Charging for policing of events

Report: 5
Date: 19 July 2004
By: Treasurer

Summary

The report of the member group reviewing charging policy for policing of events is attached.

A. Recommendations

That the Committee consider the report of the member group reviewing policy for charging for policing of events and the adoption of the group’s recommendations.

B. Supporting information

1. The Coordination and Policing Committee at its meeting on 20 October 2003 agreed terms of reference for a member-led review of charging policy for policing of events. The member group has met on seven occasions and has approved the attached report of its findings and conclusions (Appendix 1).

2. The recommendations to the Authority are set out in paragraph 54. The principal results if the recommendations are implemented would be:

• Consistent application of the policy to charge for policing of commercial events on a full cost recovery basis in accordance with current statutory powers.
• Negotiation with event organisers for recovery of significant policing costs outside event premises, unless there are mitigating circumstances.
• No charging for policing of community and charitable events because of the contribution made to community life within London.
• Further development of proactive measures to reduce the level of policing required at events of all descriptions, consistent with maintaining public order and safety, with specific opportunities being pursued with the football authorities.
• Partnership working with football authorities and clubs to develop effective youth inclusion programmes as a higher priority than action to recover costs of policing outside grounds which should be held in abeyance pending assessment of the programmes.
• Monitoring of the impact of the Licensing Act 2003 on policing costs.

3. The Committee is asked to consider the Group’s report and determine whether to adopt its recommendations. The group suggest that progress on the recommendations adopted should be reviewed by the Authority in a year’s time.

C. Race and equality impact

If the Committee agrees that the Group’s recommendations should be adopted as the MPA’s policy there will need to be a race impact assessment. The recommendation not to charge for policing of community events particularly has regard to the need to encourage and support diverse communities within London.

D. Financial implications

Current annual income for policing commercial events is estimated to be £4.1 million. This figure should increase with consistent application of the charging policy. No income is currently received in respect of charitable and community events and a policy of not charging will therefore have no impact on the Authority’s budget.

E. Background papers

See paragraph 9 of the group’s report.

F. Contact details

Report author: Peter Martin

For more information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

Appendix 1: Charging for policing events

Report of the Member Group

1. This report summarises the deliberations and conclusions of the Member Group set up by the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) to review policy in relation to charging for policing of events.

Background

2. The Authority has been concerned for some time about the costs of public order policing of events and the consequential impact on other policing priorities because of the abstraction of resources. The Finance Committee receives an annual report setting out the costs of all significant events.

3. One of the efficiency and effectiveness reviews carried out by Accenture covered opportunities for income generation. Recovery of costs for policing of events was specifically addressed in that review. As a result the Finance Committee, at its meeting on 16 January 2003, agreed that the MPA’s policy, in line with the Accenture recommendation, should be to recover the full directly attributable costs of policing commercial events, including the costs of policing both inside and outside of premises. In relation to charging football clubs in accordance with this policy the Committee agreed to pursue the matter both through direct London-based negotiation and through monitoring national negotiations.

4. At the Authority meeting on 25 September 2003 concerns were raised at the implications of the substantial public order policing which had been required for the duration of the Defence Systems and Equipment Exhibition at the Excel Centre, Docklands. This was coupled with other recent events such as David Blaine’s endurance feat and members felt that the Authority and the MPS should develop criteria so that there was a consistent approach to cost recovery and public safety issues. The officers were asked to develop terms of reference for such a review.

Terms of reference

5. Terms of reference for the review were proposed in a report to the Coordination and Policing Committee on 20 October 2003. The report suggested that the review should determine:

• The definition of events for which charges should be made
• The cost base for charges, e.g. policy on overheads
• Definition of any grounds for abatement or waiver of charges
• The scope of policing activity that should be included in the definition of events for which charges should be made.

The review should consider practical, legal and any other potential obstacles to implementing the policy and identify actions that should be pursued to overcome them.

6. The Committee added two points. Firstly there should be consideration of the level of policing and whether certain events should be policed at all. Secondly the review should consider the relevant implications of the new licensing laws on public order policing.

7. A member group was established comprising Jennette Arnold, Jenny Jones, Richard Sumray and Rachel Whittaker. Richard Sumray chaired the group.

