Health and Sport Committee
Meeting date: Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Official Report
388KB pdf
Subordinate Legislation
London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (Advertising and Trading) (Scotland) Regulations 2011 [Draft]
Agenda item 2 is evidence from the Minister for Commonwealth Games and Sport on an affirmative instrument. Members have received a cover note that sets out the purpose of the instrument and a note that the Subordinate Legislation Committee had no comments to make on it.
I welcome Shona Robison, Minister for Commonwealth Games and Sport, to the Health and Sport Committee, especially as this is her first appearance in front of the committee this session. I also welcome Odette Burgess, senior policy officer in the games delivery team, and Mark Eggeling, a Scottish Government solicitor. I invite the minister to make brief opening remarks on the instrument, then we will move to the debate.
Thank you, convener. It is nice to be here for my first appearance in front of the committee in the new session.
I am here to discuss the draft London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (Advertising and Trading) (Scotland) Regulations 2011. As a contractual requirement of London’s bid to host the 2012 games, the United Kingdom Government promised to introduce additional regulation to restrict advertising and outdoor trading in the vicinity of Olympic games and Paralympic games venues during the games.
The Scottish ministers agreed to respect that commitment at Hampden stadium, which will host eight Olympic football matches. As the Scottish ministers have powers under the London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act 2006 in relation to such matters in Scotland, the draft regulations have been developed to meet that commitment. The regulations will apply only to a small area around Hampden for a limited time.
Unlike some previous Olympic games regulations that covered a kilometre outside venues, these regulations apply tightly to the event zone and go slightly further by only a few hundred metres or so to protect key places, primarily to accommodate spectators’ transport walkways and places where previous incidents of ambush marketing have taken place. Like the event zones, the event periods are tailored to each games event, switching on the day before and lasting only for the few days of the football matches—that is, 24 to 28 July and 31 July to 3 August 2012.
Scottish Government officials have worked closely with their counterparts in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Olympic Delivery Authority to raise awareness of the regulations among organisations and businesses across the UK. The Olympic Delivery Authority issued a UK-wide general notice in June 2009 outlining plans for the regulations. A joint consultation on the draft English, Welsh and Scottish regulations took place between 7 March and 30 May this year. More than 600 people or agencies were directly contacted about the consultation. In addition, UK Government officials have spent a great deal of time meeting representatives of the national advertising and trading sectors and outlining the proposed draft regulations, including Scotland’s.
In total, 51 written responses to the joint consultation were received from a range of stakeholders. There were no substantive responses specifically on the Scottish regulations. Those who replied generally supported the approach, and any suggestions tended to be of a technical nature.
The Olympic Delivery Authority will arrange training, and officers will be advised to take a light-touch approach to most infringements, but persistent offenders could face having offending items seized or destroyed. The law will be more vigorously enforced against deliberate attempts at ambush marketing or illegal advertising, as finance from official sponsors is crucial to funding the events and we wish to ensure that funding is secure in the future—for example, for the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth games. Sponsors have to be satisfied that their interests are protected.
The Olympic Delivery Authority has recently published detailed guidance on the regulations, which provides simple information to ensure that those people who will be affected by them understand what is expected at games time. In addition, the authority has opened the application process for authorisation to trade in the restricted zone, and local authorities and advertising and trading bodies are engaged in the process of reaching the relevant individuals and businesses.
The English regulations, which mirror closely the draft Scottish regulations, were laid on 10 October and were made on 1 December.
I move—
I am sorry—to save confusion, I should have said at the outset that members have the opportunity to seek clarification on any technical issues from the minister and her officials before she moves the motion. Do members have any questions for her or her officials?
As there are no such questions, we move to agenda item 3. I invite the minister to move motion S4M-01536.
Motion moved,
That the Health and Sport Committee recommends that the London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (Advertising and Trading) (Scotland) Regulations 2011 [draft] be approved.—[Shona Robison.]
Motion agreed to.
Thank you. At this point, we will pause to allow the minister to change her team.
11:11
Meeting suspended.
11:12
On resuming—