§ Lord Stoddart of Swindonasked Her Majesty's Government:
What references have been made by them. or supported by any member of the Government, during or since 1997, advocating action by Her Majesty's Government to assist any application from the United Kingdom to stage a future Olympiad; and, in respect of any such reference, what action has been taken to further that objective. [HL956]
§ The Minister of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Baroness Blackstone)The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has worked actively with the British Olympic Association and other key stakeholders since the end of 1999 to consider the possibilities of a UK city bidding to host the 2012 Olympic Games. It was the decision of the BOA that a UK bid should be based on London as host city for Games. The key stakeholders, the GLA, the BOA and the Government jointly commissioned a cost benefit analysis on bidding for and staging the 2012 Olympic Games in London. A summary of this report was published on 1 November 2002 A thorough cross-government analysis of this report is being conducted. The Government will decide whether to support the bid for London hosting the Games within the next month.