MD2950 Notting Hill Carnival 2022, 2023 and 2024

1.1    This decision form seeks the Mayor’s approval of the GLA’s allocation of up to £1.95m over three years (2022, 2023 and 2024) to provide support for Notting Hill Carnival’s stewarding and community engagement programmes.
1.2    The Greater London Authority (GLA) has powers and duties under the Greater London Authority Act 1999 (GLA Act) to promote wealth creation, economic and social development, and improvement of the environment in Greater London; and to promote tourism to, in and through Greater London. Events have a profound potential to bring economic and social benefits to the city. Major events can raise the city’s profile and present a positive image to the world’s media and potential visitors. 
1.3    The Notting Hill Carnival has been staged in London over the August bank holiday weekend every year (except 2020 and 2021, due to COVID-19) since 1965. It is a great celebration of Caribbean culture and one of London's highest-profile public events, attracting people from across not only the capital, but also the UK and overseas. It is Europe’s largest Carnival event and attracts approximately 1m visitors over the weekend every year. 
1.4    The artistic vision of Carnival is to foster the creative development and enhancement of diverse artistic excellence; and to transform perceptions of Carnival culture locally, nationally and internationally. The event celebrates the history of Carnival, and reflects diverse artistic elements, cultural identity, heritage and community cohesion. 
1.5    In addition to the weekend event, there is an associated programme of community-led work that runs throughout the year. This work includes Carnival Arts education projects. Combined, these programmes and events support the GLA’s duty to promote tourism to, in and through Greater London; and the exercise of powers to promote social development.

Organisation of Carnival
1.6    Unlike many other large-scale events, Notting Hill Carnival has developed organically rather than being driven by a particular group or individual. As such, the lines of responsibility and management has historically been blurred. This has necessitated a higher level of support from the local authorities and agencies to support the delivery of a safe event.
1.7    The event occurs across two London boroughs: the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC), which covers most of the event footprint; and Westminster City Council (WCC). Both councils support Notting Hill Carnival with funding and through trading stalls, enforcement, and provision of infrastructure and utilities such as toilets and water. Brent Council, on the periphery, is also impacted.
1.8    Carnival is supported in the operational planning and delivery of the event by key statutory agencies, which together form the Licensing Operational Safety Planning Group (LOSPG). These are the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS); London Fire Brigade (LFB); Transport for London (TfL); and the NHS and its partner, St John Ambulance. 
1.9    There is also a Notting Hill Strategic Partners Group (SPG) to advise on strategic issues related to Carnival. Senior members of the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC), the GLA, WCC, RBKC, TfL, the MPS, Arts Council England, the London Ambulance Service (LAS) and the official Notting Hill Carnival event organiser are represented in the SPG. 
1.10    The strategic partners of Carnival have a joined-up approach to supporting the safe and successful delivery of a community-led Notting Hill Carnival event. With RBKC as the main host borough, taking the primacy on tendering a funding opportunity for a community-led organiser for Carnival, other strategic partners offer funding commitments to the successful bidder.
1.11    In 2018, Carnival Village Trust (CVT) was successful in its bid for RBKC’s grant funding to support its delivery of the Carnival. CVT was subsequently successful in bidding for a three-year funding opportunity for 2019, 2020 and 2021, which the strategic partners supported and aligned their own funding commitments towards.

COVID-19 impact and funding
1.12    Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Notting Hill Carnival was cancelled in 2020 and 2021; instead CVT delivered digital events and smaller controlled events to support and highlight Carnival arts and culture. The GLA provided reduced funding to support community engagements and stewarding across the weekend, as requested by the SPG and statutory agencies supporting Notting Hill Carnival.
1.13    Following the cancellation of Notting Hill Carnival in 2020 and 2021, RBKC has agreed to extend its funding agreement for two further years with CVT (2022 and 2023), to enable three event delivery years as the original funding agreement intended. This decision was approved under cover of a RBKC Key Decision Report, with the strategic partners supportive of this decision. 
1.14    During 2023 RBKC will begin the process of competing a funding opportunity for a community-led event organiser for Notting Hill Carnival in 2024-26 – noting that an organiser would need a full-year-planning timeline to deliver the event. RBKC will set an associated budget following the local elections in May 2022. Given the long-standing support for Notting Hill Carnival, it is anticipated that the post-election executive will continue to be supportive of this position.

