London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Bill

We believe that we have put a robust system in place to govern the games and to co-ordinate the work of various key bodies. We spent some time on ensuring that the lines of accountability are clear and that adequate scrutiny is provided. Public money is being spent on the games and scrutiny is of the greatest importance. It is clearly essential that all those with a stake in the games can question how preparations are progressing, particularly when stakeholders are directly funding the games. That is the case with the GLA, which has a central role to play in raising funds for work in the Olympic park and elsewhere. I am not therefore surprised that the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, wearing two hats in her role in this House and as chair of the GLA, has taken this opportunity to seek reassurance on what we intend to do. I confirm that the funding that will come from the council tax precept means that the London Assembly will be able to call the ODA to give evidence under Section 61 of the GLA Act. The assembly may recall the ODA if it has received a grant in any of the three years previous to when the request was to be made. As my right honourable friend in the other place indicated, the Minister, Richard Caborn, cannot concede that the ODA would seek to wriggle out of a manifest duty to be accountable to a body supplying such significant resources. The noble Baroness was aware of the fact that if the ODA showed reluctance, its position could be enforced by the Secretary of State, who has the power to insist—an event that we would look upon as a parlous development that would suggest that things were going badly wrong. Nevertheless, that power exists. LOGOC is different. It is a private company and it will not be in receipt of GLA funding. I do not think that we can place it under a statutory duty to respond to every summons from a public body, however significant, as the London Assembly undoubtedly is. LOGOC has given an assurance to the Government that it will comply with any reasonable request to give evidence to the London Assembly and to update the assembly on its progress. I do not see how LOGOC can sustain the confidence of all of us concerned with its welfare, which it expects to enjoy, and its success in preparing for the games, if it is not prepared from time to time to be answerable to a body such as the GLA. I therefore want to reassure the noble Baroness that the Government, in their concept of how the Act will work as regards these two bodies—different though they are in composition—were concerned that proper accountability should obtain for them both. If through her I am able to give assurance to her honourable friend in the other place, Don Foster, I am only too delighted to do so. I never thought for one moment that that honourable gentleman ever strayed in his accuracy of facts—I questioned only his political judgment.