sport and Leisure annual conference General opening
Thank you John.
I'm delighted to be back at the Business in Sport and Leisure annual conference.
Sorry I can't stay for longer. In particular, I know you'll enjoy the session on the 2012 Olympic Bid.
Last year I spoke about the Licensing Bill and our plans for gambling reform.
This morning I would like to cover:
- The progress we have made in implementing the Licensing Act;
- The announcement of the draft Gambling Bill – which will now go for pre-legislative scrutiny and public consultation both of which, we hope, will improve the Bill further.
- We are seeking through the Bill a balance between regulation to protect the public interest, children, the vulnerable and, liberalisation to promote new investment and to update an archaic regime.
Licensing Act
The Licensing Act received Royal Assent on 10 July this year, and within a week we used it to abolish the Welsh Sunday Opening Polls that have caused so much anxiety about investment and employment in Wales. They will not take place this month.
The purpose of the new legislation is to provide a clear focus on the promotion of four key and central objectives that will now provide the central architecture when licensing functions are carried out. They are:
- the prevention of crime and disorder;
- public safety;
- the prevention of public nuisance; and
- the protection of children from harm.
But the legislation is not just about prevention and restriction. It is also about supporting important Government economic aims, including our key tourism reform agenda.
Through the legislation, we hope that local people and visitors will have better opportunities to enjoy their leisure time safely when they like while at a huge range of venues – about 180,000 premises.
top
But licensing must be set in the widest possible context. Local licensing policies will need to be integrated with local crime prevention, transport, tourism, economic and cultural strategies. This will be vital for the successful management of the evening and late-night economies.
The Guidance to licensing authorities will kick start the implementation process. It is subject to Parliamentary approval, which is why I cannot give guaranteed dates for its publication. But we hope it will approved by Parliament in December.
Around the same time, we will start to bring into force necessary regulation on forms, fees, processes, hearings and so on. In the following six months, licensing authorities will prepare, consult on and publish their statements of licensing policy area by area.
The formal start of the transitional period – during which licences will be converted and new licences issued – is likely to be in June 2004. We have to work around the local and European elections.
The period of transition will then last for around 9 months, with all the new forms of licence being given effect simultaneously at the end of transition around March 2005. Only then will change be visible on the High Street and in the marketplace.
I am determined to move implementation forward as quickly as we can. This is a Manifesto commitment and one I want to see delivered without delay.
Gambling Bill
Let me turn now to gambling.
The current legislation, dating from the 1960's has served us well. It has kept crime out.
But it has been left behind by technology, and by people's changing attitudes to gambling.
Many of the restrictions on choice now seem out of place and draconian.
The current law tends to treat gambling as a dirty secret – something to be slightly ashamed of. But the world has moved on.
And the market has moved on too. There are new products on the market, like betting exchanges, that the law never envisaged. In the interests of everyone, they should be regulated effectively.
top
So we need reform. The report that Ernst and Young have prepared for today's conference underlines that there is a degree of consensus about that.
We will want to read the research in detail. But at a first look, it does seem that most people view gambling as a normal leisure choice to be enjoyed.
But that they believe, too, that gambling needs to be controlled carefully, and that change should be taken gradually.
I agree with that view. My motto on this subject is festina lente – make haste slowly.
So I also sympathise very much with the caution that people feel about too many gaming machines outside gambling premises.
We have been working with the industry and many others for some time to develop a package of reform that achieves the necessary balance.
We have found the process of consultation very positive.
This process has not yet given us the full evidence base needed for effective regulation - that will be for the Gambling Commission and the industry's charitable trust to pursue. But it has been a necessary first step down the road.
The Gambling Commission
At the core of our proposals are improved protections.
We propose an independent Gambling Commission with precisely defined objectives and a formidable array of powers.
The objectives are well known but bear repeating: to keep out crime; to ensure a fair deal for the consumer, and; to protect children and the vulnerable.
The Commission will conduct thorough suitability checks on all applicants.
In this, it will be able to access criminal records and information held by other regulators.
It will not hesitate to reject any applicant where it has evidence to suggest any degree of unsuitable influence.
top
It will also have powers to place conditions on operating licences if it believes there is a new risk to the licensing objectives, particularly if operators are not taking sufficiently determined action to protect vulnerable groups.
Like the Financial Services Authority, the Commission will have power to impose unlimited fines on licensees. Where we have very large companies in the gambling market, consumers need to know that the regulator too can wield financial power in their interests.