Community engagement for Carnival
1.15    After Carnival 2017, it became apparent through public consultations and direct communication from local groups with the relevant authorities that greater engagement was needed with the wider (and vast) Carnival community; and that they should have a greater say in the planning process, which they believed was being denied to them. This call for change was particularly noteworthy in light of the Grenfell Tower fire, which was followed by strengthened active community engagement with Notting Hill Carnival.
1.16    Since taking over the planning of Carnival, CVT engaged with the individual arenas – the Carnival Arts and Masquerade Foundation, the Caribbean Music Association, the British Association of Static Sites and the Association of British Calypsonians – and brought them into the early stages of planning, along with the wider carnival community. 
1.17    To date, CVT has overseen a significant improvement in community consultation and engagement. Indeed, it has been widely acknowledged that the 2018 and 2019 Carnivals were some of the better managed in the event’s immediate history, with improved community engagement, better understanding of the organisers plans, and improved crowd safety. That said, it should be noted that the relationships with the individual carnival arenas and further community relationships remain a challenge.
1.18    There is a requirement by all local authority funders that CVT, or any future organisers, would undertake significant community engagement in the development, planning and delivery of Carnival.

Crowd safety
1.19    The sheer numbers of people attending the Notting Hill Carnival in a relatively small residential area necessitates a significant crowd management and stewarding operation. As a community-led event with limited income streams, the organisers of Carnival have been unable to fully provide this, resulting in a high police presence to ensure crowd safety alongside protecting public order. 
1.20    To help reduce the reliance on policing to manage crowds, and improve safety at the event, the GLA has provided funding to the Carnival organisers to enhance the crowd management and stewarding operation. 
1.21    In 2017, following an independent, SPG-commissioned crowd dynamics review, which indicated several areas for improvement and requiring greater resource, the GLA increased its level of funding for stewarding. It also supported a proposal for a longer-term community steward training programme, which supported both the community engagement and the upskilling of local people from disadvantaged groups. It is proposed that funding is retained to support these aspects of Carnival delivery. 

Funding costs
1.22    To support these recommendations, approval is sought for the expenditure of up to £650,000 (annually in 2022, 2023 and 2024) to enable CVT, or another future organiser of Carnival, to implement the stewarding provision at the event, in line with the recommendations of the crowd dynamics review. 
1.23    This funding, to support the stewarding provision at Carnival, also supports the MPS in ensuring the policing operation is focused on public safety, in the context of the threat level, and on the prevention of crime and disorder. Funding will also support the running of a community steward training programme and community engagement programme for the event and event planning. 
1.24    This Mayoral Decision seeks approval for expenditure in 2024-25, noting that this will fall under a new mayoral term. This is due to the lead time needed to plan, and even to support the planning, of a complex major public event.  It is also worth noting that the GLA has supported Notting Hill Carnival over all administrations; as such, given the importance of the event to London and the nature of our funding – focused on community engagement and stewarding – it seems a low risk that a future Mayor might want to remove funding. Notwithstanding this, appropriate break clauses will be factored into funding agreements along with suitably timed milestones, to provide some flexibility to any post-election administration to re-consider its provision of resources.
1.25    The expenditure outlined above was baselined for 2022-23 as part of the corporate budget-setting process; and is the same level of funding that was set pre-pandemic in 2018 and 2019, with no inflationary increase. Whilst the grant funding will be confined to the outlined expenditure, it is anticipated that there may be significant budget pressures on the Carnival organisers, for which they may seek additional support. The GLA’s provision of any additional funding sought will be subject to obtaining further approvals.   
1.26    These budget pressures anticipated are likely to result from cost increases, and supply chain challenges, seen across the events industry. Since the pandemic, many businesses within the sector have not survived and other suppliers have effectively created a monopoly in the market. We have also seen a significant increase in the expectations and requirements imposed by local authorities due to the pandemic. Brexit has also had an impact on the supply chain, although due to the absence of events during the pandemic, we have not yet fully understood the direct impact of this.
1.27    As well as the general impact of inflation and fuel/transport cost rises, increases have been seen in the following areas: 
•    Stewarding and local crew/staffing – increases are due to a nationally recognised shortage of stewards (as mentioned in the recent Casey report on the issues at Wembley Stadium during the Euros). Costs have gone up significantly due to limited capacity and higher management fees. Hourly and day rate increases are also being seen across site crew. 
•    Site infrastructure and services (e.g., toilets, fencing, generators, marquees, materials, etc) – prices have doubled due to current low supply across the UK. There is also a shortage of available drivers. The events industry is currently paying a significant premium for all these services. 
•    Staff covid testing – these costs are being passed on through the supply chain. Building in greater staff contingency during the event build/delivery/closedown process to address short-notice absence caused by staff needing to isolate. 
 

