Millennium Projects (Hansard, 21 July 1997)

§ 1. Ms Blears
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment he has made of the long-term value of the millennium projects. [7496]

§ The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Mr. Chris Smith)
The Millennium Commission's legacy will include projects all across the country worth about £3 billion. These range from new art galleries and science centres to hundreds of village halls and community greens. The commission's millennium awards for individuals will also provide opportunities for thousands of people to achieve personal aspirations while putting something back into the community.

§ Ms Blears
As the Secretary of State is aware, we recently launched the construction of the national landmark millennium project for the arts in Salford—the Lowry centre—a unique combination of the performing and visual arts which brings together creativity and imagination in a way never done before. It will create 6,500 jobs in Salford. Will the Secretary of State tell the House what he considers to be the long-term benefits of the Lowry centre?

§ Mr. Smith
My hon. Friend is absolutely right to draw attention to the enormous benefits that will come from the Lowry centre. It is one of 12 landmark projects across the country. It will provide jobs, entertainment and education, and it will provide a major new resource for the people of her area. I very much welcome the development of the Lowry centre, as I am sure she does, too.

§ Mrs. Virginia Bottomley
I was very pleased to have been at the launch of the Lowry centre. Will the right hon. Gentleman confirm that there has always been bipartisan agreement on the Millennium Commission and that there was always an Opposition Member on it? Does that not make all the more disgraceful and deplorable the six months of shenanigans over the major event—the millennium exhibition at Greenwich—which have achieved no change in the five conditions apparently set out but merely jeopardised the project and made sure that Mr. McCormack has to work even harder for his very substantial commission?

§ Mr. Smith
I pay much tribute to the role that the right hon. Lady played on the Millennium Commission in 672 developing the various landmark projects around the country, but I pay rather less tribute to her question. The millennium exhibition at Greenwich will be going ahead. It was important that we reviewed the position, as we said we that would immediately on coming into office, and the review is now complete. We have identified a number of aspects of the exhibition which will be fulfilled, such as having a permanent legacy and its being completed at the cost prepared for it. I am delighted that the right hon. Lady's colleague, the former Deputy Prime Minister, is now the Opposition nominee on the Millennium Commission.

§ Mr. McNamara
Is my right hon. Friend aware of the leaks in the newspapers last week about threatened cuts to provincial projects for the millennium? Is he aware that in many areas the projects will not only bring about regeneration but will create jobs, have a very important educational, scientific and cultural interest and, in Hull, create an international centre for marine studies? Will my right hon. Friend confirm, first, that no specific decision has yet been taken by the Millennium Commission and, secondly, that no money is being shovelled out of the provinces to the capital, thus favouring the capital at the expense of the provinces?

§ Mr. Smith
I can indeed confirm those two points. There was some inaccurate reporting in the newspapers last week, not for the first time, about these matters. The Hull project to which my hon. Friend refers and, indeed, a wide range of other projects are still under active consideration for round 3 of the Millennium Commission's work. The proper detailed appraisals are going forward in the normal way and announcements about them will be made in three or four months' time.