MD3024 Major Ceremonials Resourcing

1.1.    The Major Ceremonials team sits within the City Operations Unit. It supports HM Government with the coordination of London’s agencies in the planning of, and delivery for, events of national significance – mainly Operation London Bridge. 
1.2.    Following agreement between the GLA and HM Government in February 2018, the City Operations Unit was tasked to look at London’s state of readiness with regards to Operation London Bridge. The Major Ceremonials team was established to deliver this, and one post was developed as a secondment opportunity. Through this work, significant gaps within the event management and multi-agency command structure for London became apparent. 
1.3.    Work continued into 2020, with one member of staff looking after all aspects of the GLA remit for Operation London Bridge. At this point it was deemed that support was required; in May 2020 the secondment opportunity was made into the full-time post of Major Ceremonials Manager (Grade 11), and approval was given to hire a Senior Project Coordinator (Grade 7).
1.4.    The Major Ceremonials team has since designed a governance structure that supports London’s multi-agency planning and operations, to ensure that an integrated London response to Operation London Bridge can be planned and delivered. The Major Ceremonials team also successfully supported London’s agencies following the death of HRH the Duke of Edinburgh in 2021. 
1.5.    The GLA’s responsibilities have grown considerably since first becoming involved in Bridges planning – and, in particular, since the COVID-19 pandemic, when responsibility for delivery of the key ceremonial days in London was transferred from the DCMS to the GLA.
1.6.    The Major Ceremonials team manages the GLA’s core responsibilities with regards to events. These are split into two categories: external and internal. External deliverables include delivery of the public ceremonial viewing areas and screen sites; crowd management, and public safety and security; pan-London coordination; and London governance. Internal deliverables include the press and unaccredited media process; volunteer programmes; the Trafalgar Square and Parliament Square responses; and supporting the Mayor’s Office on activation.  
1.7.    In recent years, both the Cabinet Office and the DCMS team have grown considerably. There is a significant amount of pressure on the GLA not only to plan, but also to test, exercise and assure plans to government. 
1.8.    The current requirement of work well exceeds the capacity of the current team of two people. Therefore, it was proposed that additional resource is required to ensure high-risk elements of the plan are developed, and to boost resilience in the team. 
1.9.    In March 2022 an independent review of the GLA’s planning for Operation London Bridge, commissioned by the DCMS, recommended: “The GLA team planning for London Bridge should be reinforced.”
1.10.    A resourcing paper was written by the GLA for the DCMS, which included all the information laid out in section 2. The DCMS has agreed to fund the three posts identified as being required on a yearly basis. One-year fixed term contracts will be offered and will need to be extended in agreement with HM Government for each financial year until demise occurs. This decision seeks the approval for the extension of these three roles for up to ten years (financial year 2031-32). 
1.11.    The recruitment process for the three roles has now taken place and the successful candidates are going through pre-employment checks and serving their notice periods before joining the Major Ceremonials team in July 2022. The posts were approved via CO370.
 

Major Ceremonials resourcing
2.1.    The objective is to support the successful delivery of Operation London Bridge and potentially other major ceremonial events through recruiting three additional members of staff into the Major Ceremonials team on one-year fixed-term contracts, which can be extended on a yearly basis depending on when demise occurs. 
2.2.    This new structure will enable the workload to be split accordingly across these roles: 
•    Major Ceremonials Manager (existing role): will have oversight of all work and contract deliverables associated with the delivery of Operation London Bridge, as well as accountability for the operational delivery of the London Plan.
•    Senior Project Coordinator (existing role): will provide the secretariat function for the London governance structures, and provide administration and finance support to the team and unit. 
•    Senior Major Ceremonials Officer (new role): will specifically manage the Internal GLA Plan, with a focus on the Volunteering Plan and the Pan-London Coordination Plan, and logistics for delivery, as well as dedicated event workstreams such as Hyde Park screen sites and people access. 
•    Senior Major Ceremonials Officer (new role): will specifically manage the crowd management and stewarding plans and the transport plans, along with dedicated event workstreams such as ceremonial and event footprint and vehicle accreditation, and Operation Stack. This role will also look after the testing and exercising programme as laid out by the Cabinet Office each year. 
•    Comms and Engagement Manager (new role): will manage the London Comms group and all operational communications to support the event management plan in partnership with London stakeholders. The role will also roll out the engagement programme (which is essential to successful delivery of the event), engaging with client groups such as all London boroughs; utilities companies; transport partners; and businesses and residents in the event footprint.
2.3.    The new roles will all be managed by the GLA Major Ceremonials Manager.

