Why is spending falling short on the Mayor’s Olympics Sports Legacy Fund?

12 DECEMBER 2011

Why is the Mayor’s Sports Legacy Fund only set to spend just over half of its £12.6 million budget this year[1]? And how might City Hall decisions on spending priorities affect the fund next year?

The Mayor’s Sports Legacy Fund was set up in 2009 to deliver a sustained increase in sports participation and a lasting legacy from the 2012 Games[2]. However, an Assembly report earlier this year found it got off to a slow start[3]and it is unlikely to spend its forecast budget this year.

The Assembly’s Budget Monitoring Sub-Committee will tomorrow look at reasons for this and whether ongoing work to define the Mayor’s spending priorities could affect any underspend being carried forward next year[4].

The Committee will also examine Transport for London finances, including extra Government grant funding announced in November and the potential effect of it receiving more income from fares than it expected this year.

The following guests will attend the meeting:

  • Simon Cooper, Sports Manager, GLA
  • Stephen Critchley, Chief Finance Officer, TfL
  • David Gallie, Assistant Director of Finance, GLA

The Budget Monitoring Sub-Committee meeting will take place on Tuesday 13 December from 3.30pm in Committee Room 3 at City Hall (The Queen’s Walk, London SE1).

Media and members of the public are invited to attend.  The meeting can also be viewed via webcast

Notes for Editors:

  1. Current forecasts are that the fund will spend 44 percent of its budget for 2011/12. This represents an underspend of £5.6 million. See P58 of the meeting agenda.
  2. Read more about the aims of the Mayor’s Sporting Legacy
  3. See the report A sporting legacy for London by the Assembly’s Economic Development, Sport and Culture Committee which noted that the Mayor’s Sporting Legacy Fund had made a “slow start”.
  4. In September 2011 the GLA’s Investment and Performance Board (IPB) initiated a ‘project prioritisation process’ to rank projects and allocate funding for next year accordingly. Where underspends for 2011/12 are not contractually committed, they will not automatically be carried forward for the next financial year.
  5. See full agenda papers for the meeting
  6. The Chair of the Budget Monitoring Sub-Committee, John Biggs AM, is available for interview.  See contact details below.
  7. As well as investigating issues that matter to Londoners, the London Assembly acts as a check and a balance on the Mayor.

For media enquiries, please contact Julie Wheldon/Lisa Moore on 020 7983 4228/4283.  For out of hours media enquiries, call 020 7983 4000 and ask for the London Assembly duty press officer.  Non-media enquiries should be directed to the Public Liaison Unit on 020 7983 4100.