It will take no chances with crime. It will root out illegal gambling and it will have new powers to initiate public prosecutions.
All in all, the Commission will be a force to be reckoned with.
Children
The toughest protections in our proposals are for children.
Children and gambling do not mix. This is an issue about which I feel particularly strongly about and one where I will not take any risks.
The draft Bill therefore includes a new criminal offence of inviting a child or a young person to gamble where they are not entitled to participate.
We will also retain the existing prohibitions on children entering gambling premises.
No person under 18 will be permitted to enter a casino, an adult gaming centre or a betting office.
Children may enter bingo premises and racecourses as now – but may not take part in gambling.
Children and the Internet
Protection for children will have to be even more sophisticated on the Internet.
At the moment, as you know, there are quite a number of Internet casinos and poker rooms.
Some of these services are based in countries that provide reasonably regulated environments.
But we do know that some jurisdictions are more lax in their standards than we would support.
top
That is why we think it right to provide a well-regulated British alternative. British Internet providers will be regulated to the highest standards.
We will expect our providers to employ the best available technologies to exclude children from their services.
We will not drop our standards with the aim of encouraging Internet services to locate here.
As we continue to improve our approach to this, I will want to hear the views of groups representing children, and I intend to hold a summit meeting, as part of the process of pre-legislative scrutiny, with them early in the new year to be sure that we take on board all of their concerns.
We will continue to listen carefully to their views and make sure that our legislation delivers the best possible protections.
Problem gambling – statutory levy
And we will act too to protect the interests of vulnerable adults.
Personal experience and expert research tells us that there are some people for whom gambling can become a problem.
And, in some cases, excessive gambling can become a destructive addiction that causes great damage to individuals and their families.
But Britain has a low rate of problem gambling compared to similar developed countries.
Our rate is around three quarters of one per cent (of over 16 population). Australia is around two per cent and the Unites States and New Zealand just over one per cent.
It's important to keep our statistics down.
Because behind the statistics are individuals who will probably have endured financial and emotional distress because of their gambling.
There must be far more research into the causes of problem gambling and its effective treatment.
There also needs to be more assistance immediately available for those who find their gambling activities are getting beyond their control.
I look to the industry to be in the vanguard of these efforts.
top
I am very pleased therefore, that the Gambling Industry Charitable Trust has made such strong progress over the last year.
Over £2 million raised before legislation is a highly commendable effort.
It shows that many companies are putting real money behind their commitment to social responsibility.
It is essential that every sector and every company join in the effort.
The initial target for the Trust is £3 million. This is a good starting point.
But I should be clear that we do not view the £3 million target as a ceiling to the industry's generosity. It is the floor.
And if it turns out that more is needed, then the Government will look to the industry, which has substantial resources at its disposal, to meet that challenge.
The draft Bill will include powers for the Government to raise a levy on Commission licensees.
I would rather not use these powers, but I won't flinch from doing so if I must.
Fixed odds betting machines
I am concerned about the rapid growth in the numbers of new machines in betting offices.
These fixed odds betting machines present just the opportunities for rapid play, high stake gambling that also concern the public.
So I welcome the voluntary code of practice developed by the Association of British Bookmakers.
This is a constructive approach to a difficult issue, and I welcome their initiative.
I understand the code will limit speed of play to no more than one game every thirty seconds when money is paid in, and twenty seconds when the customer is playing on the same money and not altering their options.
No individual stake will exceed £15 and the maximum payout will be £500.
top
The code limits each office to a maximum of four machines of all types.
Crucially, GamCare have told us they are very encouraged by the progress represented by code of practice and welcomes the voluntary measures that have been agreed for these machines.
And the Gaming Board are content that, if the code is adhered to by all bookmakers, they way is open to negotiate a settlement of the legal action.
I am glad that the Association has taken steps to address our concern about these new machines.
But I will keep a close eye on how the code of practice operates. I also want the Association to look carefully at additional measures, such as maximum play sessions, that might also help to reduce the risks that we perceive in machine gambling.
And I want the industry too to support independent research into the characteristics and effects of these machines.
And I want to be absolutely honest with you. My first concern is the public interest. So I am putting FOBM's on probation.
And it is up to the industry to prove to me, beyond doubt, that these machines can be safely permitted in the 8000 betting offices across Britain.
And I am sure that the scrutiny committee will put this issue under the microscope.
