§ Mr. YeoTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) what methods were considered to dispose of items from the millennium experience; [30014]
(2)if she will list the items from the millennium experience that were disposed of other than by sale by the New Millennium Experience Company, stating for each one (a) its original purchase price, (b) its estimated value at time of sale, (c) the amount it was sold for, (d) its method of disposal and (e) the reason for that method of disposal; [30011]
(3)if she will list the items from the millennium experience offered for sale by the New Millennium Experience Company stating for each (a) the original purchase price, (b) the estimated value at time of sale, (c) the number of bids received, (d) the amount of the highest bid, (e) whether the item was sold to the highest bidder and where it was not to give a reason and (f) the amount it was sold for; [30012]
(4)how many bids for items from the millennium experience offered for sale by the New Millennium Experience Company were (a) not honoured and (b) bogus; [30013]
(5)if she will publish the total (a) estimated value of and (b) final price received for, the items from the millennium experience offered for sale by the New Millennium Experience Company. [30015]
§ Dr. Howells[holding answer 24 January 2002]: Some 17,000 items were offered for sale by NMEC in an auction organised by Henry Butcher International held between 27 February and 2 March 2001. Henry Butcher valued these items at a total of £2 million. Around 10,500 of these items were sold in the auction and these were sold to the highest bidders in each case. As is the case at many auctions, a small proportion of the items were not paid for, and hence not collected, by successful bidders. Total income received from auction sales which were concluded was £3.5 million. Some 450 items were withheld from the sale because they were felt to be of use to a future owner of the dome. It was subsequently decided to sell these items, and items which had not sold in the auction, by private treaty. It was felt that this was more cost effective than seeking to hold a second auction. Henry Butcher International was retained to advise on the private treaty sales and benchmarked rates against auction prices in order to ensure value for money and tenders were sought for major items. Sales by private treaty realised £1 million. A feature of NMEC's balance sheet was that many assets purchased or developed for the millennium experience were unique to the dome. The costs to develop or buy these bespoke assets were much higher than the subsequent realisable values and it was always recognised that the auction would cover only a fraction of those creation costs. The total received by NMEC for the sale of assets in the auction and by private treaty was therefore £4.5 million. A further £1.3 million was achieved by the 1108W sale of certain assets to original suppliers under terms of contracts with NMEC. Not all the detailed information requested about the individual assets is available. The remainder is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.