§ Mr. SwinneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what is his latest estimate of the building costs of the new building for the British Library; and if he will estimate the value of contracts associated with this construction sourced with companies in(a) London, (b) the South East of England, (c) England, (d) Scotland, (e) Wales and (f) Northern Ireland. [30064]
§ Mr. Fisher[holding answer 18 February 1998]: The construction project budget for the new British Library building at St. Pancras is £511.1 million. Negotiations continue with some contractors on their final accounts and it is not possible to estimate the final building costs until all these accounts have been settled. Nor is it possible, for this reason, to estimate the value of the contracts by the specific geographical areas set out in the question.