§ 2.54 p.m.
§ Lord WIGGMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper. Perhaps I might draw attention to the fact that there are two obvious printing errors, which I am glad to say on this occasion cannot be attributed to my bad handwriting because the Question was put in typewritten form.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government what are the statutory responsibilities of the Gaming Board and its relationship with the horsefacing industry in view of the Statement by the Under-Secretary for the Environment in the House of Commons on 29th October 1979 (Hansard, col. 946) that as from 1st January 1980 there will be a partnership between the Jockey Club, the Levy Board and the Gaming Board for the bennefit of the horseracing industry operating within a scheme which the Home Secretary intends to approve under Section 25 of the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act 1963.
603§ The PARLIAMENTARY UNDERSECRETARY of STATE, HOME OFFICE (Lord Belstead)My Lords, the Gaming Board is responsible for keeping under review the extent and character of gaming in Great Britain. The Board also has certain functions in relation to lotteries. It has no responsibility for horseracing and will not be involved in any way in the proposed Horseracing Advisory Council. My honourable friend the Under-Secretary of State for the Environment, in referring to the proposal that this new body should be set up by 1st January 1980, inadvertently mentioned the Gaming Board, but this was an error and he has asked me to apologise to anyone who was misled.
§ Lord WIGGMy Lords, I certainly accept the regrets of the Minister for Sport. However, is the noble Lord aware that the speech of the Home Secretary is filled with similar errors, and that on Thursday I hope to take advantage of the Third Reading of the Gaming (Amendment) Bill to draw attention to some of them? Perhaps the noble Lord will put himself in a position to make a similar retraction on the part of the Home Secretary.
§ Lord BELSTEADMy Lords, I am sorry but I am only aware that my right honourable friend the Home Secretary made a perfectly splendid speech on 29th October, with every word of which I agree.
§ Lord DERWENTMy Lords, is it not a pity that the noble Lord, Lord Wigg, spotted the misprints, as we were all looking forward to finding out about "horsefacing"?
§ Lord WIGGMy Lords, in that case, if the noble Lord wants to find out anything about horseracing, or any other aspect of gambling, he should take no notice of the debate in another place which, for the most part, was fatuous rubbish.