§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what were the(a) total building costs and (b) fitting out costs when the new British Library was handed over to its new head; and what additional costs have been incurred in respect of (a) and (b) since that date. [63363]
§ Mr. Alan Howarth[holding answer 14 December 1998]: The new British Library building was legally transferred to the British Library Board on 1 July 1997. By that date the Department had spent an estimated (a) £470.1 million on building costs, which included construction of the building, project management and professional services; and (b) £28.3 million on fitting out costs which included such items as office and reading room furniture, carpets and book shelving. The equivalent figures at 8 December 1998 stood at (a) £476.4 million and (b) £28.5 million.
§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will list the fees paid to date to lawyers and consultants for advice or litigation concerning the British Library. [63364]
§ Mr. Alan Howarth[holding answer 14 December 1998]: The fees paid for professional services by lawyers and consultants on the project over the past 16 years, to 8 December 1998, were £71.6 million. This is broken down as follows: architectural services, structural design and quantity surveying (£47.6 million); mechanical and electrical engineering design and advice (£19.7 million); and commercial claims management, legal advice and legal costs (£4.3 million).
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§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what has been the average(a) number of books delivered per reader and (b) waiting time for the automated book delivery system in each month since the new British Library opened. [63369]
§ Mr. Alan Howarth[holding answer 14 December 1998]: (a) The average number of items delivered per reader is as follows:
Average number of items delivered per reader December 1997 3 January 1998 3 February 1998 3 March 1998 3 April 1998 3 May 1998 3 June 1998 3 July 1998 3 August 1998 3 September 1998 3 October 1998 3.5 (b) Book delivery performance data are recorded by the percentage of items delivered against benchmarks measured in minutes. The methodology does not lend itself to calculation of average delivery times. In the period during which three of the main reading rooms (Humanities 1 and 2, and the Rare Books and Music Reading Room) have all been open, the percentage of books delivered within an hour of request was as follows:
Percentage of items delivered within sixty minutes March 1998 55 April 1998 47 May 1998 47 June 1998 38 July 1998 47 August 1998 42 September 1998 54 October 1998 64