HL Deb 23 February 2000 vol 610 cc31-2WA
Lord Hardy of Wath

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will give details about requests for additional funding for the Global Cultural Diversity Congress. [HL1183]

Lord Bassam of Brighton

On 11 January 2000, the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) asked the Home Office for authority to provide funding to enable the Global Cultural Diversity Congress, to be held in Cardiff on 20–23 March, to go ahead as planned and subsequently asked for additional funding from the Home Office Vote. This international conference was being organised under the auspices of the CRE following decisions they made in 1998 but by a separate company limited by guarantee, Global Cultural Diversity Congress (GCDC) 2000 Ltd. At the time when they first decided to proceed in 1998, it was made clear that the Government could not offer substantial financial support for the conference.

The Government have supported the aims of the congress, which was a potentially important forum for serious debate about issues of race and diversity, and was widely welcomed by many with an interest in these issues both in this country and worldwide.

In the light of the CRE request in January this year for government funding, the Government thought it right to seek advice from independent consultants on the viability of the conference at this late stage, including from forensic accountants, who examined the affairs of GCDC 2000 Ltd.

The conclusions of the accountants' report raised serious questions about the quality of the management and financial controls in GCDC 2000 Ltd as well as confirming that very significant additional funds, in the order of £1.5 million, would be required to enable the congress to go ahead, not least because fewer than 500 tickets had been sold for a congress initially planned to attract 2,000.

Given the report's findings, it would not be justifiable to use substantial public funds to support this event. Yesterday, the directors of the company were advised of the report's findings and our decision. My honourable friend the Minister of State of the Home Office (Mr O'Brien) understands that the directors of GCDC 2000 Ltd decided late on Monday 21 February to put the company into liquidation.

The decision to set up GCDC 2000 Ltd was a collective one of the Commissioners for Racial Equality, taken in September 1998. My honourable friend the Minister of State of the Home Office (Mr O'Brien) has asked the incoming chair of the CRE, Gurbux Singh, to consider urgently the lessons to be learnt from all of this and to provide us with a report.