Malcolm Moss (Shadow Minister (Culture, Media & Sport), Culture, Media & Sport; North East Cambridgeshire, Conservative)

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what meetings planning Ministers have had with casino operators and their associates since January 2003; and who the attendees were in each case.

Meg Munn (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Women and Equality), Department for Communities and Local Government; Sheffield, Heeley, Labour)

There have been two meetings of planning Ministers and casino operators:

6 May 2004—My right hon. Friend Keith Hill, former Minister for Housing and Planning, met Lloyd Nathan, European Managing Director of MGM, with officials to discuss planning policy for casinos generally.

28 November 2004—My right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister visited the Star City Casino, Sydney for which I refer the hon. Member to the Deputy Prime Minister's answer of 19 July 2006, Hansard, column 301.

In relation to meetings with associates of casino operators, there have been a number of meetings with representatives of Anschutz in connection with the Dome. Those involving the Deputy Prime Minister were set out in the letter appended to the Memorandum to the Committee of Standards. My right hon. Friend the Member for Streatham was also present at a meeting between the Deputy Prime Minister and officials and representatives of Anshutz in June 2003. In addition, my hon. Friend Mr. McNulty and officials met representatives of Anshutz in January 2003. But none of these Ministers were planning Ministers for the Dome and related developments.