§ 25. Mr. Ben ChapmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment he has made of how events across the country to mark the new millennium were received. [105961]
§ Mr. Chris SmithThe Millennium Commission today published a report about the new year celebrations including the major events that took place in 22 cities across the United Kingdom and the Beacon Millennium project. It concludes that overall the celebrations were very well received and extremely successful. Given that many of the cities involved do not have a tradition of large scale public new year events, this is a tremendous achievement. Copies of the report have been placed in the Library of the House.
In addition, the Government have received very positive feedback on the major religious events that took place during the first weekend of 2000: the four Millennium Church Services in London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast and the Shared Act of Reflection and Commitment by the faith communities of the UK.
The new year celebrations were just the start of a year long Millennium Festival to mark the new Millennium, funded by the National Lottery. People will be celebrating at many thousand events, both large and small, right across the UK in what is probably the biggest planned programme of celebrations the country has seen.