We will listen very carefully to its views and will keep an open mind about the balance of controls on gaming machines.
New future for the gambling industry
All in all, the reform package that we are bringing forward signals a new and exciting future for the gambling industry in this country.
In the future, well-informed adults will have greater freedom and choice to spend their leisure money on gambling if they want to. The law will, for the first time, treat them like grown ups.
Outdated restrictions, like membership rules for bingo, will be removed and the industry will be able to develop innovative new products.
top
Gambling will be increasingly combined with other leisure products in attractive surroundings – providing high quality entertainment for adults.
But this package is certainly not a free for all. In this, I am not a believer in laissez faire.
In modernising the law, we seek to achieve a controlled evolution of gambling opportunities.
There remain strong reasons of public interest to measure reform carefully, and control the availability of some forms of gambling.
We have to be conscious in preparing our proposals of the lessons to be learnt from other countries.
In some places, deregulation has been accompanied by a quite unprecedented intrusion by hard forms of gambling – particularly gaming machines - in a wide variety of social spaces – like pubs and restaurants.
We will not allow this to happen in Britain.
It will remain an important principle of our legislation that, for all the harder forms, gambling premises must be distinct and recognisable.
If an adult wants to gamble, then they must choose to go there.
We will make any explosion of Australian style 'pokies' in Britain quite impossible.
Only casinos will be permitted to house unlimited prize gaming machines.
Betting offices, bingo halls and adult gaming centres will be permitted some higher prize machines. But their numbers and prizes will be limited.
Pubs, clubs and fish and chips shops will be allowed to keep the gaming machines they have now, but there will be no increase in the prizes available.
Casino deregulation
Some of the most significant changes will be in the casino sector.
They have been restricted most severely by the present law.
Reform can bring increases in direct employment and spin off benefits from large leisure developments.
top
It is important that we should realise these benefits where we can.
It is important too that there should be no uncontrolled proliferation of small High Street casinos that would be hard to regulate and for which there is no popular appetite.
The statement about controls on casinos that we issued in August set out our provisional views on how we might achieve these goals.
As that made plain, we agree with Sir Alan Budd that there must be minimum size controls on new casinos, and that the numbers of the new, no-limit, gaming machines in casinos must be balanced by the provision of other gambling activities.
We do not want casinos to turn into 'machine sheds'.
Our statement also envisaged a role for regional planning authorities in relation to the siting of the largest casino developments.
We asked for comments on our proposals and we have had more than 30 detailed, substantive responses from the industry and others both here and abroad.
I am grateful to those who responded - some of them of course are in this room today.
We are now assessing all their views and will indicate our response to you and the scrutiny committee as soon as possible.
As deregulation progresses, the Government will be watching its effects carefully, to see whether our assumptions and policies are borne out in practice.
The proposed legislation gives the Commission and the Government the flexibility we need to modify the balance of gambling available.
If reform is handled well by all of us and the incidence of problem gambling does not increase markedly, then there may well be scope for some further managed deregulation.
But if we do encounter social problems then there should be no doubt of the Government's determination to protect the public interest.
If that protection requires the re-imposition of more direct controls then we will certainly consider such measures.
top
Publication of draft Bill
We have all come a long way and I am grateful to all of you who have helped us get where we are today.
With this work done, we are now ready to take a big step forward.
So the major sections of the draft Gambling Bill have been published this morning.
Alongside the draft Bill, I have published a paper that explains the Government's objectives.
With this available, I hope that the scrutiny committee can begin its important work in earnest.
I am confident that what they will scrutinise is a set of mature proposals that will achieve a balanced reform of the law on gambling.
Like the Communications Act and the Licensing Act that preceded it, the Gambling Bill will provide an intelligent regulatory framework that maximises consumer choice while protecting the vulnerable and outlawing unacceptable practices.
The draft Bill will move gambling conclusively into the mainstream of the leisure sector - one that is demonstrably well regulated and socially responsible.
At the same time, it will deal directly with the risks that we know are associated with gambling.
Parliament will be the crucial proving ground for this programme of reform. It is there that we must communicate why this reform is necessary now.
Be in no doubt that what we propose will be received in Parliament as a substantial piece of industry and social reform.
It will be the perceptions of social impact, benefit and risk that will shape Parliament's view of the draft Bill.
I look forward to the debate ahead. I encourage you all to engage with Parliament and to take a long hard look at the draft Bill.
It already feels like a long journey to legislation. But there's still a way to go.