The Annual Report, as outlined by the Government Olympic Executive Hugh Robertson MP, stated the following: "A £600m funding envelope is available, if required, for additional policing and wider Games security, although the government is confident it can deliver the full programme for about £475m."
Despite the ambitious prediction, and one that far exceeded the initial £29m forecast when first bidding for the Games, the National Audit Office (NAO) confirmed that the funding envelope would exceed £757m, excluding contingency.
The NAO’s progress report acknowledged the original budget "was a significant underestimate when bidding for the Games" but that "a new programme-wide contingency of £349m" had been created from monies remaining in the Public Sector Funding Package. The report also confirmed that the Government Olympic Executive is now undertaking a fully quantified assessment of the remaining risks.
Although refusing to comment on the obvious discrepancies between its initial budget and the current forecast, a Home Office spokesman confirmed they remained committed to "delivering a safe and secure Games" with Locog and , the two contractors charged with ensuring the smooth running of security at London 2012.
A Home Office spokesman said: "We are committed to delivering a safe and secure Games, which includes robust security of venues delivered by the right people with the right skills.
"Government, Locog and G4S are working together to finalise the requirements for Olympic venue security.
"As is common with all major sporting events, we will make the best and most appropriate use of all available resources."
Locog suggested the collaboration with the government was an ongoing one but claimed that at this stage any financial figures were difficult to predict.
A Locog spokesperson said: "Security for the Games is the responsibility of government as detailed in the bid in 2005. Locog has worked in close collaboration with all security agencies across government on a day-to-day basis. Government has been involved in our planning, has validated our main guarding approach, provided the standards we have applied and approved expenditure.
"The current work being undertaken by Locog, government security agencies and our commercial partners is to identify each and every role required at Games time in the area of venue security, to identify what mix of security personnel, Bridging the Gap recruits and volunteers are required to fill the roles. Until this work is completed, numbers for each group cannot be confirmed."
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