HC Deb 10 March 2000 vol 345 c861W
Mr. Bob Russell

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when it was decided that towns competing for city status for the third millennium needed a population in excess of 200,000 to qualify. [113848]

Mr. Mike O'Brien

No such decision has been made. Although population size is taken into account by my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary in submitting a recommendation to Her Majesty the Queen, the grant of city status is not a right that can be claimed by a town fulfilling certain criteria, but an honour conferred by the Sovereign by Letters Patent.

Mr. Bob Russell

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the name of the town to be awarded city status for the third millennium will be announced. [113847]

Mr. Mike O'Brien

Thirty-nine applications have been received for the Millennium grant of city status from towns in the United Kingdom; each application is being considered on its individual merits. No date has been set for the announcement of the new city.