Method of working

8. The group met on 7 occasions between November 2003 and April 2004. The group received reports on current practice within the MPS, draft ACPO guidance and on current issues.

9. They invited attendance by key officers in the MPS and interested external parties, ie ACPO, the Home Office and the Football Association all of whom also provided written statements. These papers were provided to a private meeting. A selection of the papers received is available to MPA members in the members’ room but is not therefore being circulated publicly.

Definitions

10. Events requiring policing can generally be divided into four categories as follows:

• Statutory events. Events where there is no financial gain to the organiser and which reflect a constitutional right or a cause of specific royal, historical or public interest. This covers state events, ceremonial events, public demonstrations, etc.
• Commercial events. Events where there is financial gain or profit to the organiser or company without specific community benefit, usually, but not exclusively, through members of the public having to pay an entry fee to gain access to the event. This includes football matches and other professional sporting events, exhibitions, award ceremonies, music concerts, filming in the street, etc.
• Charity events. In this case there is financial gain but for non profit charitable distribution.
• Non statutory events, probably better described as community events. These are not for personal or corporate financial gain, but may raise funds for community institutions, and are generally for community or local interest purposes, such as carnivals and festivals, amateur sporting events, parades, etc.

11. The policing of statutory events forms part of core policing and is therefore clearly not chargeable. There are issues about whether London secures sufficient recompense from Government for the level of such events taking place in the capital city, principally by way of the Police Grant special payment, but they are outside the scope of this review.

12. The remaining three categories are considered as part of the review but the principal focus is on commercial events.

Current practice

Statutory basis

13. Charges are levied under section 25 of the 1996 Police Act which covers special policing services. The Act allows charges to be made for police services outside the normal (core) role or above the normal level. Such special policing services should be delivered at no cost to core policing budgets and there should therefore be full cost recovery. The legislation has been interpreted as only allowing police authorities to recover costs for officers provided on ‘private’ property; this is subject to challenge as discussed later in this report. Charges for special policing services are to be agreed by the police authority.

Charging methodology

14. MPS Finance operates a costing methodology designed to build up full economic costs for police services that can form the basis of charges for a range of services, not just the policing of events. The charging basis has been reported in detail to the Finance Committee and suggestions have been made for its refinement. The charging for ongoing services on a substantial scale, eg the policing of the Palace of Westminster, is the subject of detailed negotiations. For most one-off events charges are based on standard costs of officer ranks including full overheads. The process for generating charges is well established and robust. The MPS needs to ensure that they are applied consistently.

15. ACPO is in the process of producing guidance on charging for police services. In the context of services that are provided to similar organisations across the country it is important that there is seen to be consistency in the way in which separate forces charge. The MPS will therefore need to ensure that our charging methodology complies as far as possible with the final ACPO guidance.

16. Revised charges have been developed which reflect the assumption that chargeable events are policed by resources additional to the normal duty time resource required to police the community. This means that such charges should carry an overtime premium as a matter of course. There is an unresolved issue as to how this assumption should be reflected in respect of ranks which are not entitled to overtime. These charges will not be implemented until the ACPO guidance has been clarified. The Authority should press for this to happen as soon as possible. The potential increase in charges could be significant in which case the Authority should phase in the increase so as to avoid an unreasonable burden on event organisers.

Application of charges

17. MPS Finance has analysed the charging practice in relation to events in the four categories identified above over a twelve month period ending 31 October 2003.

18. Statutory events are not charged for although there was one event put in that category (out of a total of 838) in the period analysed where a charge was levied.

19. Charity and community events (56 and 370 respectively in the period) are not charged, although again there was a solitary exception.

20. The charging for commercial events is significantly inconsistent. Out of a total of 1,244 events in this category 947 (or 76%) were charged, including where charges have been agreed with organisers for policing outside events. Information is not available on the level of charge levied in each case but it is unlikely that the full economic cost was always charged.

Issues considered by the group

Management of resources

21. Policing of events consumes a significant amount of police resources. By definition these are not available for other policing activities. The exceptional demand on the Metropolitan Police in respect of statutory events is recognised (although possibly not adequately) by specific funding, in particular the special payment for national and capital city functions. Furthermore some level of policing of events taking place in the community would properly be regarded as core police activity.

