MD2242 2018 Culture & Heritage Suffrage Centenary Programme

2018 will mark the centenary of the Representation of the People Act. The Act of 1918 gave some women the vote for the first time and paved the way for the introduction of universal suffrage years later, which saw women receive equal voting rights to men.

The Mayor is committed to achieving greater gender equality for London. During the centenary year of women’s suffrage, the Mayor is leading a signature campaign, #BehindEveryGreatCity, aiming to improve issues around gender equality. The Culture and Creative Industries unit have developed a range of Culture and Heritage projects as a key part of the #BehindEveryGreatCity campaign.

In 2016, the writer and campaigner Caroline Criado Perez ran a public campaign calling for a statue commemorating women’s suffrage in Parliament Square. The petition resulted in 85,000 signatures. The Suffrage Statue Commission was established, chaired by the Deputy Mayor for Culture and Creative Industries and we invited proposals from artists. The Mayor (under cover of MD2045) approved expenditure of £25,000 to commence planning for a statue to be unveiled in 2018. The Turner Prize winning artist Gillian Wearing OBE was selected to develop her proposal for Parliament Square.

The Executive Director – Resources (under cover of DD2132) approved the entry into an initial grant agreement from the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG), alongside approval for expenditure on services required to submit a planning application for the statue.

Subsequently, MD2175 approved the receipt and expenditure of a grant of £706,092 from DCLG towards the costs of the statue as well as approving GLA revenue expenditure on associated programme activities, which will be delivered across 2017-18 and 2018-19 to amplify the centenary celebrations.

The Culture and Creative Industries Unit have now also been successful in securing additional income from the Government Equalities Office’s Centenary Cities: 100 years of votes for women fund (GEO) and the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). Both grants will enhance the GLA’s programme activities and maximise the impact and reach of the #BehindEveryGreatCity programme for Londoners.

This decision therefore seeks approval for the receipt and expenditure of the following:

• £300,000 from GEO for the activities detailed in paragraph 2; and
• £95,000 from HLF for the activities detailed in paragraph 2.

Government Equalities Office (GEO) funding

The receipt of funding from GEO will enable the GLA to deliver a ‘Cities of Suffrage’ programme which will connect young Londoners with suffrage heritage and issues of gender equality through London's grime scene. The programme will centre around the theme of ‘courage'. The GLA will commission and produce a series of events curated and performed by leading female grime artists. £100,000 is available for this activity. The funding will be offered through grants to partner organisations and procuring consultants for contracts eg Programme evaluation and project management.

The GEO funding will also enable the GLA to deliver a series of free art commissions which will reveal hidden figures of the suffrage movement and contemporary women in site-specific locations across London. £200,000 is allocated to this programme. The funding will be offered as grants to partner organisations and procurement of consultants for programme evaluation and project management.

GLA Culture Officers will grant fund and work in partnership with relevant organisations to develop street art trails around walkable clusters of historic interest. Educational workshops will be developed for schools through the GLA’s London Curriculum trails programmes.

Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) funding

The receipt of funding from HLF will enable the GLA to support a range of projects which engage different communities.

Grant funding to Film London will deliver learning and engagement activities to a wide range of participants, centred on the theme of ‘Courage & Communities’ through the KinoVan. The KinoVan is an existing touring mobile cinema. Working in partnership with Into Film (a specialist film organisation which works with young people), the KinoVan will travel to locations around London – outer and inner boroughs providing screenings and tailored events with schools and communities. The funding will be offered as grants to the BFI, Museum of London and the Royal Albert Hall and used to procure consultants for the evaluation and project management of the programme.

The outcomes achieved through HLF will focus on the programme theme of Courage & Communities and include:

• 2,600 school children are expected to benefit from learning projects in outer London boroughs via the KinoVan project, and will have learnt about an important aspect of history. This resource will also form part of the Mayor’s London Curriculum which uses the capital as inspiration to bring the national curriculum to life.
• Young women will receive an Arts Award through their participation through the BFI’s Lambeth Schools Residency.
• 18,000 Londoners including school children and residents of local communities will have engaged with the centenary of the 1918 Act and the #BehindEveryGreatCity campaign via the series of film screenings, Royal Albert Hall tours, the Museum of London Festival, and through archive film and outreach at 15 KinoVan events.
• Project partners will be encouraged to collaborate with the GLA's Team London Volunteering Programme. A key outcome will be the recruitment and training of 18 volunteers across the partners, with a particular focus on ensuring that volunteers are recruited from a range of ages and ethnicities.

Under Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, as a public authority, the Mayor of London must have ‘due regard’ of the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation as well as to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between people who have a protected characteristic and those who do not.

