FOI - Borough of Culture 2024 [Feb 2024]

Your request 

1. Please provide copies of the bids submitted in the latest round that closed in November 2023.
2. Please provide the details of the members of the panel who will make the decision.
3. Please provide the criteria for the assessment of the award?

Our response

1. Please note that this information is exempt from disclosure under the exemption for Commercial Interests at section 43(2) of the FOIA. Section 43(2) provides that information can be withheld from release if its release would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person. A commercial interest relates to a person’s ability to participate competitively in a commercial activity and in this instance, we are in the process of assessing the bids submitted in the latest round of the London Borough of Culture competition.  

Disclosure of the bids at this time would be prejudicial to both the GLA and the London Boroughs who have taken part in the latest round of funding. Disclosure would be likely to cause lobbying / undue influence over any decisions before the awards have been announced. 

Further, the bids contain commercially sensitive information, which would affect the competitive environment under which the successful bidder will be required to undertake any tendering for sub-contractors to help deliver the outcomes that they aim to achieve. This in turn will have a detrimental effect on the public purse if the process is disrupted before it has concluded, and the ability of the successful bidder to obtain best value with the funds that will be awarded. 

The GLA is satisfied that in this instance disclosure of this information would be likely to, prejudice or harm the commercial interests of the GLA and the competing London boroughs.

Section 43(2) constitutes a qualified exemption from our duty to disclose information under the FOIA and consideration must be given as to whether the public interest favouring disclosure of the information covered by this exemption outweighs the public interest considerations favouring maintaining the exemption and withholding the information.

In this instance the GLA recognises the legitimate public interest in the transparency regarding how public funds are awarded and the decision-making process behind such activity. In balancing the public interest in disclosure, we consider the greater good or benefit to the community if the information is released or not. The ‘right to know’ must be balanced against the need to enable effective government and serve the best interests of the public. Although in many cases disclosure promotes competition, there is undoubtedly a public interest in allowing public authorities to withhold information which, if disclosed, would negatively affect their ability to fairly award public funds and to pre-empt the any decision-making process before it has a had a chance to conclude. In this case, it is felt that the public interest would not be met by revealing information which would be likely to be detrimental to the way in which the London Borough of Culture competition is conducted. 

2. Please provide the details of the members of the panel who will make the decision 

Bids have been reviewed by GLA Officers across a wide range of policy teams, including, Culture, Creative Industries and 24 Hour London, Health, Environment, Regeneration, Transport, Skills, Civil Society and Sport, Events and Communities. They have also been reviewed by the Strategic Partners’ Board, including Arts Council England, National Lottery Heritage Fund and Paul Hamlyn Foundation.  

All boroughs were invited to interview, with a panel of cultural sector representatives, chaired by the Assistant Director of Culture, Creative Industries and 24 Hour London.  

The final decision on the awards will be taken by the Mayor of London. 

The Panel members were:

• Susie Thornberry is currently Artistic Director at Metal Culture, which works to inspire positive social change through art and creativity; a member of English Heritage’s London Blue Plaque’s Panel; a Commissioner of Historic England; and a trustee of Battersea Arts Centre. She has experience across arts and heritage including at Artichoke; The Tower of London; and Imperial War Museums, where she was director of public engagement.
• Deborah Williams OBE. With over 30 years’ experience working above and below the line in television, film and theatre, as well as policy development across the wider creative and cultural industries. She is the architect and designer of the BFI Diversity standards that were adopted by The Oscars and BAFTA in 2020.  As well as sitting on panels and steering groups for many organisations, Deborah is known in her own right as an artist provocateur having won awards and nominations nationally and internationally. Her work in theatre is acknowledged as a catalyst for challenge and change in perceptions of disability and difference. In 2019 she was awarded the Lifetime Achievement award from Inclusive Companies for her body of work in the area of diversity and culture. She is a Disabled Powerlister 2018, 2019 & 2022. In June 2022 Deborah was awarded an OBE in the Queens Platinum Jubilee Birthday honours, for services to diversity in arts and creative industries.
• David Jubb. David co-founded Citizens In Power with Saad Eddine Said in 2023. He was Artistic Director and CEO of Battersea Arts Centre from 2004-19, Chair of Kneehigh Theatre from 2008-13, inaugural Chair of London Theatre Consortium from 2012-2015, inaugural Advisory Council member for Creative Industries Federation 2015-16 (now Creative UK), panellist on the inquiry into the Civic Role Of Arts Organisations by Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation 2017-18; member of Arts Council England’s Ten Year Strategy External Reference Group from 2018-2019. David is an Honorary Fellow of Central School and has an Honorary Doctorate at Roehampton University.
• Chenine Bhathena. Chenine is a senior cultural leader, strategic entrepreneur, programme architect and creative commissioner.  Currently Director of Culture and Environment at Brighton and Hove City Council.

  Chenine was Creative Director at Coventry 2021,UK City of Culture (2018-2022), having worked at GLA for 9 years driving a Culture and Placemaking agenda (2009-2018), including initiating major high profile/high impact programmes including: London 2012 Festival, London Borough of Culture, The Illuminated River, Lumiere 2016 and the Thames Estuary Production Corridor.  She developed guidance for Culture and Business Improvement Districts, Culture and A-Z Planning, and commissioned visions for the Royal Docks and other opportunity areas, in partnership with funders, strategic agencies, universities, boroughs and developers. Chenine led the London Culture Forum with London Councils, putting Cultural Engagement and Production at the centre of the growth agenda.  Previously Chenine led the National Outdoor Arts Strategy for Arts Council England (2006-2009) and spent 15 years before this as an independent strategic arts producer.

  Chenine is committed to demonstrating the social value of arts and culture, promoting radical hope, cultural democracy and a participant culture that expresses the true lived experience of people across our places/nation. Committed to ensuring that more people have equal access to arts & cultural lives, to expressing their own creativity, and creating compelling diverse stories about 21st century Britain.

3. Please provide the criteria for the assessment of the award 

For details on the criteria for assessment, please find this information on our webpage Become a London Borough of Culture | London City Hall