22. The level of resources to be deployed to particular events is a matter of operational judgement having regard to an assessment of risk and the requirements of safety both for the public and police officers. The assessment can be influenced by the existence of favourable factors such as CCTV cameras and well trained stewards. Involvement of PCSOs will presumably also lead to reduced requirements for police officers in appropriate circumstances. The Authority should encourage the MPS to further develop strategies for securing the necessary control and safety of events with the minimum number of police officers. This could include more extensive training of event stewards by the police. The football authorities have responded positively to such suggestions, indicating their willingness to do anything to help reduce policing costs.

23. Charging can also be a rationing process. This can have a positive impact if consideration of the cost of employing police officers encourages event organisers to seek less expensive means of meeting the police requirement, such as employing trained stewards.

Commercial events

24. The Authority already has a clear policy that commercial events should be charged the full economic cost of the agreed police resources. Steps need to be taken to ensure that the policy is applied consistently across the board. One of the reasons given for not charging is the lack of clear guidance on criteria for charging. Such guidance must be produced and disseminated. This would include clarification of the definition of a commercial event along the lines set out in paragraph 10 above.

25. Another reason given is lack of advance notice provided to the police. This issue needs to be resolved at local level so that there is sufficient awareness of the need to involve the police at the preparatory stage.

26. In other cases it appears that local senior police officers are exercising discretion. There may be valid reasons for this but the exercise of discretion must be consistent across London. The principle must be that charges are applied to commercial events unless an exception is permitted in accordance with pre-determined criteria set out in the guidance. MPS should bring forward proposals for exemption for commercial events for consideration by the Authority. This should include an appropriate de minimis level of policing to avoid charging for low level involvement.

Policing outside event locations

27. Charging for policing services provided directly to a commercial event within the event venue is clearly covered by legislation and is generally accepted by event organisers. However some events require extensive policing outside the venue and the law appears not to allow police authorities to enforce charges to recover these costs.

28. There are examples where event organisers have agreed to pay for policing outside premises. In London the most notable instance is the policing of film premieres in Leicester Square. Elsewhere Greater Manchester Police have an agreement with Manchester United for recovery of some limited policing costs outside the club’s football ground.

29. The group has considered the position in relation to policing outside football grounds because of the scale of policing involved and because there is a current national debate on the issue. However the group was clear that this was not through any wish to target football and that principles which could be developed with regard to football should be applied consistently to all sports and commercial events.

30. The estimated cost of policing football matches in London is £6.0 million but only £1.9 million is recovered from clubs for policing within football stadia. The deficit nationally is estimated at £30 million per year, although this represents a reduction on previous years reflecting improved working relationships between police and clubs, additional stewarding, etc.

31. To assist their deliberations in this regard the group has received papers from, and held discussions with representatives of ACPO, the Football Association, Premier and Football Leagues, and the Home Office. In 2002, at the prompting of the Home Office, a joint working group representing all the major interested parties was formed. Three meetings have been held, the most recent in February 2003. The football authorities, with the support of the Department of Culture Media and Sport, have effectively ruled out any voluntary agreement. At present the Home Office appears reluctant to take forward legislative proposals; indeed this would clearly not be possible without agreement within the Government.

32. The current position is that ACPO are preparing a response to a series of questions and points made by the Football Association and the Premiership clubs with the intention of returning to the joint working group at some stage. In the meantime ACPO has reviewed its policy and has agreed a position statement as follows:

1. ACPO agrees the position that the ongoing cost of football related policing is unsustainable.
2. ACPO commits to a consistent and transparent charging regime.
3. ACPO commits to reduce such unsustainable costs by:
   • pursuing the issues of cost recovery with the football authorities
   • working to reduce costs in line with 5 and 6 below
4. ACPO will seek opportunities to establish, in law, the principle of the seamless operation and demonstrate the functional connection between the discrete elements of the operation both inside and outside the ground in activities such as searching and segregation.
5. ACPO adopts a more robust stance designed at reducing flexibility of kick off times to support a policy of more affordable deployments.
6. ACPO commits to work with the football industry to seek to reduce the policing costs associated with football on the basis of a partnership approach to tackle hooliganism and to develop strategies to minimise police deployments.

33. In relation to point b) ACPO is currently developing charging guidance. Item d) refers to the potential for bringing a legal test case to challenge the interpretation that the present legislation does not allow charging for costs incurred outside an event’s premises. Point e) has the potential to bring financial pressure to bear by making it more difficult to arrange match times to suit television schedules.

34. The football authorities’ opposition to any charging for policing outside grounds is clearly stated for example in the following quotes from a paper provided to the group by the Football Association.

‘The FA Premier League, Football League and Football Association are united in viewing ACPO’s desire to introduce charges to football clubs for the cost of policing outside of football ground as unfair, unworkable and unaccountable….It would be discriminatory to football, impossible to scope and define and would affect the positive working relationship between police and the game. It could result in the implementation of a ban on away fans to reduce costs.’

35. The view from the Home Office as conveyed to the group was quite guarded and does not appear to go beyond waiting to see how the joint working group concludes.

36. The group has had two sessions with the football authorities, the first with a representative from the Football Association. The group did not find the arguments from the football authorities as to why they should not bear the costs of policing outside football grounds convincing. However they suggested that even without a resolution to the main charging issue there were opportunities for football to think more creatively about how they could help to address the underlying issues. The football authorities could for example contribute to more effective means of dealing with disruptive behaviour by sponsoring a joint intelligence unit. They could also be more proactive in assisting with partnership initiatives in communities, eg with youth inclusion programmes.

37. Following that first meeting the football authorities requested a further meeting to pursue the issues raised. On this occasion the Premier and Football Leagues were represented as well as the Football Association. They indicated that they would seek to help as far as they can, for example in providing intelligence, to reduce the costs of policing outside grounds.

38. The Premier League presented details of specific initiatives, being run initially on a pilot basis, to provide youth inclusion programmes targeting hardened offenders and others considered at risk. The programme involves sessions focussing on personal development and education together with sessions providing participation and coaching opportunities. The intention was that such programmes would be rolled out across the capital and nationally. Written details have been provided of the range of community-based schemes currently being run through the Premier League, attached at Annex A. The group was very encouraged by these developments and stressed that they should be developed as long term initiatives in partnership with the MPA and MPS and other agencies. The initiatives need to be measured and monitored to assess their impact. The aim should be to ensure full pan-London coverage and to consider how similar initiatives might be taken forward with other sports.

39. The member group felt that it was most unlikely that there would be a satisfactory conclusion from the joint working group in relation to charging outside football grounds. It considered that much of ACPO’s approach, especially in terms of seeking to reduce costs, could be supported. Furthermore it could be helpful to have clarification of the current legal position. However the group felt that the MPA’s priority should be to encourage the greater involvement of football clubs and authorities in youth inclusion programmes on a partnership basis and that the issue of charging for policing outside grounds would be better held in abeyance.

40. The position adopted in relation to football should not be seen as withdrawing generally from seeking charges for policing outside event venues. Existing arrangements, for example with film premieres, should be continued. Further opportunities should be pursued where policing costs are significant, there is no clear payback into the community as with football, and it is possible to negotiate charges with responsible organisations on the basis of specific additional predetermined resource requirements. Considerations of health and safety, as was the case with David Blaine, should be an important factor to take into account as well. Given the legal position this is likely to be where organisers see it as in their interest to pay and the finances of the event make it affordable.

Non commercial events

41. As is made clear in paragraph 19 above the MPS currently makes no charge for policing charity and other non statutory, or community, events. This is therefore the de facto policy at present.

42. There is draft ACPO guidance which suggests that such events should be charged but as yet the guidance is unclear. It will be later this year before ACPO finalises its guidance.

43. There are a number of relevant issues when considering an appropriate policy for non statutory events.

• There should be consistency between similar types of event across London. Not charging at all clearly scores well on this point.
• There should be transparency. This should mean at least identification of the policing costs for individual events.
• We should seek to be consistent with ACPO guidance and have clear reasons for any departure from such guidance.
• If it was felt that we should charge at least some of the events in the non statutory category we would need a set of appropriate published criteria, determination of the cost basis for such charges and definition of circumstances which would support an abatement or waiver.

