27/04/2013 00:00
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by MONITOR
WHO has the worst job in Gordon Brown's government? Alistair Darling would be a strong contender in many people's book but a minister who is now seldom heard of may have a stronger claim. Tessa Jowell is the Olympics Minister and she is responsible for a project that has already doubled in cost from the original estimate of the cost of London's 2012 Olympics of 4 billion pounds.

Almost three years later that figure is 9.3 billion and no one, except Ms Jowell, is prepared to say that it will not rise further. This week the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee criticised the government for failing to take into account contingency provisions and necessary security measures. It also accused the government of being too optimistic about how much the private sector would contribute to the construction of venues and infrastructure -- the estimate was 738 million pounds but less that 200 million has so far been forthcoming. Very few Olympics are staged for the original estimate of their cost -- in the end the need to put on an even more ambitious show than the previous Games takes precedence. But, with only four years to go before the London event there are also worries about the progress of various complementary activities, for instance the commitment to use 2012 as a spur to greater long-term involvement in sport by young people throughout Britain -- the so-called “legacy” factor that all supporters of the Olympics want to see.