To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much of the total budget for the London Olympics in 2012 has been set aside for direct funding of cultural events as part of the Cultural Olympiad.

The mandatory ceremonies will be directly funded from the London 2012 Organising Committee's budget for the 2012 Games. It is confident that the mandatory ceremonies will be funded within its £2 billion revenue budget. The bid projects and signature events and the UK-wide cultural festival will be delivered and funded in partnership with a range of public and private partners. For example, the Legacy Trust will invest at least £40 million in funding cultural and sporting activity in the run up to the 2012 Games.

The London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games will shortly set out more detail on the bid projects and the UK-wide Cultural Festival. However, we will not be in a position to provide an overall cost figure in advance for what will be a developing programme of events over the four years of the Cultural Olympiad, with funding being drawn in from a number of sources over that period.