MD2441 London & Partners Events Limited

London & Partners Limited (L&P) is a “not for profit” company engaged in the promotion of London. It is funded by a grant from the Greater London Authority, other grants from European Union funds through European Regional Development Fund and national government, contributions from private sector partners and revenue generated from its commercial subsidiaries, Dot London Domains Limited and London & Partners Ventures Limited.

L&P now wishes to set up an additional subsidiary company to run and promote future events for the purpose of building and reinforcing London’s brand internationally. The company is proposed to be called the “London & Partners Events Limited”.

The subsidiary intends to seek philanthropic donations and therefore it will pursue charitable status in order to comply with relevant laws and allow it to draw on gift aid.

Objectives of any future events held or promoted by this subsidiary company include:

• Promoting London’s creative energy, its diverse cultures and ideas to a global audience;
• Cementing London’s place as the global hub for talent and innovation;
• Creating greater opportunity in the long-term for young Londoners to develop skills, access; and
• Employment and business opportunities and reach a global audience.

Any future events would bring economic growth and opportunity to London, ensuring that growth benefits as many Londoners as possible.

Under s149 of the Equality Act 2010 (the Equality Act), as a public authority the Mayor must have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation, and any conduct that is prohibited by or under the Equality Act; and to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not.

The objective of any event organised by L&P is that it would be an event that all Londoners could access, engage and benefit from, irrespective of gender, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, disability. L&P will ensure that accessibility is included within the tender documents that are issued to contractors that will be responsible for running the event and that the event website will adopt the same accessibility standards as for the rest of the London & Partners family https://www.visitlondon.com/about-us/accessibility?ref=footer. L&P will ensure their search for trustees includes identifying diverse candidates and the company will comply with L&P’s equality and diversity policy.

Key Risks & Issues

The London & Partners Events Limited will be applying for charitable status. The Charity Commission have a backlog of applications and this may impact the timing of when the company will be able to take philanthropic donations. London & Partners are reviewing alternative methods to manage donations until charitable status has been awarded.

Links to Mayoral Strategies

The establishment of London & Partners Events Limited and development and delivery of any international events in London will support L&P’s work of delivering the Mayor’s priorities by promoting London internationally as a leading world city in which to invest work, study and visit. The company’s work helps achieve “good growth” for London and Londoners as outlined in the Economic Development Strategy.

There are no direct financial implications to the GLA arising from this report as the GLA will not be making any financial contribution towards the set-up costs of the proposed subsidiary nor its day to day operational activities (including via the annual GLA Grant to L&P).

The foregoing sections of this report indicate that:

- The decisions requested of the Mayor, whilst concerning powers reserved to him under London and Partners’ articles of association, fall within his statutory powers and duties, acting on behalf of the Authority, to do anything which is facilitative of or conducive or incidental to the promotion of economic development and wealth creation in and tourism to in and through 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; and
c) Consult with appropriate bodies.

In taking the decisions requested, as noted in section 3 above, the Mayor must have due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, 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 to foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it. To this end, the Mayor should have particular regard to section 3 of this report.

If the Mayor is minded to make the decision sought, officers should ensure that:

- A Mayoral consent granting permission to establish the company is prepared and signed; and

- Matters reserved to the Mayor in relation to L&P also apply to the new company.