Tourist Boards (Scotland) Act 2006 (Consequential Modifications) Order 2007

I thank noble Lords for their kind welcome and their kind words about my first appearance at the Dispatch Box on a Scottish matter. As a Celt, I am proud to be speaking on Scottish and Welsh matters and this has been a very interesting introduction for me, too. Like the noble Duke, I found this an instructive beginning. The noble Duke, the Duke of Montrose, asked about ““VisitEngland””. I am advised that there is no ““VisitEngland”” in existence, but there is an Enjoy England and a VisitBritain. I am not sure whether we will get secondary legislation if there are more name changes. The noble Duke also asked about the legal name change. The orders before us simply provide up-to-date references to VisitScotland to replace the redundant references to the Scottish Tourist Board; they are about keeping UK legislation neat and tidy, up to date and properly consolidated—that might not be exactly the right word; perhaps ““properly in tune””—with Scottish legislation. On tourism revenue, the noble Duke is right to stress the importance to the Scottish economy of tourism. I am advised that for 2006-07, VisitScotland has set a target of achieving £30 for every pound it spends on tourism marketing in UK campaigns, and £23 of additional tourism income for every pound spent marketing Scotland in Europe. Although those are very specific targets, I hope that the noble Duke will see them as ambitious. As to whether they can be attributed specifically to the name change, there are probably people doing PhDs and degrees in marketing on that very subject. The noble Duke asked about football banning orders and the area that they apply to. It is fair to say that these banning orders apply to football matches, but they can also apply to areas that are known to be flashpoints where football hooligans, for want of a better phrase, gather in order to engage in violence and intimidation. The 2006 Act provided for football banning orders that would ban a person from all regulated football matches. It means that a breach of a football banning order imposed by Scottish courts will be an offence under English and Welsh law. Anyone subject to a Scottish FBO who attends a regulated football match in the UK will commit an offence, and can be fined and imprisoned for up to six months. I hope that answers his question. I shall pick up on the noble Baroness’s important point about agreements. In my introduction I talked about lots of different organisations and the importance of them sharing information in cross-border collaboration. It is fair to say that the Government believe that the current structure of devolution is working well, and fully expect agreements between police authorities to continue regardless of the political make-up of the Scottish Executive or the UK Government. We are talking about agreements that are set at an operational level, not a political level. The experience and the time put into developing these working relationships mean that they will stand the test of time. I hope that I can offer reassurance on that.