44. The group feels that there is a strong argument for saying that community policing, in the broadest sense, should embrace the provision of necessary policing services to ensure safety and public order at events which foster community life without any personal financial gain to organisers. If charges were levied for such events there is a risk that a significant number of events would not be able to proceed with potential damage to community life and community relations with the police. This could be counter-productive in policing terms. These considerations would support the adoption as MPA policy of the current practice of not charging for policing costs incurred in relation to community and charitable events. If this position is supported by the Authority, ACPO should be informed so that it can be taken into account in considering their guidance. If nevertheless ACPO does produce guidance that such events should bear a charge the Authority will need to set out a clear rationale for its disagreement.

Licensing Act 2003

45. There has been concern for some time at the scale of policing required to deal with actual and potential disorder outside night clubs and other licensed premises. This has been seen as another area where recovery of policing costs might be appropriate as with football.

46. The group was specifically asked to look at the implications of the new legislation relating to licensed premises. To assist them the group received papers from the MPS Clubs and Vice OCU and four borough commanders. Representatives from Clubs and Vice and two borough commanders attended group meetings to brief in person.

47. The Licensing Act 2003 transfers responsibility for granting licences to sell alcohol to local authorities. The police will need to input to this process and there will be a considerable workload during the transitional period. However after the full change over has been completed in 2005 the police administrative role will be reduced by comparison with the current regime.

48. The Act allows greater flexibility in opening hours for licensed premises and this creates potential difficulties in enforcing the licensing legislation itself.

49. However one of the stated purposes of flexible opening hours is to minimise public disorder by reducing binge drinking around closing times. This would imply that the policing costs associated with late night drinking could be reduced. However the MPS is rightly focussing on a range of risks associated with the potential impact of extended drinking hours. At the least there will be a need for a significant re-alignment of policing resources to deal with a different pattern of public order and criminal demands and continue to ensure the safety of Londoners.

50. Whilst accepting that assessments of the policing impact of the new legislation were to a degree speculative the MPS representatives were concerned that the benefits of more flexible opening hours would require cultural change which would not happen overnight. They could therefore see the potential long term gains but needed to be prepared for new and possibly greater demands in the short term.

51. The group’s remit is particularly in relation to charging and cost recovery. Given the intention of the changes brought in by the Licensing Act 2003 it would be difficult, without firm evidence, to argue that the new legislation strengthens the case for seeking a contribution to policing costs from clubs and licensed premises. That case rests on existing experience and would have to be supported in the future on the basis that the legislation may alter the nature of the policing requirement but will not reduce the overall policing costs.

52. The Authority and the MPS should monitor the impact of the new legislation. If it becomes clear that police costs are escalating possible remedies including charging should be discussed with licensees at a local level and the question of a change to the law to enforce financial contributions should be re-opened with the Home Office. At the same time owners of licensed premises should be encouraged to see better police control outside their premises as being in their commercial interest and something to which they would wish to contribute. Sanctions are available under the legislation where public order is adversely impacted.

Royal Parks Constabulary

53. The MPA has taken over responsibility for co-policing the royal parks from 1 April 2004 with the intention to merge the Royal Parks Constabulary with the MPS in the longer term. Clarification is required in the short term as to how cost recoveries for policing events in the royal parks will be treated. The income needs to be credited where the expenditure has been incurred. In due course charging arrangements for policing in the royal parks should be aligned with MPA/MPS policy and practise.

Recommendations

54. The conclusions drawn at various points in the report are summarised here as the group’s recommendations.

Charging for commercial events

1. The MPA’s policy should be to recover the full directly attributable costs of policing commercial events in accordance with current statutory powers.

2. The policy should be applied consistently by the MPS. To this end guidance should be produced and disseminated, including a clear definition of a commercial event.

3. The group would suggest that the different categories of events should be defined as set out in paragraph 10 of this report.

4. Within the policy, exemption from, or abatement of charges for commercial events should only be allowed on the basis of pre-determined criteria recommended by the MPS and agreed by the MPA.