2.1    Providing funding to support the meeting of costs of stewarding provision at the event will help CVT, or any future community-led organiser of Carnival, deliver the crowd management plans produced to ensure a safer event and minimise the impact on agency services and local communities, as well as responding to community pressure seeking more engagement in this area. The GLA, through the Operational Planning Safety Group, will monitor the outcomes against the stewarding plan and an agreed set of deliverables. 
2.2    The wider benefits of the event, whilst difficult to measure, are:
•    an enhanced positive profile for London, encouraging economic investment and tourism
•    education and increased awareness of other communities in London, encouraging social integration and cohesion
•    increased skills through training, volunteering and employment opportunities
•    increased sense of community through volunteering opportunities and social interaction at the event
•    encouraging Londoners’ sense of pride in their city
•    enjoyment and satisfaction to support the wellbeing of Londoners and improving their health and quality of life: this is particularly applicable to Londoners with limited disposable income, as free events offer access to the arts and entertainment, which they may otherwise not be able to experience. 
2.3      This activity and the impact of the GLA funding proposed will be measured through feedback from the multi-agency LOSPG and strategic partners throughout the planning process for Carnival. In addition, market research carried out by the organiser will identify the profile of event attendees; audience engagement; awareness and sentiment; and digital traffic and click-through rates on the official website. 
 

3.1    Under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, the Mayor and GLA are subject to the public sector equality duty and must have due regard to the need to:
•    eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment, and victimisation
•    advance equality of opportunity between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not
•    foster good relations between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not. 
3.2    The “protected characteristics” are age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, and marriage/ civil partnership status. The duty involves having appropriate regard to these matters as they apply in the circumstances, including having regard to the need to: remove or minimise any disadvantage suffered by those who share or are connected to a protected characteristic; take steps to meet the diverse needs of such people; and encourage them to participate in public life or in any other activity where their participation is disproportionately low. This can involve treating people with a protected characteristic more favourably than those without one. 
3.3    Notting Hill Carnival is one of London’s largest cultural events, delivered primarily by London’s Black Caribbean and Black African communities. Community stakeholder groups are engaged in the planning and promotion of the event, ensuring that it is appropriate and representative of the carnival community that it promotes. As a Black and Asian Minority Ethnic community and volunteer-delivered event with an international profile, there are limited resources to provide the infrastructure that an event of this scale requires. By providing this funding, the GLA is supporting its safe and successful delivery for the community, for Londoners and for the many national and international visitors who attend. 
3.4    Whilst primarily delivered by London’s Black Caribbean and Black African communities, Notting Hill Carnival is a major international event that is inclusive and aimed at bringing people from different communities together to help foster good inter-community relations. This is achieved through the programme content, and the widespread media coverage and profile it receives. The preparation for Carnival involves many outreach programmes in music and arts education. Applicants for funding as the community organiser must demonstrate their connection to Notting Hill Carnival; and the ability to manage a board of Carnival representatives that consists of community stakeholders across all Carnival disciplines.
 

Key risks and issues
4.1    Whilst the GLA is not responsible for public safety at Notting Hill Carnival, it takes reasonable steps to assist in the mitigation of public safety risks, as far as is possible, through the support given to the community event organiser.
4.2    In its strategic role for London, the GLA supports Notting Hill Carnival, as a major event of significant benefit to the city, by providing funding to the organiser (CVT or any future event organiser) to support its stewarding of, and thus public safety at the event.
4.3    The table below shows the key risks, and corresponding mitigations/responses: 

