§ Mr. EvansTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the total cost of the Millennium Dome to public funds has been. [73801]
§ Mr. Tony McNultyThe New Millennium Experience Company (NMEC), which was responsible for building the Dome and running of the Millennium Experience, was allocated £628 million of National Lottery funds from the Millennium Commission for the Millennium Experience, which included the associated national programme of events across the UK as well as the Dome at Greenwich. NMEC is currently in solvent liquidation and it is expected that some £25 million of this grant facility will not be required.
Up to the end of July this year, English Partnerships (EP) had incurred a total cost of £21.4m. This includes, from 1 July 2001—when EP took over the ownership of the Dome—£3.3m for the management, maintenance and security of the Dome; £6.5m for decommissioning the contents of the Dome and its site in preparation for the future long term use; and £4.9m in connection with the sale process. It also includes £6.7m for the previous 841W competition to find a long-term use for the Dome. All of these costs incurred by EP in relation to the Dome will be recovered from sale proceeds.