My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Iain Wright) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

I am today announcing the key performance targets that have been agreed for the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre for the period 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2009.

The agency’s principal financial target for 2008-09 is to achieve a minimum dividend payment to the Department for Communities and Local Government of £1,340,000 with an additional dividend payment of £360,000 if trading revenues meet target. The agency will pay an exceptional dividend to the Department for Communities and Local Government in December 2008 of £2,800,000.

An operational target has been set to achieve room occupancy within the centre of 71 per cent of capacity.

The agency also has the following quality of service targets:

overall score for value for money satisfaction of greater than 90 per cent;

the number of complaints received to be less than two per 100 events; and

an average response time when answering complaints of less than four working days.

Return on Capital Employed

HM Treasury set an annual return on capital employed of 6 per cent for the centre's trading fund activities.

External review

During the first quarter of 2008-09, the agency will conduct a strategic review to consider the following:

The opportunity to sustain and grow the existing conference business in its current marketplace. This will include:

an assessment of the UK conference centre market generally, commenting on growth, segmentation and trends, and how the QEIICC is positioned within it;

the opportunity to leverage value from the Olympics;

an assessment on the amount and timing of any investment required in the building; and

an assessment as to whether a private sector operator of the business might create additional value, and options for introducing such an operator.

The potential value of the site to a third-party developer on both a current use and a change of use basis.

To advise of any further strategic options that could create value to the taxpayer.