The increase, which was announced in the latest London 2012 quarterly economic report by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), comes from the £9.3bn public purse, which is in theory meant for building, infrastructure and security, while the ceremonies is paid for from the privately-raised funds of the Organising Committee of the Olympic Games - money raised from the IOC, ticket sales and sponsorship.
In the DCMS report, Hugh Robertson MP, Minister for Sport and the Olympics, says: "The ceremonies for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games are a unique opportunity to portray a positive image of the UK to a huge potential global audience - an estimated 1 billion people watched the opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics. Of the £41m, £34m has been released to LOCOG now, while the government holds the £7m balance as a contingency specifically for ceremonies."
According to the report, more than £500m contingency fund remains in the public coffers - despite reports today that the National Audit Office, the UK government spending watchdog, has warned that there was now a "real risk" that further taxpayer funding would be required.
(Lee Baldock)
