Scrutiny of the Draft Public Bodies (Merger of the Gambling Commission and the National Lottery Commission) Order 2013

House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee

Fifth Report of Session 2012–13

Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 23 April 2013

HC 1104 Published on 26 April 2013 by authority of the House of Commons London: The Stationery Office Limited £3.50

The Culture, Media and Sport Committee

The Culture, Media and Sport Committee is appointed by the House of Commons to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and its associated public bodies.

Current membership Mr John Whittingdale MP (Conservative, Maldon) (Chair) Mr Ben Bradshaw MP (Labour, Exeter) Angie Bray MP (Conservative, Ealing Central and Acton) Conor Burns MP (Conservative, Bournemouth West) Tracey Crouch MP (Conservative, Chatham and Aylesford) Philip Davies MP (Conservative, Shipley) Paul Farrelly MP (Labour, Newcastle-under-Lyme) Mr John Leech MP (Liberal Democrat, Manchester, Withington) Steve Rotheram MP (Labour, Liverpool, Walton) Jim Sheridan MP (Labour, Paisley and Renfrewshire North) Mr Gerry Sutcliffe MP (Labour, Bradford South)

The following members were also a member of the committee during the parliament: David Cairns MP (Labour, Inverclyde) Dr Thérèse Coffey MP (Conservative, Suffolk Coastal) Damian Collins MP (Conservative, Folkestone and Hythe) Alan Keen MP (Labour Co-operative, Feltham and Heston) Louise Mensch MP (Conservative, Corby) Mr Adrian Sanders MP (Liberal Democrat, Torbay) Mr Tom Watson MP (Labour, West Bromwich East)

Powers The committee is one of the departmental select committees, the powers of which are set out in House of Commons Standing Orders, principally in SO No 152. These are available on the internet via www.parliament.uk.

Publication The Reports and evidence of the Committee are published by The Stationery Office by Order of the House. All publications of the Committee (including press notices) are on the internet at www.parliament.uk/cmscom. A list of Reports of the Committee in the present Parliament is at the back of this volume.

The Reports of the Committee, the formal minutes relating to that report, oral evidence taken and some of the written evidence are available in a printed volume.

Additional written evidence is published on the internet only.

Committee staff The current staff of the Committee are Elizabeth Flood (Clerk), Grahame Danby (Second Clerk), Kevin Candy (Inquiry Manager), Victoria Butt (Senior Committee Assistant), Keely Bishop (Committee Assistant) and Jessica Bridges-Palmer (Media Officer).

Contacts All correspondence should be addressed to the Clerk of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, House of Commons, 7 Millbank, London SW1P 3JA. The telephone number for general enquiries is 020 7219 6188; the Committee’s email address is [email protected]

Scrutiny of the Draft Public Bodies (Merger of the Gambling Commission and the National Lottery Commission) Order 2013 1

Contents

Report Page

Scrutiny of draft order under the Public Bodies Act 3

Formal Minutes 4

List of Reports from the Committee during the current Parliament 5

Scrutiny of the Draft Public Bodies (Merger of the Gambling Commission and the National Lottery Commission) Order 2013 3

Scrutiny of draft order under the Public Bodies Act

1. On 25 March 2013 the Government laid before Parliament the draft Public Bodies (Merger of the Gambling Commission and the National Lottery Commission) Order 2013. If approved by both Houses of Parliament this order, which has been laid under section 11(2) of the Public Bodies Act 2011, will merge the Gambling Commission with the National Lottery Commission.

2. The Explanatory Document laid by the Government alongside this draft order gives the background behind the decision to merge these two bodies. In a legislative context the Government is proposing to use the powers in the 2011 Act to abolish the National Lottery Commission and transfer its functions, property, rights and liabilities to the Gambling Commission.

3. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport conducted a public consultation on the Act between 31 July 2012 and 23 October 2012. Eleven responses were received. Eight were content for the bodies to merge, but several of these respondents expressed some concerns, three respondents were against. We considered the proposal for the merger last year during a post-legislative scrutiny inquiry into the Gambling Act 2005.

4. Our initial view is that elements of the responsibilities of these two bodies may be incompatible. The National Lotteries Commission’s principal role is to ensure a maximum return to good causes whereas the Gambling Commission’s is one of consumer protection. Several respondents to the Department’s consultation highlighted the conflict of interest that could arise should these two Commissions merge into one body.

5. The parliamentary procedure applicable to draft orders such as this is set out in section 11 of the 2011 Act. The default procedure is that if each House approves such draft orders after the expiry of a 40-day period from their laying, the orders may then be made by a Minister. However, within a 30-day period from laying either House may resolve, or a committee of either House charged with reporting on a draft order may recommend, that the 40-day period which must elapse before the order may be approved should be extended to 60 days.

