The figures were announced as part of the latest Olympic Quarterly Economic Report from the UK’s Department of Culture, Media and Sport. According to the Daily Telegraph, UK Sports Minister Hugh Robertson said the Government would contribute an extra £41 million to stage the Games ceremonies, taking ceremony costs above £80 million.

The number of guards required to secure Olympic venues has been increased to 24,000, meaning the total security budget will now exceed £1 billion. Officials had previously stated that the security measures for the Games would cost £282 million, but the government insisted the increase in the budget had not been “in any response to any specific security threat”. The extra money will come out of the contingency funds for the event.

“The government and Locog (the London organising committee for the Olympic Games) have now undertaken detailed analysis of the numbers of security staff required to protect the more than 100 Olympic venues,” Robertson told the BBC. “As a result, to ensure a safe and secure Games, they have revised the numbers of trained staff required. We are therefore investing additional funds in providing nearly 24,000 venue security personnel plus specialist security equipment.”

Robertson also said the opening and closing ceremonies were a “once-in-a-generation opportunity to showcase the very best of our country to four billion people around the world and have a potential advertising value of £2-5 billion”. He added: “To get the ceremonies absolutely right, and boost the Games business and tourism legacy, we are putting additional investment into our ceremonies...This is a great national moment and it is about seizing this great ceremonial and economic moment to benefit the economy and the public and tourism in the long run.”