DD1405 2015 and 2016 Wheelchair Tennis Masters

1.1 Background

1.1.1 The success of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games has cemented London’s position as a world-leading host of major sporting events. The Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park has also added significantly to the range of world class sporting facilities available for hosting events in London. A key part of the on-going legacy of London 2012 is ensuring that these facilities and others around London be regularly and fully made use of.

1.1.2 London has already secured a portfolio of additional events for the years ahead that will help sustain our position as a world-leading host and is in keeping with the stated legacy aims from London 2012, one of which is to ensure that the facilities built for the Games continue to be used to stage high-level international sporting events. They include the 2015 Rugby World Cup, 2015 European Hockey Championships, 2015 Formula E Championships, 2016 Track Cycling World Championships, 2017 IAAF World Athletics Championships and IPC World Athletics Championships.

1.1.3 Recognising that most major sporting events require some level of public support, the GLA allocated £2.4 million over four years to future major sporting events as part of the 2014/15 budget setting process. This Major Sports Events Fund supports the Mayor’s major sporting events strategy for London, ‘London: Home of World Class Sport’, which was published in April 2014.

1.1.4 This new London-wide approach to bidding for and supporting major sporting events establishes the Mayor’s Office as the first point of call for anyone looking to bring their event to London, and firmly establishes the Mayor’s Office as London’s strategic lead for major sporting events.

1.2 Wheelchair Tennis Masters

1.2.1 The Wheelchair Tennis Masters is the International Tennis Federations (ITF) annual competition for the world’s top ranked wheelchair tennis players. The tournament invites the top eight men’s and women’s players and the top four quad players in the ITF Wheelchair Tennis Rankings to compete in the round robin tournament, culminating in knock out stages and a final.

1.2.2 This year’s event will take place between 2 and 6 December 2015 in the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Dates for the 2016 tournament are unconfirmed.

1.2.3 Evaluated against the criteria set out in the GLA’s Major Sports Events Strategy, “London, Home of World Class Sport”, it was deemed that:

• the Economic Impact of the event falls below our minimum expectation
• the International and Domestic Broadcast falls below our minimum expectation.
• the Community Engagement proposal for the event was evaluated as silver.

1.2.4 The event was presented to the GLA Events Steering Group (GESG) on 4 June 2015. Whilst the event is small in scale and does not deliver strongly against the economic benefit and international exposure criteria, there is a strong community engagement programme which will bring significant benefit to London. Furthermore, it is felt extremely important that the Major Events Programme supports smaller events in minority sports in Olympic and Paralympic venues; to allow them to grow and to ensure that the GLA’s wider objectives around inclusion are met. The GESG agreed that the event merited investment of up to £40,000 per year from the GLA Sports Team budget to be allocated to support the event.

1.2.5 In addition to the £80,000 contribution to the staging costs of this year’s and next year’s event (that this decision seeks approval for), £60,000 has also been allocated from the Major Sports Events Engagement Fund (part of the Mayor’s Sports Legacy Programme), approved by DD1335, to contribute toward the delivery of a grassroots community legacy project associated with the 2015 and 2016 Wheelchair Tennis Masters.

2.1 The objectives of the proposed funding are to:

• Support the successful hosting of the 2015 and 2016 Wheelchair Tennis Masters;
• Support delivery of the Mayor’s major sports events strategy, ‘London: Home of World Class Sport’;
• Increase economic investment into London;
• Increase international exposure of London;
• Increase opportunities for Londoners to participate in sport and physical exercise programmes associated with major sporting events;
• Assist the Mayor in delivering his commitment to a lasting sports legacy following the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
• Increase opportunities for Londoners to volunteer at major sporting events;

3.1. Every major event that seeks financial support from the GLA must demonstrate how the event will engage with the local community, in line with the Mayor’s grassroots sport policy, ‘A Sporting Future for London’ and the Mayor’s Sports Legacy Programme.

3.2 An equalities impact assessment has previously been undertaken on the overall Mayor’s Sports Legacy Programme.

3.3 According to the most recent Sport England Active People survey (APS 8 published in January 2015), levels of participation in sport and physical activity are variable across different socio-demographic groups in London. Across all 33 London Boroughs, average figures indicate that 43% of men participate in sport at least once a week compared to 32% of women. 37% of Black Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME) people participate weekly compared to 39% of people of white origin. 19% of disabled people participate weekly compared to 40% of non-disabled people. 17% of people over the age of 65 participate weekly compared to 52% of those between the age of 16 and 25. 41% of people from socio-economic groups 1 to 4 participate weekly compared to 25% of people from socio-economic groups 5-8 (based on the National Statistics Socio-economic classification system).