Link to Mayoral strategies and priorities
4.4    In approving funding for Notting Hill Carnival, this links to the following:
•    The GLA commitment to: support festivals which form centrepieces in the city’s calendar of events, here in particular events to celebrate Black culture.
•    Recovery mission – Engaging Londoners: ensuring Londoners are informed and equipped to participate in the capital’s recovery, including through mass public engagement, research and community and cultural engagement designed to include those most affected by the pandemic; developing engagement activity that enables Londoners to connect and come together around celebrations, commemorations and opportunities to share in cultural activities and feel united in London life, noting the uncertainty caused by the current context; and continuing to support cultural activities that help Londoners to engage with the cultural and community life of their city.
•    Recovery mission – Building Strong Communities: focusing on hyperlocal, community-led activities and co-productions with a priority on working with and through Londoners most affected by the pandemic.
•    Recovery mission – High Streets for All: developing the capacity of local authorities and town centre partnerships to work with community groups and the private sector to plan for, safeguard and directly deliver a diverse, resilient, and thriving mix of high street and town centre activity within easy reach of all Londoners; and promoting existing community and cultural spaces; and promote cultural engagement.
•    Recovery mission – Helping Londoners into Good Work: supporting Londoners into good jobs with a focus on sectors key to London’s recovery.
•    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; and enabling all Londoners to benefit from the city’s fantastic arts and culture.
•    All of Us – Strategy for Social Integration: using sport, volunteering, arts and culture as powerful tools for social integration; and establishing London’s reputation as a welcoming city for newcomers from other parts of the UK and abroad, with opportunities to feel a strong connection and positive sense of belonging to the city in which they are living.
•    Culture strategy: the Mayor will continue to fund festivals and events with an emphasis on more community involvement, increasing quality, raising London’s profile, and increasing volunteering.
•    Inclusive London – the Mayor’s equality, diversity, and inclusion strategy: celebrating London’s rich diversity; and bringing communities together through a series of high-profile, accessible and inclusive events and campaigns.

Consultation and impact assessment 
4.5    The SPG provides strategic support for the event from RBKC, WCC, the MPS, TfL, MOPAC, and the GLA, working alongside the event organiser. 
4.6    The organiser engages with the wider community and stakeholders to ensure that the community is represented from all generations. Public correspondence via the GLA Public Liaison Unit, WCC and RBKC, and market research at the event, are also considered for future planning of the event where comments and improvement suggestions are made and may be reasonably implemented. 
4.7    The impact and assessment of the event will be through the multi-agency planning process LOSPG and other subgroups, whose members include WCC, RBKC, the MPS, TfL, the LAS, LFB, CVT (or another organiser), MOPAC and other key stakeholders. This is to ensure that the event is delivered safely and adheres to the regulations regarding licensing, noise, crowd management and infrastructure.

Conflicts of interest
4.8    There are no known conflicts of interest in relation to this decision paper and those involved in the delivery of the programme.
 

5.1    The GLA is looking to enter a three-year funding package to deliver the Notting Hall Carnival programme, which will be governed by a funding agreement. The proposed funding package is worth up to £1,950,000 for the three years (£650,000 annually in 2022, 2023 and 2024). 
5.2    The annual costs of £650,000 will be funded from the planned Notting Hill Carnival budget within the Major Events budget provision for 2022-23 to 2024-25, subject to the Authority’s annual budget-setting process. Any increases in costs detailed in section 1.22 to 1.27 is to be approved via further approval process.
5.3    In order for the GLA to be satisfied with CVT or any future event organiser’s capacity and financial status to successfully administer the proposed grant award, funding will be subject to satisfactory due diligence; checks on an annual basis; and mitigations included in the funding agreement to protect the GLA’s financial investment in the programme.
5.4    Break clauses will be included in the funding agreement and milestones will be structured to enable the re-consideration of providing funding in future years. 
5.5    The Major Events team within the Strategy and Communications Directorate will manage this programme.
 

6.1    The foregoing sections of this report indicate that the decisions requested of the Mayor fall within the exercise of the GLA’s statutory duties to promote tourism to, in and through Greater London; and powers to promote and/or to do anything that is facilitative of, or conducive or incidental to, social development within Greater London. In formulating the proposals in respect of which a decision is sought, officers have complied with the Authority’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
•    consult with appropriate bodies.
6.2    In taking the decisions requested of him, 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, and foster good relations, between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (race, disability, gender reassignment, age, sex, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity, and marital or civil partnership status) 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.
6.3    Officers have indicated that the expenditure proposed amounts to the provision of grant funding as a contribution to related third-party project costs, and not a payment for services to be provided. They must therefore ensure that the proposed funding is disbursed in a fair and transparent manner, in accordance with the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code; and that a funding agreement is put in place between and executed by the GLA and CVT, or future event organiser, before any commitment to provide the funding is made. 
6.4    Officers must ensure that the terms of the proposed funding agreement do not have the effect of fettering the discretion of any successor administration, considering the London elections taking place in May 2024. Accordingly, the GLA must include the right to terminate the agreement at any point for convenience provisions and manage the agreement and milestones so as to mitigate risks of elevated levels of abortive expenditure being incurred.   
 

7.1    The project delivery timeline is outlined below: