National Lottery Bill

I did not leap to my feet when the question of whether Clause 9 should stand part of the Bill was brought to the attention of the Committee, although I have put my name to it. I apologise to my noble friend Lord Brooke if that has caused some confusion. It is, of course, open to any noble Lord to speak to any clause even if they have not put their name forward to oppose it. This is done to help the Minister, who then knows that he might have to reply. I am extremely grateful to the right reverend Prelate—it was remiss of me not to instantly rise to my feet—because he has raised an extremely important issue. In my slightly muddled state, I thought that we had covered most of the issues on the previous two amendments. But, of course, we had not, and I am particularly grateful to the right reverend Prelate for raising the matter. Our concerns about Clauses 8 and 9 are connected. I shall, of course, listen carefully to the Minister’s arguments but I think we will have to come back to both clauses and press the Government further. We have to get our amendments right. Clearly there is a problem here on which the Government have not sufficiently satisfied us. I am sure that the right reverend Prelate, the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, and I will return to this matter at the next stage. But, of course, we shall listen with great care to the Minister now because he may or may not convince us.