3.4 Sports programmes supported by the Mayor’s Sports Legacy Programme engage significant numbers of women, disabled people, BAME people and people from lower socio-economic groups, both via sports participation programmes and training opportunities. We are seeking to increase participation opportunities for these groups through the Major Sports Events Engagement Fund that this event has also bid to.

3.5 Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, where the event is being held, is fully accessible. The Park offers good step-free access, hard-standing surfaces, regular seating and accessible Blue Badge car parking for each of the venues.

4.1 Key Risks and Issues

4.2 Links to Mayoral Strategies & Priorities

GLA support for the event will:

• support delivery of the Mayor’s major sports events strategy, ‘London: Home of World Class Sport’;
• support the aims of ‘Inclusive and Active 2’ strategy for increasing participation in sport and physical activity amongst disabled people in London;
• support delivery of the Mayor’s grassroots sport policy, ‘A Sporting Future for London’;
• assist in meeting the objectives of the Mayor’s Health Inequalities Strategy;
• promote social development in London;
• assist the Mayor in delivering his commitment to a lasting sports legacy following the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
• support the Mayor’s priorities around volunteering and his Team London programme.

4.3 Impact Assessments and Consultations

4.3.1 An equalities impact assessment has previously been undertaken on the overall Mayor’s Sports Legacy Programme. Further information is available at Section 3 of this document.

4.3.2 In writing ‘A Sporting Future for London’, the GLA Sports Unit consulted extensively with over 400 individuals from over 100 different groups and organisations including national governing bodies of sport, the Pro-Active Partnerships, senior representatives from local authorities and a wide variety of sports clubs and community organisations.

4.3.3 The conclusions reached received broad support from all key stakeholders and reaction to the plan itself has been very positive.

4.3.4 In writing ‘London: Home of World Class Sport’, the GLA Sports Unit consulted extensively with various national governing bodies of sport in the UK, Sport England, UK Sport, London Sport, relevant Local Authorities, LLDC, Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, London & Partners, sports venue owners in London and Transport for London. The strategy has been greatly welcomed by all key London stakeholders and partners, as well as the key national agencies identified above.

5.1 The proposed grant award of £80,000 to the Tennis Foundation will span two financial years; £40,000 in both 2015-16 and 2016-17 and will be funded from the 2015-16 and 2016-17 Major Sporting Events Programme budget held within the Health & Communities Unit, with the 2016-17 budget provision being subject to the 2016-17 budget process currently underway. All appropriate budget adjustments will be made.

6.1 Sections 1 to 4 of this report indicate that:

6.1.1 the decisions requested of the director (in accordance with the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code) fall within the GLA’s statutory powers to do such things considered to further or which are facilitative of, conducive or incidental to the promotion of social development and the promotion of the improvement of the environment in Greater London; and

6.1.2 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 (further details on equalities are set out in section 3 above) and to the duty under section 149 of the 2010 Act to have due regard to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation as well as to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not;

• 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; and

• consult with appropriate bodies.

6.2 The proceeding sections of this report indicate that the contribution of £80,000 to the Tennis Foundation amounts to the provision of grant funding and not payment for services. Officers must ensure that the funding is distributed fairly, transparently, in accordance with the GLA’s equalities and in a manner which affords value for money in accordance with the GLA’s Contract and Funding Code.

Officers must ensure that an appropriate funding agreement is put in place between and executed by the GLA and the recipient before any commitment to fund is made.

7.1 The GLA Sports Team is working closely with the Tennis Foundation and the International Tennis Federation and other stakeholders to ensure effective planning for the event.

7.2 The GLA is represented on the event stakeholder board which oversees:

• The event budget;
• The event marketing and communications strategy;
• The event ticketing strategy
• Planning and operational delivery of the event;

7.3 The Event will take place between 2 and 6 December 2015, the dates for the 2016 tournament are currently unconfirmed.

7.4 Next steps are as follows: