10. Mr. William O'BrienTo ask the secretary of state for National Heritage when she last met the Director General of the National Lottery to discuss the work of the scratchcard lottery and if she will make a statement. [33667]
§ Mr. SproatMy right hon Friend last met the Director General of the National Lottery Mr. Peter Davis, on 9 May to discuss a range of issues of issues relating to the national lottery.
Mr. O'BrienDuring the discussions did the Secretary of state refer to the apparent anomalies associate with the sale of lottery tickets to under-age people? Does that apply to scratchcards? I have here a copy of national 544 lottery's code of conduct, which is vague about the sale of scratchcards. It is Camelot's responsibility to ensure that they are not sold to under-age children. Will the Minister impress on the Office of the National Lottery and the national lottery people that they must make it clearer how the code of conduct applies to scratchcards and that Camelot should be diligent in ensuring that scratchcards are not sold to under-age children?
§ Mr. SproatThe hon. Gentleman makes an extremely important point and I will certainly draw his remarks to the attention of both the director general of Oflot and Camelot. Scratchcards should not be sold to under-age children and Camelot has closed down one retailer for doing so, but I will reinforce the hon. Gentleman's plea to the appropriate bodies.
§ Mr. Bernard JenkinI congratulate my hon. Friend on Oflot's tough action to avoid its scratchcards being sold to people who are under age. Is it not important to realise that scratchcards are not a monopoly business for the national lottery and Camelot? A large number of companies and organisations are in that business and it would be wrong to blame all the problems of scratchcards on one company.
§ Mr. SproatMy hon. Friend is right. Sales of scratchcards have fallen from a peak of about 40 million just over a year ago to 17 million. Only about 14 per cent. of people who buy lottery tickets buy scratchcards as opposed to 60 per cent. who play the main game. My hon. Friend is right to say that the national lottery does not have a monopoly on scratchcards.
§ Mr. MaclennanDoes the Minister accept that shooting an admiral to encourage the others is not sufficient protection for the young? When he next meets the director general, will he ask him for a systematic monitoring process that can be reported on?
§ Mr. SproatI take the matter extremely seriously, as I told the hon. Member for Normanton (Mr. O'Brien). In the 10 months until April this year, Oflot undertook no fewer than seven inquiries into the running of scratchcards; those showed no reasons for deep concern. None the less, I agree that under-age children should not be served, and Oflot and Camelot should do everything they can to ensure that that rule is obeyed.