§ Baroness Anelay of St Johnsasked Her Majesty's Government:
What sum will be paid to English Parterships as a consequence of the sale of the Millennium Dome to Dome Europe, a wholly owned subsidiary of Nomura; and [HL3783]
152WAWhen they will publish the full terms and conditions of the sale of the Millenium Dome to Dome Europe, a wholly owned subsidiary of Nomura. [HL3780]
§ Lord Falconer of ThorotonThe proposed terms of the sale of the Dome to Dome Europe must remain commercially confidential at present, while negotiations with Nomura as preferred bidder continue. Details of the sale will be made available once it has been completed.
On 27 July, Hilary Armstrong and I announced that some £53 million should be paid to the New Millennium Experience Company from total expected early payments from the competition of the £105 million. There is also provision for additional payment for land value in certain circumstances and a share of the profits if the business changes hands. The remainder of this total amount, after meeting third party commitments, will go to English Partnerships. I enclose a copy of my answer to the House reporting this decision.
§ Baroness Anelay of St Johnsasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the projected visitor numbers for the period up to and including 31 December 2000, set by the latest business plan published by the New Millennium Experience Company, can be achieved. [HL3782]
§ Lord Falconer of ThorotonFour million people have already visited the Dome, making it the most successful pay-to-visit attraction in the UK. Both NMEC and the Millennium Commission keep the revised target of 6 million paying visitors under review on an ongoing basis.
§ The Earl of Northeskasked Her Majesty's Government:
What agreement has been reached between Nomura and the Government with regard to the warranties and indemnities which will form part of the contract of sale of the Millennium Dome. [HL3779]
§ Lord Falconer of ThorotonThe proposed terms of the sale of the Dome to Dome Europe must remain commercially confidential at present, while negotiations with Nomura as preferred bidder continue. Details of the sale will be made available once it has been completed.
§ Baroness Seccombeasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Falconer of Thoroton on 29 June (WA 15–16), whether he will publish a table showing for each month of 2000 the percentage of visitors admitted free to the Dome, the percentage admitted on a reduced price ticket and the absolute number of visitors in each category. [HL3144]
153WA
§ Lord Falconer of ThorotonThe table below outlines the information requested:
Total Free 1 Total Discounted 2 Total Sponsors from Discounted 3 Jan 2000 8,693 48,536 14,586 Feb 2000 69,577 54,854 9,169 Mar 2000 98,348 57,754 4,892 Apr 2000 62,478 104,834 12,077 May 2000 104,937 143,805 13,456 Jun 2000 121,004 151,830 14,052 1 This includes free school visits, carers of disabled people, sponsor ticket allocation, accompanying teachers on paying school visits, coach drivers, Greenwich residents, NMEC guests and VIPs. 2 These reflect a range of promotions and offers which are normal for visitor attraction businesses and are factored into the company's business strategy and planning. For example, NMEC has and will run a number of offers and promotions with its sponsors for customers; and NMEC has and continues to run a special price ticket for entry after 4 pm. A key promotion with Marks and Spencer concluded on 30 June and this is likely to be evident in subsequent month's data. 3 There are several issues in terms of the data integrity regarding the number of Free Sponsor admissions in the attendance months to date. Due to the fact that NMEC ticketing and admission systems are different we are unable to establish non-attendance vs. bookings. This is obviously more likely in the case of free issue tickets. i.e., sponsors and passholders. The admission system does not differentiate between free and paying attendance at a sufficiently detailed level to provide accurate analysis, i.e., it will show that an admission is from an Enta booking, but not that it is a sponsor voucher.
The redemption of sponsor vouchers via the ticketing system (Enta) does not differentiate between a free sponsor voucher being redeemed for a specific attendance date and a sponsor voucher purchased via a bulk purchase agreement (e.g. Tesco's 50,000 vouchers at £10 each). Passholders of platinum, gold, silver and bronze passes are able to bring up to five guests. These are invariably not booked in advance via the ticketing system and are not noted in the admission system.
The above and several other issues mean that we are unable to provide any form of reasonably accurate analysis.
The numbers attached are an approximation and as such should ideally be used for review purposes. Clearly, there is insufficient accuracy for them to be regarded as audited or validated information.