London Olympics Bill

No. The importance of the ODA to the Olympic project is evident—a single body with a clear task, accountable to Parliament. The ODA will be a time-limited body, focused on delivering the London games, and clause 7 therefore provides for the Secretary of State, having consulted the Mayor, to lay an order to dissolve the ODA at that stage. I shall now turn to the way in which the legislation seeks to meet the very clear requirements that are set down by the International Olympic Committee. It will be equally important that there is careful management of the Olympic environment during the games to fulfil the commitments that have been given in London’s bid book. The ODA will co-operate with local authorities to ensure that the streets are kept clean and well lit and will be able to step in to do that work itself if necessary. It will also have a role in enforcing the regulations that restrict unauthorised advertising and trading around venues. Those regulations will be needed to comply with the requirement of the host city contract. Clauses 17 to 31 and schedules 2 and 3 aim to restrict the commercial exploitation of the games in five ways: by updating the existing Olympic symbol protection legislation, for instance to include protection for the Paralympic symbols; by providing additional protection against ambush marketers who try to associate themselves unfairly with the games, by using words like London, summer and 2012; by allowing regulations to be made restricting unauthorised advertising around Olympic venues; by allowing the same sort of regulations to be made restricting unauthorised street trading; and by making ticket touting a criminal offence in relation to Olympic events. These provisions all reflect the commitments made in London’s bid documents to meet the requirements of the IOC’s host city contract. I turn now briefly to the Mayor’s powers. It was the Mayor of London, along with the British Olympic Association, who signed the host city contract with the IOC, and to provide absolute clarity that the Mayor can honour his commitment, clauses 32 and 33 will give the Mayor a specific Olympic power to comply with his obligations under the contract and to prepare for and manage aspects of the London Olympics. Clause 33 also provides that the GLA’s Olympic power can be switched off by the Secretary of State. I have set out for the House the way in which the Bill will meet the particularly stringent IOC requirements in relation to the control of advertising, with criminal sanctions to enforce breaches, and I have set out the role of local planning authorities—