My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for a range of questions. I am most grateful to him for saying that if there are any outstanding points at the end, I can write to him with the full details.
As for the date, my understanding is that this is a general rule from which one may derogate for good reason. The purpose of these common commencement dates is to reduce the burden on business by providing just a few days per year on which the law is changed. This order will not in fact have any impact on business, but I will reflect a little more on what he has said and discuss the matter with officials, because clearly it is desirable that things are done correctly and clearly.
There were a number of points on funding. The £2.175 billion is made up of £750 million of lottery-specific games, £410 million of initial lottery funding from the NLDF, £340 million from sport distributors and £675 million of extra funding from the NLDF. Of course, I shall set that all out in the letter I will write to the noble Lord so that it is clear. As to whether any further money is due into the OLDF account, I understand that no further funds are expected, so that is extremely unlikely. If further funds were due once the OLDF is closed, the draft order provides that it will be distributed to the NLDF in the normal proportions.
Another point about funding is that my understanding is that the £69 million is in relation to the sale of the Olympic village, while the £675 million relates to Olympic land sales, which will be returned from the early 2020s. We are not of the view that there will be any more funding. I think I have covered the query about the distinction and the difference between the £69 million and the £675 million, but if necessary after reflecting on Hansard, I will write more fully on that.
As to whether the funding mechanism is working well, there was a general feeling that the lottery funding worked extremely well so far as the outcomes were concerned. It was acknowledged that there would be disbenefits in one sense, but the organisers and the Administration at the time—I think this was on a cross-party basis—took the view that this was of considerable national importance and, indeed, that the benefits went way beyond the Olympics into regeneration. There was a conscious understanding of and belief in that, which is one of the reasons why there was a determination to return as much money as
possible, while recognising that there were probably causes which did not receive funds. It was felt that it was in the national interest and that the opportunities it provided for the nation outweighed those disbenefits. I think I said that there was a feeling of a national dividend that came forward on a range of scales.
Obviously, no one knows when there may be an opportunity for the country to host the Olympics or something of that standing again, but I am sure and would expect that whoever has the responsibility for that would reflect on how the money is raised and whether there is good custodianship. I think that there is a strong feeling that the money was well marshalled and spent, but clearly if there are national events using National Lottery Fund and, indeed, taxpayers’ money, there would need to be a very strong reflection of the experiences raised.
On the issue of the payback scheme, I am grateful to the noble Lord for having described it as “intricate” or “complicated”. I think that I might find it too complicated to get through this afternoon, and do not in any way want to mislead the noble Lord, so I would be most grateful if I could write to him on all the points that he raised. In the mean time, I commend the order to the Committee.