MD3237 - Sporting celebrations – planning costs

1.1.    In recent years London has been the backdrop for historical national sporting celebrations including the Rugby World Cup Parade in 2003; the Ashes Victory Parade in 2005; and the Team GB Olympic and Paralympic celebration events in 2012 and 2016. These are sporting moments that define a generation, create lasting memories, and provide the host city exposure on a global stage.
1.2.    In Summer 2023, the GLA – working with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), the National Lottery and the English Football Association (FA) (collectively, the event funders), and in consultation with London partners (Westminster City Council, the City of London, the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), Transport for London and The Royal Parks) – agreed that, should the England women’s team (the Lionesses) succeed in winning the FIFA Women’s World Cup, this would be marked by a parade and live celebration event in central London. This was to be the first parade of this scale in 11 years, and learnings from contingency preparations have been captured for future use. 
1.3.    The England men’s football team will participate in UEFA’s EURO 2024, taking place in Germany from 14 June to 14 July 2024. England are currently the joint favourites to win the tournament, based on bookmaker predictions.
1.4.    It has been agreed with the FA that, should England be successful, London will host the parade. The GLA is currently in the process of formalising memorandums of understanding with the FA and DCMS.
1.5.    As with all major events in the city, to ensure the safety of those in attendance, the GLA will need to appoint an events production company. The GLA should do so by Spring 2024 to ensure planning can commence with all London partners by early May, ahead of the tournament starting in mid-June. This timeline is critical to the project. Should England win – their first major men’s international victory since 1966 – London will attract huge crowds. The planning for this amongst the London partners will be significant. Tackling the largescale and lengthy procurement now will ensure the GLA has prudently put effective contingency plans in place to ensure the parade can go ahead. 
1.6.    Should the GLA not invest in this, it is highly likely that that English football victory celebrations would move to Manchester.
1.7.    The timeline described at paragraph 1.5, above, would enable the Major Sports Events (MSE) team to not only deliver a safe event, but also ensure they are following governance good practice by avoiding procuring under urgency – an approach that has previously received significant pushback from finance and governance perspectives. To complete the procurement of the event production agency by Spring 2024, this decision needs to be approved as soon as possible to allow a competitive tender to take place.
1.8.    Having undertaken the feasibility, scoping and planning of the Lionesses’ victory parade and celebration event, the GLA has now equipped itself with a range of skills and tools applicable to similar events in the future including a potential parade next summer. 
1.9.    The plans developed by the GLA include, but are not limited to, the following items that can be adapted for future events:
•    event management plan
•    traffic management and road closure plans
•    barrier plans
•    itinerary of infrastructure required for parade route and end show – including barriers, toilets, stage, audio/visual elements, and event-related signage
•    safety and security plans
•    crowd management plans
•    health and safety plans
•    risk assessments
•    CAD drawings detailing the parade route and end-show location. 
1.10.    Although the plans listed in paragraph 1.9 will support the planning for future parades, the additional planning required for a EURO 2024 men’s parade should not be underestimated. A significant uplift of crowd management, and safety and security planning, will be required to meet the increased scale of demand expected for an event of national importance – the like of which has not been seen for almost 60 years. 
1.11.    In addition to the parade planning, the GLA would also look to work with London partners to deliver a public screening site for the semi-final and the final, should the England team progress to these stages. London has previously set a precedent of planning and delivering public screening sites when the national football team makes it through to the semi-finals and/or final of the tournament. 
1.12.    In July 2018, the GLA – working with DCMS and the FA (the event funders), and in consultation with the MPS – delivered a screening of the men’s FIFA World Cup semi-final at Hyde Park. This used the existing infrastructure in place for the British Summer Time Hyde Park programme of concerts. In 2021, the GLA – as part of its host city contractual obligations to UEFA for EURO 2020 – hosted a screening site for the semi-final and final on Trafalgar Square. 
1.13.    This is the first time since 2018 that the England men’s team have played in an international summer tournament where London is not automatically delivering screening sites as part of their host city contractual obligations. 
1.14.    The GLA will undertake a scoping and feasibility exercise to identify potential sites in London to host a large-scale public screening, should England progress to the semi-finals and/or final of the 2024 tournament. Key considerations for identifying suitable sites include policing and security; public transport; venue capacity; mobilisation of production company; site licensing; and cost.
1.15.    Following EURO 2024, there are several events that the England men’s and women’s teams will be favourite to win. If the entire funding amount is not spent on a men’s parade in 2024, the remainder of the funding will be used to deliver celebratory parades and/or screenings for future events over the next five years, including the Women’s EURO 2025 and the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025. This decision seeks to ringfence this unused funding to ensure that celebratory parades and screenings are easier to secure and mobilise; and that internal finance and governance processes are also followed.
Funding proposal 
1.16.    The current event budget is a new funding request. The full amount (subject to approval) is detailed in the table below, which shows forecasted expenditure in 2024-25. However, if the entire amount is not spent on a men’s parade in 2024, the remaining funding will be ringfenced, in the Major Events reserve to deliver potential future events of this type.

