§ Mr. Peter AinsworthTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when officials in(a) his Department, (b) the Cabinet Office and (c) the Department for the Environment, Transport and the Regions were informed of Mr. Robert Bourne's donations to the Labour Party. [144716]
§ Mr. Chris Smith[holding answer 11 January 2001]: Donations to political parties are not a factor in the assessment of bids or tenders for Government work. Decisions on the competition for the future use of the Dome have been taken on the basis of objective and independent advice on what bids best met the published competition criteria. I declared an association with Robert Bourne to my officials before consideration began in December 1999 of the bids which qualified under the competition. I included in my subsequent written declaration that Robert Bourne had made contributions to my Constituency Labour Party. On the advice of my officials, I removed myself from any part of the consideration of the qualifying bids and from the subsequent decisions on shortlisting and granting of preferred bidder status.