Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre

Brandon Lewis Excerpts

Thursday 5th June 2014 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Brandon Lewis)]

My hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Baroness Stowell of Beston, has made the following written ministerial statement:

I am today announcing key performance targets have been agreed for the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre for the period 1 April 2014 to 31 March 2015.

The Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre is an Executive agency of the Department with trading fund status. It has proved to be a highly effective trading fund over many years, and has met its key financial target and returned a significant dividend to HM Treasury in every year but one since it was established as a trading fund in 1997. All of its costs are paid for by revenue from room bookings, catering and other income. It does not receive any financial support from the Department. As such, it represents excellent value for the taxpayer.

The Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre is also part of the Government’s national emergency contingency planning.

The centre’s principal financial target for 2014-15 is to achieve a minimum dividend payment to the Department for Communities and Local Government of £1.5 million as proposed in the centre’s business plan for the year.

The centre also has the following targets to achieve:

Room hire—To achieve a capacity utilisation ratio of 49%.

To generate secondary revenue from audio visual and IT services and catering royalty which in total equates to a ratio of 90% of room hire revenue.

To achieve an overall score for client satisfaction of at least 90%.

To receive less than two complaints per 100 events held.