1.17.    These costs are to be split between funding partners as below: 
•    GLA – contribution of up to a third of the total project costs of delivery of a parade and live celebration event 
•    DCMS – contribution of up to a third of the total project costs of delivery of a parade and live celebration event 
•    The FA – contribution of up to a third of total project costs focused on operational logistics and a live celebration event. 
1.18.    The GLA is in the process of finalising the memorandums of understanding with the FA and DCMS.
1.19.    Approval is sought from the Mayor to delegate authority to the Executive Director, Strategy and Communications to receive and spend funds from other organisations after this decision is signed, in order to be agile to accepting opportunities that may arise at short notice. 
Project governance
1.19    The GLA will meet regularly with the FA and DCMS (the funding partners) at project board meetings in the run-up to, and during, the tournament. 
1.20    The GLA will coordinate regular London partner meetings from early May onwards. The lead officer from the MSE team will ensure that the production agency, relevant London partners and the GLA are included in these meetings to offer project advice and support; and to ensure the project aligns with mayoral strategic priorities, and is delivered safely and securely. 
1.21    Due to the nature of the project and timeline, there will be sunk costs before it is clear whether England have won the tournament. These will be minimised through careful management of the delivery contract, and using the expertise of officers who have managed similar projects previously. A shared sunk-cost model will be agreed with DCMS prior to starting the project. 

2.1.    The objectives are to:
•    showcase London as the natural home for moments of national importance 
•    enable Londoners to join together and celebrate the team’s success and national pride
•    support delivery of the GLA’s MSE strategy, ‘London: Home of World Class Sport’
•    increase international exposure for London as a major destination for world-class sport and tourism
•    contribute to achieving the Mayor’s ‘Tourism Vision for London’.
 

3.1.    Under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, the Mayor and the 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 different 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.    In relation to the potential screening sites and victory parade, the MSE team will consult a wide range of stakeholders to ensure that as many Londoners as possible, including those with protected characteristics, are considered in the planning of the event and can be involved in some way.
3.4.    The team will ensure that appropriate assistance is given to all Londoners and visitors at the event with whom we may have difficulties communicating; and that those with accessibility issues are given the necessary tools for maximum engagement in the event.
 

4.1.    The main risks and mitigations are outlined in the table below.

Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities
4.2.    GLA support for the event will: 
•    support delivery of the GLA’s MSE framework, ‘London: Home of World Class Sport’
•    increase economic investment into London
•    support delivery of the Mayor’s sports strategy, ‘Sport Unites’
•    increase international exposure for London as a major destination for world-class sport and tourism, particularly in Europe.
4.3.    The table below shows how the event aligns to the current recovery missions.

5.1.    This decision requests approval for:
•    expenditure of up to £1.5m to cover the staging costs of delivering parades and potential screenings, over the next three years, should England win a major tournament(s)
•    the receipt of income on a cost-recovery basis and grant funding.
5.2.    The total cost of a parade or celebratory event is approximately £1.5m. The intention is to split the cost between other London partners to minimise the overall cost to the GLA. The current proposal, being finalised with DCMS and the FA is an equal share of all costs, including sunk costs. This means the total expected cost to the GLA is up to £500,000 per year.
5.3.    The funding for this request has been provisioned in the Major Events reserve. If approved, this can be drawn down against expenditure as required.
 

Power to undertake the requested decisions
6.1.     The foregoing sections of this report indicate that the decisions requested of the Mayor fall within the statutory powers of the GLA to promote and/or to do anything that is facilitative of, or conducive or incidental to, 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 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
•    consult with appropriate bodies.
6.2.    Furthermore, the decisions above also fall within the statutory powers of the GLA under section 378 of the Greater London Authority Act 1999 (the Act). Under that section, the GLA 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. As set out at paragraph 2.1, above, the holding of a sporting celebration serves to increase international exposure for London as a major destination for, inter alia, tourism.
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; advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (race, disability, sex, 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.
Procurement
6.4.    The first decision, above, seeks approval of £1.5m of expenditure to meet the costs of sporting celebrations over the next three years. There is a more detailed breakdown of projected expenditure on the various elements of the project at paragraph 1.16, above. Officers must comply with the requirements of the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code, when they undertake procurements of services or supplies in furtherance of the project. Furthermore, the officers must put in place contracts between the GLA and the relevant service providers and suppliers, before the corresponding services and supplies commence.
Receipt of funding
6.5.    The second decision, above, relates to the GLA’s receipt of grant funding from the FA and DCMS. Officers are reminded to comply with any conditions imposed upon the grant funding by those organisations. 
 

7.1.    The project will be delivered according to the following timetable: