More MPs criticise the London Olympics project

The Culture select committee has already had a pop at the cost overruns of the London Olympics. This week it was the turn of the Public Accounts Committee.

They said the government has left itself “financially exposed” over the 2012 Olympic Games and is at risk of letting costs spiral out of control again - that's after the latest estimates which are already more than four times the original budget.

The MPs' report highlights that there are too many chiefs in charge and that no one chief has overall responsibility for delivering the Games and the large numbers of bodies run by all the chiefs meant there was a high risk of time delays and cost overruns.

Two new bodies have been set up: the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), to provide facilities, and the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG), to stage the Games.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is ultimately responsible for coordinating all these bodies, according to Edward Leigh, committee chairman. “It is worrying, therefore, that strong arrangements for monitoring progress and managing risk are so far not in place,” he said.

The Olympics minister, Tessa Jowell, is now in some other department having been reshuffled by Gordon Brown but left with her responsibilities for the Olympics.

The report explains that LOCOG is still trying to raise £2 billion from private sponsors to run the event. However, if it fails, the government is the final guarantor for the cash.

The report also says that there is a lack of clarity about how five new venues will be adapted for use after the games. Let's assume they will be left to gather dust - and then knocked down later in the century when Londoners realise they cost too much to "maintain".