To ask the Minister for the Olympics what functions are performed by (a) the Secretariat to the Olympic Board and (b) the Government Olympic Executive; how many people work in each body; and how much has been spent on staffing each body. (163719)

[holding answer 13 November 2007]: The Secretariat to the Olympic Board provides support to the board through arranging meetings and preparing agendas, papers and minutes. As of 12 November 2007, the Secretariat consists of two full-time equivalent staff. The current Secretariat, based within the Government Olympic Executive (GOE), took over this function from the Olympic Programme Support Unit in September 2007. The cost of the current Secretariat for September and October 2007 was £7,109.48.

The Government Olympic Executive consists of 61.3 full-time equivalent staff. GOE's main function is to provide an intelligent client for the Olympic programme on behalf of Government. GOE currently divides its staff broadly across four main functions:

(1) Oversight of and support to the key delivery bodies (ODA and LOCOG);

(2) Legacy planning;

(3) Co-ordination of other functions including parliamentary business, research, planning, and public engagement;

(4) Detailed oversight of financial operations.

The GOE staff cost for October 2007 was £629,691 and staff costs to date in this financial year are £2,168,158.