6. We consider that the proposal to merge these two bodies is a significant one and we wish to undertake further scrutiny of this draft order by putting certain questions to the Department and to other interested parties on matters which have been raised in the public consultation and by us. We would not be able to undertake this scrutiny effectively and report to the House before the expiry of the 40-day period after laying, and consider that the period should be extended. We therefore make the following recommendation:

That the procedure in subsections (6) to (9) of section 11 of the Public Bodies Act 2011 should apply to the draft Public Bodies (Merger of the Gambling Commission and the National Lottery Commission) Order 2013, which was laid before this House on 25 March 2013.

4 Scrutiny of the Draft Public Bodies (Merger of the Gambling Commission and the National Lottery Commission) Order 2013

Formal Minutes

Tuesday 23 April 2013

Members present:

Mr John Whittingdale, in the Chair

Mr Ben Bradshaw Paul Farrelly Angie Bray Mr John Leech Conor Burns Steve Rotheram Tracey Crouch Mr Gerry Sutcliffe Philip Davies

Draft Report (Scrutiny of the Draft Public Bodies (Merger of the Gambling Commission and the National Lottery Commission) Order 2013), proposed by the Chair, brought up and read.

Ordered, That the draft Report be read a second time, paragraph by paragraph.

Paragraphs 1 to 6 read and agreed to.

Resolved, That the Report be the Fifth Report of the Committee to the House.

Ordered, That the Chair make the Report to the House.

Ordered, That embargoed copies of the Report be made available, in accordance with the provisions of Standing Order No. 134.

[Adjourned till Thursday 25 April at 10.00 am

Scrutiny of the Draft Public Bodies (Merger of the Gambling Commission and the National Lottery Commission) Order 2013 5

List of Reports from the Committee during the current Parliament

The reference number of the Government’s response to each Report is printed in brackets after the HC printing number.

Session 2010–12 First Special Report Press standards, privacy and libel: Responses to the HC 351 Committee’s Second Report of Session 2009-10 Second Special Report BBC Annual Report 2008-09: BBC Trust’s response to the HC 352 Committee’s Fifth Report of Session 2009-10 Third Special Report Channel 4 Annual Report: Responses to the Committee’s First HC 891 Report of Session 2010-11 Fourth Special Report BBC Licence Fee Settlement and Annual Report: Responses to HC 1375 the Committee’s Fourth Report of Session 2010-12 Fifth Special Report Unauthorised disclosure of draft Report HC 1638 Sixth Special Report Spectrum: Government Response to the Committee’s Eighth HC 1771 Report of Session 2010-12 First Report Channel 4 Annual Report HC 423 Second Report Pre-appointment hearing with the Government’s preferred HC 864-I & II candidate for Chairman of the BBC Trust Third Report Funding of the arts and heritage HC 464-I, II & III Fourth Report BBC Licence Fee Settlement and Annual Report HC 454 Fifth Report Pre–appointment hearing with the Government’s preferred HC 1061-I candidate for Chairman of the S4C Authority. First joint Report with the Welsh Affairs Committee Sixth Report 2018 World Cup Bid HC 1031 Seventh Report Football Governance HC 792-I, II & III Eighth Report Spectrum HC 1258 Ninth Report 2018 World Cup Bid: Responses to the Committees Sixth HC 1602 Report of Session 2010-12 Tenth Report Channel 4 Annual Report HC 1175 Eleventh Report News International and Phone-hacking HC 903-I & II

Session 2012–13 First Report The Gambling Act 2005: A bet worth taking? HC 421 Second Report Racism in football HC 89 Third Report Library Closures HC 587 Fourth Report Football Governance: Follow up HC 509

Printed in the United Kingdom by The Stationery Office Limited 4/2013 29218 19585 Distributed by TSO (The Stationery Office) and available from:

Online www.tsoshop.co.uk

Mail, Telephone, Fax & E-mail TSO PO Box 29, Norwich NR3 1GN General enquiries 0870 600 5522 Order through the Parliamentary Hotline Lo-call 0845 7 023474 Fax orders: 0870 600 5533 Email: [email protected] Textphone: 0870 240 3701

The Houses of Parliament Shop 12 Bridge Street, Parliament Square London SW1A 2JX Telephone orders: 020 7219 3890/General enquiries: 020 7219 3890 Fax orders: 020 7219 3866 Email: [email protected] Internet: http://www.shop.parliament.uk TSO@Blackwell and other Accredited Agents

© Parliamentary Copyright House of Commons 2013 PEFC/16-33-622 This publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Open Parliament Licence, which is published at www.parliament.uk/site-information/copyright/