London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Bill

moved Amendment No. 20:"Page 2, line 43, at end insert ““but the Authority may not take over the functions of any other authority unless specifically authorised to do so in this Act””" The noble Baroness said: Amendment No. 20 is the first in a large group comprising Amendments Nos. 26, 34, 46, 51, Clause 10 stand part and Clause 11 stand part. The clause stand part debates are far too technical for me; my noble friend Lord Bradshaw will deal with those. Clause 4 contains long and detailed provisions concerning the purposes for which the Olympic Delivery Authority can take action. It amounts more or less to a power of general competence—which some of us have tried for years to secure for local government, though we have come a lot closer to it recently. It is clear from the various functions of the ODA, some of which we have already discussed, that there will be some cross-over with the work of other authorities, for example street lighting, planning and so on. A relationship will have to be spelt out regarding how the provisions in the Bill are applied in practice. Amendment No. 20 states that the ODA,"““may not take over the functions of any other authority unless specifically authorised to do so in this Act””," as there are a lot of specific functions. It would be inappropriate for Clause 4(1) to be read as allowing the authority to extend its tentacles into other areas on the basis of these general provisions. I beg to move.