§ Mr. SarwarTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will make a statement on progress with the Millennium Festival in(a) Scotland and (b) the United Kingdom. [129931]
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§ Janet AndersonThrough the commitment of the 11 UK National Lottery distributors, working in partnership with the New Millennium Experience Company, a £100 million Millennium Festival fund has been made available for national, regional and local Millennium celebrations in the year 2000.
The Millennium Festival in Scotland has provided £11 million to fund over 500 events throughout Scotland from the Highlands to the Borders. Highlights have included "The Thrie Estaties", a re-creation of one of Scotland's oldest pieces of drama recently performed in Fife and the Commonwealth Youth Games which will see young people from 14 countries coming to Edinburgh to compete in eight different sports. There have also been many hundreds of community events held across the country from Stewartry in Dumfries and Galloway to Inverness and Arbroath. The feedback received by the New Millennium Experience Company (NMEC) from smaller and local groups has been very positive.
A further £89 million has been made available for thousands of events, festivals, arts and sports activities which have been taking place throughout the year, across the rest of the UK. The Millennium Festival of Cycling celebrated the millennium with local family fun days, bike surgeries and a Cycle to Work day; the National Trust Coast Show has toured the UK coast with the Grand Turk, a replica 18th century frigate, providing an on-board exhibition of the maritime conservation work of the Trust and promoting public access to Britain's coastline; while the voice of young Britain has been heard on the internet radio station Youth FM, which has toured the UK with its mobile studio.