FOI - State of London Debate 28 June 2022 [Sep 2022]

Your request

1. All internal correspondence and communications held by the GLA and Mayor’s Office that refers to campaigners and their attempts to attend the State of London Debate on 28 June 2022.
2. All correspondence between the GLA and Mayor’s Office and The O2 that refers to campaigners and their attempts to attend the State of London Debate.
3. All correspondence between the GLA and Mayor’s Office and external organisations and companies that refers to campaigners and their attempts to attend the State of London Debate.

Our response

The State of London Debate took place at the O2 and the event security was provided by the venue. 

The following is an extract from an email between the GLA’s Events for London team and GLA Security on 20 July 2022 discussing a complaint made by an individual related to the State of London Debate:

'Hi [ personal data redacted ]

Most of the information I was made aware of on the night relating to the potential for 
protesters with the specific intention of disrupting a lawful meeting e.g. secreting banners on their person etc. and the intelligence supporting this, and the fact that they were on the list of ticket holders, as such I fully concurred with the O2’s intelligence and the decision not to allow access due to the high probability they would disrupt the meeting. They were not 
demonstrating or protesting and their specific aim would have been to stop/disrupt the 
meeting. [ ]

[ security information redacted ]

O2’s security intelligence unit is extremely good and effective, and I saw no reason not to listen to the intelligence being filtered through on the night, I believe they successfully prevented a protest within the venue which could have stopped the SOLD meeting unnecessarily. 

In 2019, we did have protests at the SOLD as a direct result of allowing groups into the venue who were set on disrupting proceedings, we did not want a reoccurrence of that in 2022.

I hope this provides some clarification.

Regards
[ personal data redacted ]'

In the extract above, we have redacted a very small amount of information which relates to individuals’ personal data and to the security plan on the night of the event.

We also hold an email from the O2’s security team to the GLA dated 19 July 2022 regarding the complaint. Details relating to the specific complaint are not included because these do not fall within the scope of your request. Furthermore, the content relates to that individual and is personal data exempt under Section 40 (2). 

The 19 July email contains some information related to security on the night, with reference to the campaigners present, which falls in scope of your request. However, this information is exempt from disclosure under Section 31(1)(a) the prevention or detection of crime and 
Section 38 (1)(b) – Health and safety.

If you have any further questions relating to this matter, please contact us, quoting 
reference MGLA090822-6893.