Key information
Executive summary
The Mayor has a statutory duty to hold public consultation events; promote the economic and social development and improve the environment in London. Events bring economic and social benefits to London, and major events in particular can raise the city’s profile and present a positive image to the world’s media.
This Mayoral Decision approves the 2017-18 Events for London core programme with GLA budget of £1,647,000 and the intention to seek sponsorship to enhance the events. The Programme specifically meets the manifesto commitment to: “Continue to back major cultural festivals to celebrate London’s religious and racial diversity, and ensure Pride continues to be a fantastic, community-led showcase of all London’s LGBT+ communities.”
Decision
That the Mayor:
1. approves the 2017-18 core Events Programme and associated expenditure of up to £2,022,000, of which £1,647,000 is net expenditure; and
2. approves the seeking of sponsorship from suitable partners in order to raise additional revenue for the core Events Programme (target £375,000), which will be used to enhance events within the Programme if forthcoming.
Part 1: Non-confidential facts and advice
1.1 The Mayor is statutorily required under the Greater London Authority Act 1999 (GLA Act) to carry out a minimum of three public consultation events, two of which are People’s Question Time (PQT) and one State of London Debate (SOLD).
1.2 Under the same Act, the Mayor has a statutory duty to promote the economic and social development and improve the environment in London. Events have a profound potential to bring economic and social benefits to London, and major events in particular can raise the city’s profile and present a positive image to the world’s media.
1.3 The community events in particular, celebrate the city’s diversity as its core asset, bringing people together in shared experiences and providing opportunities for great social integration, ultimately bringing positive economic and social benefits to London. Culture also enriches people’s lives, improving their quality of life and general well-being. Free events provide Londoners access to arts and entertainment which they may otherwise not be able to experience.
1.4 Major events also stimulate London’s economy, by being a catalyst for economic regeneration and creating publicity to increase the attractiveness of London to new visitors and investors – as well as to Londoners. It also encourages the fuller participation of all its communities, contributing to all sectors of the London economy in the generation of jobs – one in six jobs is in the cultural sector.
1.5 The development and planning of the events often involves support and engagement from the community through community-led event steering groups, who help shape the programme to ensure that they be relevant and appropriate to the target community, and through volunteering. Volunteering provides added benefits of education or increased skills by working on different parts of the event. We will also be working with the Team London Ambassadors programme as part of the Games legacy. This community engagement contributes to peoples’ sense of positive well-being.
1.6 The core events programme responds to the Mayor’s manifesto pledge to “Continue to back major cultural festivals to celebrate London’s religious and racial diversity, and ensure Pride continue to be a fantastic, community-led showcase of all London’s LGBT+ communities.” These events mean that we are able to celebrate our diversity as a city, and be proud of the enormous range of different communities that call London their home.
1.7 Events within the core programme, as highlighted in the table below, engage with London’s diverse communities and faith groups. The GLA’s Community Engagement team are also actively involved in the community engagement surrounding these events to ensure that they successfully engage and reflect the target communities.
1.8 The events within this programme will also be part of an ongoing assessment and review, with the Communities and Events teams, to identify areas for potential changes and improvements in format, content or location to ensure the community engagement is being maximised; as well as identifying communities the GLA doesn’t have a relationship with and where stronger connections can start to be developed through events. Such a return should be considered excellent value for money.
1.9 The gross cost of the 2017-18 Events for London core programme is £2,022,000, with a net cost to the GLA of £1,647,000 and third party income of £375,000. It should be noted that due to planning timelines, a number of the events within the programme have already been approved on an individual basis: DD2116, DD2120, DD2122, DD2125, DD2126, DD2127, MD2112, MD2119. These approvals and budgets for individual events are contained within the budget indicated in this Mayoral Decision.
1.10 The dynamic nature of planning for events, and the at times limited control on external factors (such as the impact on security and crowd management measures based on the MPS security threat), and the requirement for additional sponsorship, which cannot be guaranteed, the budgets for each GLA delivered event are indicated as a baseline. However, it is the intention that any over/underspends on individual projects will be contained within the overall events programme budget.
Events Programme
1.11 The proposed 2017/18 events programme in outlined in table 1
GLA Delivered Events
1.12 The GLA Events for London team produces and delivers a number of cultural events that celebrate national celebrations such as St Patrick’s and St George’s Day, as well as religious festivals such as Diwali and Vaisakhi. In addition to the annual programme the team delivers ad-hoc responsive events – such as the Team GB/Paralympic GB Heroes event in 2016. In 2017/18 there is a small budget allocation to account for small events that are delivered in a responsive or ad-hoc nature.
Statutory Events
1.13 The Greater London Authority is statutorily required under the Greater London Authority Act 1999 (GLA Act) to carry out public consultation meetings. These are in the form of People’s Question Time events and the annual State of London Debate.
People’s Question Time
1.14 These events take place in a variety of locations across London providing the opportunity for the public to meet and ask questions to the Mayor and the London Assembly. It offers the Mayor and London Assembly the opportunity to deliver and discuss with the London Community their plans, priorities and policies for London.
State of London Debate
1.15 SOLD links to the publication of the Mayor’s annual report. It is a flagship Mayoral engagement and consultation event for all Londoners and provides an opportunity for direct engagement with members of the community to debate and provide feedback on the Mayor’s strategies and priorities for London. The event allows facilitation of a Q&A session allowing members of the audience to question the Mayor directly on issues of concern. Issues raised at the event can then be fed back directly into policy development.
GLA Grant Funded Events
1.16 As can be seen from Table 1 above, certain events are events of third parties for which the GLA provide grant funding. Recipients are required to go through stringent checks both financial and legally – complete grant funding forms, being clear on the events aims and objectives, how this fits in with the Mayor’s objectives and culturally enhances the capital.
1.17 The GLA event officers work closely with the recipients of GLA funding to ensure successful delivery of funded events. Clear milestones are set within the funding agreements and it is only at the time the milestones are met that funding is released. These milestones ensure the safety of GLA funding and cover any risk involved in supporting these events.
1.18 The GLA’s financial support for the grant funded events indicated within the table 1 above is a relatively small contribution to the full cost of these events. Supporting these events enables Mayoral profile and highlights the Mayor’s support to the communities involved in the delivery. As such a return, should be considered excellent value for money.
Non-Event Activity
Access Development
1.19 Following the level of accessibility achieved during 2012 and Games-time and the GLA’s award of the ISO20121 Sustainable Event Standard, we are committed to continuing and enhancing best practice at GLA Delivered Events, as well as providing continuous improvement as required by the ISO20121 Standard. These will include elements such as having BSL interpreters at our events, fully equipped portable ‘Changing Places’ disabled toilets, hearing loop provision and improved signage. We will also be working to achieve Attitude is Everything’s Bronze Awards for Access at our core delivered events.
Evaluation and reporting
1.20 Market research will be conducted at key events, with input into the questions from GLA Marketing, Intelligence and Economics teams to ensure they are relevant to provide appropriate analysis. The results from each individual event can be used to benchmark against other events, as well as determine where refinement on questions or analysis is made. Additionally, feedback and results from a particular event can help shape the delivery or make improvements to subsequent events.
Sponsorship and other income
1.21 For the events delivered by the GLA, sponsorship, other income and concessions (if relevant and appropriate e.g. food and drink stalls/ tents on Trafalgar square) will be sought, in accordance with the GLA Sponsorship Policy, as revised from time to time, as in previous years, the target being £375,000. Income received is usually specific to the individual event and provided on the basis that the additional money funds additional activity above the core event activity. Should income not meet budgeted targets the events will be delivered within the budgeted GLA funding available and income secured. If sponsorship over the target is secured, the event would be enhanced in line with this increased budget, or in the event of a significant increase from sponsorship and the event not needing to be enhanced further, the GLA contribution to the event would be reduced.
1.22 In addition to cash income, the GLA Commercial Partnerships Team will also seek benefit in kind to assist in the enhancement and publicity of events.
Commissioned outcomes
2.1 We aim to generate additional spend in the local economy of up to £63m. Whilst it is clear that events stimulate additional spending, and this research has been conducted at events within the GLA event programme, it should be noted that the true level of additionality of extra spending is difficult to determine precisely as the sample size of attendees at each event is relatively small.
2.2 Events can deliver positive externalities through visitor satisfaction and if delivered successfully can promote London as a leading global city encouraging investment and tourism.
2.3 Through the events we actively promote wider mayoral priorities directly to key community groups or audiences, and to captive audiences. This can be evaluated through the attendance at events and market research at the event on recall, and through digital traffic and click through rates on the GLA website.
Additional benefits
2.4 The additional benefits of the programme are;
• Increased positive global reputation of London.
• Positive profile for London, encouraging economic investment.
• Education and increased awareness of other communities in London encouraging social integration and cohesion.
• Increased skills through volunteering opportunities.
Whilst difficult to measure, there are a number of additional benefits that we are actively trying to foster through staging the events in our programme, including;
• Increased sense of community through volunteering opportunities and social interaction at events.
• Encouraging a sense of pride in Londoners for the city they live.
• Enjoyment and satisfaction to support the well-being of Londoners and improving their health and wellbeing and quality of life (particularly where Londoners disposable income is limited and free events offer access to arts and entertainment which they may otherwise not be able to experience.
3.1 The events programme is planned to be inclusive and aimed at all Londoners, culturally and socially, achieved through the programme content, the broad and targeted approach to marketing channels, and access facilities at the event. Whilst many of the events within the programme engage directly with specific community stakeholder groups in their planning, and highlight the contribution of specific communities (e.g. Pride - LGBT community; Eid - Muslim community; Liberty – Deaf and disabled community; Africa in the Square – African community), the events are about bringing different communities together, sharing cultures and supporting social integration.
4.1 Key risks and issues
Table 2
4.2 Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities
4.2.1 In approving the Events Programme, this directly links to:
- Manifesto Commitment – Access to the Arts: Continue to back major cultural festivals to celebrate London’s religious and racial diversity, and ensure Pride continues to be a fantastic, community-led showcase of all London’s LGBT+ communities.
- City for all Londoners: Making London a fairer and more tolerant city open and accessible to all, and one in which we can all live and prosper free from prejudice. Enabling all Londoners to benefit from the city’s fantastic arts and culture.
4.3 Impact assessments and consultation
4.3.1 The impact assessment of the events will be on an event-by-event basis through the multi-agency planning process (Licensing Operational Safety Planning Groups), including Westminster City Council (or other local authority impacted), MPS, TfL, LAS, LFB and other key stakeholders to the specific event. This is an essential part of the Premise Licence process. Key agencies will be consulted as part of this multi-agency process.
4.3.2 Neighbours on Trafalgar Square are consulted regularly and through established quarterly planning meetings.
4.3.3 Where events involve specific communities, these communities are engaged though a stakeholder group who advise on the event. Public correspondence, via the GLA Public Liaison Unit, and market research at events is also considered for future planning of events where negative comments and improvement suggestions are made and may be reasonably implemented.
4.4 Procurement
4.4.1 Events delivered by the GLA will be procured under the Events Framework, for event production services. Events receiving funding will be on the basis of funding agreements, with pre-determined milestones to receive the funding. All events will be managed by an events officer from within the Events for London team.
5.1 The total estimated gross cost of the 2017-18 Events for London Programme is £2,022,000 and the net cost to the GLA is £1,647,000, with the balance of £375,000 being funded via third party income in the form of sponsorship income, grant contributions and stall revenue.
5.2 With regards to the GLA net cost to the Events Programme, a budget provision of £1,647,000 has been included in the 2017-18 budget to fund the portfolio of events. Depending on the delivery of each event, there may be some budget realignments and reallocation required across projects, which will take place in-year as required.
5.3 In-line with previous years, the Events Team has budgeted for income totalling £375,000 to enhance and supplement some of the events proposed. If the income target is not met, projects will be reduced to the funding available and the income secured. Any income secured over and above the income target will be used to enhance the specific event(s) and where appropriate if there is a significant amount of extra income secured, the GLA will look to reduce the GLA contribution where enhancements to events are not required.
Approval of Budget
6.1 Under section 30 of the Greater London Authority Act 1999 (the ‘Act’) the mayor, acting on behalf of the GLA, and after appropriate consultation, is entitled to do anything that the mayor considers will further the promotion, within Greater London, of economic development and wealth creation, social development and the improvement of the environment.
6.2 Section 34 of the Act allows the mayor to do anything which is calculated to facilitate, or is conducive or incidental to, the exercise of any functions of the GLA. In the instant case, the approval of the GLA’s 2017-18 events programme and the attendant budget of up to £1,647,000 and the seeking of sponsorship of £375,000 in order to enhance the events programme may be viewed as calculated to facilitate social development in Greater London.
Allocation of Sponsorship Income
6.3 The officers are advised only to commit to expenditure of the tranches of sponsor’s funding, of which the GLA is in receipt pursuant to the terms of an executed sponsorship agreement.
Grants in Support of Events
6.4 A tranche of the 2017-18 events budget will be allocated to grant funding in support of a number of events including Totally Thames and Pride (see Table 1 at paragraph 1.8 for full list). To this end, the officers are reminded of the requirements of paragraph 4.1 and section 12 of the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code; in particular, the desirability that funding be distributed following a transparent and competitive application process.
6.5 In carrying out the events programme, the officers are reminded of the requirements set out in section 30(5) of the Act. Namely, that in exercising the GLA’s general power under section 30 of the Act, the GLA must do this in a way, which is considered best calculated to:
6.5.1 promote improvements in the health of persons in Greater London;
6.5.2 promote the reduction of health inequalities between persons living in Greater London;
6.5.3 contribute towards the achievement of sustainable development in the United Kingdom; and
6.5.4 contribute to the mitigation of, or adaptation to, climate change in the United Kingdom.
Procurement
6.6 The officers are reminded that the requirements of the Contracts and Funding Code apply to all of the procurements, which are carried out in furtherance of the 2017-18 events programme.
Signed decision document
MD2054 Public_Events Programme (signed)
Supporting documents
MD2054 Part 2