MD2246 Global 24-Hour City Summit

London’s night time offer is an essential part of London life, making London a magnet for people from around the world. It encompasses restaurants and street food, theatres and cinemas, grassroots music venues and arenas. London’s nightlife attracts people to live here, as well as to study and visit. It is also one of the key reasons that businesses base themselves in London.

London’s night time economy supports 725,000 jobs and is worth over £26bn per year according to EY and London First. The Night Tube is helping to grow the economy and improve the lives of Londoners at night, particularly the night time workforce. Police officers, NHS workers, cleaners, lorry drivers, transport workers, library staff, artists, security officers and hotel staff all work at night. They need the same access to services as daytime workers.

Lifestyles are changing. Many more people choose to work later into the evening or earlier in the morning. They want to access health, fitness, leisure, retail and other services at the times they are free. London, like other cities, is also growing and is coming under increased pressure to deliver living as well as working space; provision for good quality rest as well as the opportunity for play; and affordable homes as well as affordable leisure. And all of this is happening in an ever more densely packed urban landscape. This change provides both opportunities and challenges.

Londoners are concerned about safety, noise, air pollution and the cleanliness of our public spaces. And whilst these are round-the-clock issues, planning well for them at night - as well as during the day - should be a priority. The Mayor recognises the importance of growing London’s night time culture and economy in a safe, sustainable way that meets the needs of all Londoners. That is why he has appointed London’s first Night Czar and engaged the London Night Time Commission. Together they are bringing local authorities, businesses, police, residents and workers together across the capital to shape the future of London at night.

London’s Night Czar and the Night Time Commission are part of a global network of Night Time Mayors and city governments, including in New York, Paris, Berlin and Amsterdam, who are facing similar challenges to developing the night time economy. The Global 24-Hour City Summit is an opportunity to share best practice and position London as a leading international 24-hour city. It will enable international shared learning on how global cities are adapting to the changing nature of cities at night.

The summit will help the growth and development of London as the leading global city in the creation of civic, social, cultural and economic night time policy. By bringing leading figures together from around the globe, London boroughs, businesses and residents will benefit from the latest thought and innovations in the management and promotion of cities at night. This international summit will enable the sharing of best practice, helping London to retain its competitive edge as a diverse and welcoming city where people from around the world can do businesses, work, study, raise a family and live flexible and fulfilling lives.

Cities such as Amsterdam, Melbourne, Tokyo, Paris, Berlin and Helsinki have expressed interest in coming to London to share the challenges they face, learn from London, and also share the solutions that they are implementing in their governments, businesses and communities.

The summit will leave a legacy for London by establishing a world-wide network of Night Time Mayors and leaders on the night time economy through which best practice can be shared. It will also inform the work of the Night Czar and position London as a place that welcomes night time businesses and their investment, reinforcing that London is open.

Sponsorship will be sought to help deliver the event. Conversations are underway with a sponsor to provide resources in kind to plan, manage and deliver the summit. Further partners have been identified to provide content, speakers and other support with costs such as food and drink, printed documents, accommodation and travel for delegates. It may be necessary to levy a reasonable charge to delegates in order to recover some costs. The pricing will take into consideration fair access and support for low-income delegates will be offered. A decision on whether to charge delegates will be taken when sponsorship income and event costs are confirmed.

Objectives

• To host a congress of Night Time Mayors and city officials from London, the UK and around the world in London
• To deliver learning through a two-day summit featuring inspirational talks and keynote speeches, discussions, site visits, night time activities and networking events

Outcomes

• Establish London as a city convening, leading and inspiring a local, national and global conversation about cities at night
• Inspire London businesses and boroughs, providing them with case studies and best practice from around the world
• Inform the work of the London Night Time Commission and Night Czar by sharing data, insights, ideas and innovations between leading night cities
• Global Night Time Mayors to explore the potential for establishing a Memorandum of Understanding with the aim of promoting and advocating for cities at night

The audience for the summit will be up to 200 change-makers including: local authorities; health, policing and transport sectors; the Mayor’s Night Time Borough Champions; London Night Time Commission members; London businesses; Business Improvement Districts; London residents’ representatives; Night Time Mayors from around the world; city representatives from across the UK and around the world; leading international thinkers and changemakers.

The themes of the summit will include: striking the balance - between our needs for work, rest and play in the development of cities at night; showcasing innovations in business practice and government policy that will enable sustainable development of cities at night; using data to tell the stories of global cities at night, reveal insights into how we live at night, and guide us in planning for the future of global cities. The GLA will present new data that has been gathered by the GLA Intelligence Unit, and other partners from London and around the world will highlight new data that helps us better plan cities at night.

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.