2.4. A section 31 grant agreement will be put in place between DCMS and the GLA but the letter of agreement to funding  of the three new roles is attached in appendix A.

3.1.    Under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, as a public authority, the GLA is subject to a 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; and foster good relations between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not. Protected characteristics under section 149 of the Equality Act are age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, and marriage or civil partnership status (all except the last being “relevant” protected characteristics).
3.2.    London’s diversity is its biggest asset, and the GLA strives to ensure our workforce reflects London's diversity at all levels. It welcomes applications from everyone regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, faith or disability.
3.3.    Candidates who declare a disability on their application form are eligible for the guaranteed interview scheme, if they demonstrate “acceptable performance” against the requirements outlined in the person specification.
3.4.    The GLA is committed to being an inclusive employer and is happy to consider flexible working arrangements. 
3.5.    All interviews carried out for the new roles comply with the 100 per cent diverse interview panel recruitment practice.

4.1.    The Major Ceremonials team is also in discussions with the Ministry of Defence to source some additional resource, on top of the three roles highlighted in this paper, with a military planner that will work to develop a Military Aid to the Civil Authorities request for Operation London Bridge. The request is for military personnel to undertake stewarding responsibilities in London during Operation London Bridge, in the event of insufficient stewarding being available from civilian steward contractors.
4.2.    The Major Ceremonials team is also in discussions with HM Government regarding an additional secondment opportunity for two Cabinet Office members of staff within the team. Their roles would be to improve communication and coordination between the GLA and HM Government; and to provide additional scenario planning, assurance of plans and potential exercise capability.
4.3.    It is accepted that there is significant public interest in the arrangements being made as part of Operation London Bridge and the associated costs. However, this is outweighed by the need for discretion about the funeral arrangements for HM Queen Elizabeth II, who is still alive. Following demise, and after completion of the event delivery, a financial report will be published within 60 days that will establish the costs associated with this resourcing.
4.4.    Freedom of Information requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis, but it is anticipated that it may not be appropriate to respond fully.
4.5.    There are no interests to be declared from those involved in drafting this decision.
 

Mayoral approval is sought for receipt and expenditure of up to £180,000 for the three additional posts required for the financial year 2022-23 (£135,000) and 2023-24 (£45,000), consisting of up to:
•    £118,000 for two Senior Major Ceremonial Officers (Grade 8)
•    £62,000 for one Comms and Engagement Manager (Grade 9).
5.2     These posts are to be fully funded by DCMS as per their funding letter (see Appendix A). Mayoral approval is also sought for     continuation of government funding for these three posts for the duration of the major ceremonials partnership with DCMS (up to ten years), with incremental annual costs applied and agreed with the DCMS in advance of contract extensions. 
5.3     These three posts and funding will be managed by Major Ceremonials team part of City Operation’s unit withing Strategy and Communication’s Directorate. 

6.1.    The foregoing sections of this report indicate that the decisions requested of the Mayor fall within the statutory powers of the Authority to promote and/or to do anything which is facilitative of or conducive or incidental to social development and economic development and wealth creation within Greater London and in formulating the proposals in respect of which a decision is sought officers have complied with the Authority’s related statutory duties to:
(a)    pay due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people
(b)    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
(c)    consult with appropriate bodies.
6.2.    Furthermore, decisions 1, 2, 3 and 4 fall within the statutory powers of the Authority under section 378 of the Greater London Authority Act 1999 (the “Act”). Under that section, the Authority has the power to do anything for the purposes of encouraging people to visit Greater London and to encourage people from outside the United Kingdom to visit the United Kingdom via Greater London.  Working with DCMS and other bodies on Major Ceremonials activities will serve to promote London nationally and internationally as a destination to visit, study and do business.
6.3.    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 between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (race, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity and gender reassignment) and persons who do not 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 regard to section 3 (above) of this report.
6.4.    Should the Mayor be minded to make the decisions sought officers must ensure that they comply with all relevant GLA HR protocols to the extent applicable to the proposed staffing matters.     
 

7.1.    Recruitment for the three roles began in March 2022 with interviews taking place in April and May. The successful candidates are now going through pre-employment checks and serving their notice periods before joining the Major Ceremonials team.
7.2.    The staff contracts will be issued as one-year fixed term and will need to be extended in agreement with HM Government for each financial year until demise occurs, up to 2031-32 under this current decision. 
7.3.    There is no set timeline for the events, as the date is unknown. Given the importance of London being prepared, planning, testing and exercising will continue at pace.