The programme activities detailed within this report actively highlight and contribute to the promotion of gender equality in the capital and aim to inspire London’s communities to learn more about the history of Suffrage, and the fight for gender equalities. Although the programme activities detailed revolve mainly around gender equality and women’s historic struggle for equal rights, the activities are aimed at all of London’s communities and to involve everyone in the celebration of the centenary celebrations of the Suffrage movement.

The wider programmes of activities undertaken by the Culture and Creative Industries Unit take equality into account in all aspects of developing and delivering projects through its programming criteria and audience development planning. This includes ensuring bodies and institutions that the Unit work with, grant fund or deliver and partner on projects with comply with the Equality Act 2010 and have robust procedures and policies in place.

The suffrage statue project celebrates the centenary of the Representation of the People Act 1918, recognising and celebrating the campaign by prominent women for gender equality and equal rights. The activities delivered, alongside and complementary to the statue detailed in this decision all aim to inspire people, specifically women, and to celebrate the historic suffrage movement, which London was at the forefront of.

This activity will sit alongside the Mayor’s commitment to closing the gender pay gap and breaking the glass ceiling; challenging the under-representation of women in senior roles; and to make gender equality a focus of Skills for Londoners, creating targeted opportunities for girls to excel.

The activities and celebrations of the centenary of women’s suffrage will promote and foster closer relationships between all Londoners and celebrate the rich diversities of London’s communities.

Both the GEO and HLF Culture and Heritage programmes will complement and amplify the wider GLA led ‘#BehindEveryGreatCity’ campaign. This campaign is championing the fact that it is the achievements and contributions of women, from all walks of life, which make cities like London great.

The GLA will enter into grant funding agreements with the delivery partners mentioned in section 2, and ensure that close management of these agreements is put in place to ensure that the activities meet the required outcomes.

Permission is sought to approve the income and expenditure of £395,000 (£300,000 from the Government Equalities Office and £95,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund) to enhance the Culture and Heritage Suffrage Centenary Programme.

Initially the GLA allocated a budget of £225,000 (MD2091), and MD2175 approved additional funding from DCLG to supplement this programme further by £706,000. The approval of this decision will result in a total budget of £1,326,000.

Due to the planned delivery timeframe below, permission is sought to carry forward any remaining grant to financial year 2018-19.

The receipt and expenditure for the grant will be managed by the Culture and Creative Industries Unit.

Sections 1 to 4 of this report indicate that:

The decisions requested of the Mayor (in accordance with the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code) concerns the exercise of the GLA’s general powers, falling within the GLA’s statutory powers to do such things considered to further or which are facilitative of, conducive or incidental to the promotion of economic development, wealth creation, social development or the promotion of the improvement of the environment in Greater London; and in formulating the proposals in respect of which a decision is sought officers have complied with the GLA’s related statutory duties to;

• Pay due regards to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people;
• Consider how the proposals will promote the improvement of health of persons, health inequalities between persons and to contribute towards the achievement of sustainable development in the United Kingdom; and
• Consult with appropriate bodies.

In taking the decisions requested, the Mayor must have due regards to the Public Sector Equality Duty; namely the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010, and to advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (race, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion or share it and foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it (section 149 of the Equality Act 2010). To this end, the Mayor should have particular regarding to section 3 (above) of this report.

The Museum of London Act 1965 and 1986 stipulates the Board (made up of the GLA and the Corporation of the City of London) general functions include the general promotion, understanding and appreciation of historic and contemporary London and its society and culture. It may do such things as the Board considers necessary or expedient for such purposes. Furthermore, section 15 of The Museum of London Act 1965 states both the GLA and Corporation of the City of London will fund the Museum in respect of such part of the expenditure incurred or to be incurred on an equal financial split unless otherwise determined. This decision indicates the HLF funding being made available to the Museum of London by the GLA will go towards the general functions of the Museum of London.

The services of an external consultant, and certain activities in relation to the GEO Funding as detailed in paragraph 2 which are required must be procured by Transport for London Procurement who will determine the detail of the procurement strategy to be adopted in accordance with the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code. Officers must ensure that appropriate contract documentation is put in place and executed by the successful bidder and the GLA before the commencement of the required consultant services.

The contribution of the financial amounts as indicated in section 2 amounts to the provisions of grant funding and not payment for services. Officers must ensure that the grant funding indicated in paragraph 2 is distributed fairly, transparently, in accordance with the GLA’s equalities and in a manner which affords value for money in accordance with the Contracts and Funding Code. Officers must ensure than appropriate funding agreements are put in place between the GLA and the relevant recipients before any commitment to fund is made.