All aspects of equality and diversity will be taken into account during the planning of the summit, and in regard to the representation of the attendees, panellists and venue for the summit, including:

• The event will be planned in fully inclusive way, including in the setting of ticket pricing, to ensure the event is accessible to all Londoners and that representation mirrors London’s diversity;

• The roster of speakers, panellists and guests will be diverse, with a commitment to balanced representation of genders, people from underrepresented ethnic backgrounds, and other protected characteristics;

• All events will be held in accessible venues and accommodation and transport where required will also be accessible.

This event builds on the Mayor’s commitment to appoint a Night Czar and his Night Time Commission. It supports several key strategies including: The Mayor’s Vision for London as a 24-Hour City; The London Plan; The Mayor’s Police and Crime Plan; The Mayor’s Transport Strategy; The Mayor’s Culture Strategy; The Mayor’s Economic Development Strategy; The Mayor’s Social Integration Strategy; The London Food Strategy.

Key risks include:

• Poor uptake for the event. This will be mitigated by early ‘hold the date’ messages for a mailing list of global night time officials and businesses, early confirmation of headline speakers and themes and a strong communications plan. In the event that uptake is unsustainably low the event will be postponed to a later date within the financial year to enable further marketing activity to take place, or if appropriate moved to a smaller venue to allow a more targeted event to take place to achieve the objectives.

• Securing the sponsorship target. This will be mitigated by holding conversations with a range of potential sponsors. Conversations with one key sponsor are at an advanced stage. Sponsorship is likely to be a mixture of cash and in-kind support. The GLA corporate sponsorship team will be engaged to source additional partners and put contracts in place. If sponsorship is not forthcoming, the event can be delivered on a smaller budget, using GLA events spaces for example and reducing expenditure on receptions and accommodation for guests.

• Delays in delivering the event, or delivering an event that is below the quality expected of a global summit. This risk will be mitigated by working in partnership with established organisations, including the members of the Night Time Commission, TfL, London & Partners, London Councils, London First and the Met Police, and the office of the Night Mayor of Amsterdam – an experienced authority on cities at night. A dedicated, experienced freelance project manager will be hired, in line with GLA procurement policy, to ensure that seamless and high quality delivery of the event is achieved. The GLA Culture and Creative Industries Unit has experience of delivering other large scale international summits with key partners, including the World Cities Culture Forum summits.

Approval is being sought for a summit estimated to cost £150,000. The GLA funded component seeks to utilise the slippage of the 2017/18 Night Time Economy Programme of £50,000.

Funding for the remaining £100,000 is not fully confirmed at present. The Authority is in talks with various sponsors. As per paragraph 2.4, a levy may be charged to delegates to make up any funding shortfall. In the event a levy is proposed to be charged, that decision would need to be taken before any marketing materials go into production.

The Culture team, which is responsible for delivering this programme, has set out that any shortfall arising - either due to not securing sponsorship or due to poor uptake - will be managed by scaling back on activities as addressed in paragraph 4.2. Should it not prove possible to scale back the planned activities, any shortfall should be met by the Culture budget for 2018/19.

Paragraphs 1 to 2 of this report indicates that the decisions requested of the Mayor concern 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, conductive or incidental to the promotion of economic development and 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 regard 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 regard 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 belief, pregnancy and maternity and gender reassignment) 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 regard to Section 3 (above) of this report.

Any works, services or supplies 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(s) and the GLA before the commencement of the works, services or supplies.

Officers must ensure that sponsorship is sought in accordance with the sponsorship policy and appropriate sponsorship arrangements are put in place between and executed by the GLA and sponsor(s) before any reliance is placed on the sponsorship income and/benefits in kind.

Officers have indicated at paragraph 2.4, that they may wish to charge delegates to attend the summit. Section 93 of the Local Government Act 2003 permits the GLA to charge for discretionary services. The costs charged to delegates to attend this summit must not exceed the GLA’s costs of provision.

Officers must ensure that the freelance project manager to be appointed as described in paragraph 7.1 is recruited in accordance GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code and applicable HR policies.

The event will take place in Autumn 2018. It will be designed by the Night Czar, Night Time Manager and 24-Hour London Policy and Research Officer. It will be overseen by the Assistant Director for Culture and Creative Industries and report into the Deputy Mayor for Culture and Creative Industries. A freelance project manager will be appointed in Spring 2018 to manage the logistical aspects of the event, oversee the management of delegates, and secure speakers and panellists.

The event will be planned and delivered with external partners, including EY and the Night Time Mayor of Amsterdam Mirik Milan, alongside the members of the London Night Time Commission. The Mayor’s Night Time Borough Champions, from every London borough, will also support the planning and delivery of the event.

Wherever possible GLA in-house resource and the resource of partners organisations will be used to minimise cost e.g. event spaces, catering, project management, design and marketing, facilitators, stewards and guides.

Expenditure will include: venue hire, receptions and catering, technical support, equipment hire, stewarding, transport between venues, project management, printing and production costs.