5. All charges should be in accordance with the scales of charges agreed from time to time by the MPA’s Finance Committee but significant increases should be phased in over an appropriate period.

6. The MPA should press ACPO to conclude their current work on charging and publish definitive guidance as soon as possible.

7. Recovery of policing costs outside commercial event venues should be pursued where the costs are significant, there is no clear payback into the community and charges can be negotiated with event organisers, as currently with film premieres.

Community and charitable events

8. The MPA should adopt as policy the current practice of the MPS that community and charitable events (as well as statutory events), as defined in paragraph 10 of the report, are not charged for policing costs. ACPO should be informed that this is the MPA’s policy so that it can be taken into account when finalising their guidance on charging.

Royal Parks Constabulary

9. Charging for policing events in the royal parks will need to be aligned in due course with MPA/MPS policies and practise.

Reducing costs

10. The MPS should identify and pursue proactive measures to reduce the level of policing required at events of all descriptions, consistent with maintaining public order and safety. Particular opportunities should be taken forward with the football authorities and clubs to improve the effectiveness of crowd control inside and outside stadia.

11. The MPA should support ACPO’s work towards reducing policing costs of football, including seeking clarification of the current legal position.

Partnership working with football and other sports

12. The MPA and MPS should work in partnership with the football authorities and clubs to develop effective youth inclusion programmes in order to impact positively on future football crowd behaviour. In the meantime the issue of charging for policing outside football grounds should be held in abeyance.

Licensing Act 2003

13. The MPS should monitor the impact of the Licensing Act 2003 and if police costs escalate open up discussions with licensees at local level about possible remedies including charging, and, with the support of the MPA, re-open discussions with the Home Office about a change in the law to enforce financial contributions. At the same time licensees should be encouraged to see the value of good public order around their premises with the MPS being prepared to impose penalties as allowed under the legislation.

Appendix 2: A Submission to the Metropolitan Police Authority prepared by the FA Premier League, the Football Association and the Football League

This submission provides an overview of some of the work performed in London by its six FA Premier League Clubs, five Football League Clubs, the London FA and the Football Foundation.

Football makes a considerable contribution to many community initiatives including those targeted at young people who are otherwise difficult to engage, such as young offenders, the unemployed or those who are underachieving in education.

Highlights

• All six FA Premier League Clubs deliver a wide range of social inclusion, education and community initiatives targeted at some of London’s most deprived areas.
• The FA Premier League is currently working with the Metropolitan Police Authority to develop a pioneering new social inclusion targeted at some of the most high risk category young offenders in London.
• Through Football in the Community and other initiatives, Football League Clubs are playing an important role in their local communities through reducing crime, providing training opportunities for young people, encouraging participation in sport and tackling racism.
• The London FA’s 1500 affiliated Clubs deliver community programmes at all levels of the game for children, adults and people with disabilities.
• The Football Association’s national Child Protection programme, Goal, invests £1 million in the reporting, referral and management of child protection issues. All FA Premier League have at least one designated Children’s officer who is responsible for child protection policy and practice.
• The Football Foundation, a partnership funded by the FA Premier League, Football Association and Government, has invested £7.2 million on 109 projects worth £13.9 million in London.

Contents

• The FA Premier League: community involvement in London
• The Football Association: community involvement in London
• The Football League: community involvement in London

The FA Premier League: community involvement in London

1. Football’s contribution to young people in the community

The Premier League and its Clubs run a highly successful community programme that has a positive impact on the lives of millions of young people. London Clubs are at the heart of this work developing pioneering Estate based social inclusion projects designed to cut crime and drug use in areas of high deprivation. Through both the work of Club community programmes and vocational qualification designed by the Premier League, we are also using sport to motivate people who may otherwise be difficult to engage to consider further education.

The commitment of the London Clubs, along with the rest of the Premier League, to make a real difference to the community can be illustrated by an independent report by Deloitte & Touche An Analysis and Quantification of the Community Benefits Provided by the FA Premier League and its clubs. This found the total investment of the FA Premier League and its Clubs into the community during the 2001-02 season was estimated to be over £68 million, reaching 3.7 million participants.

The Football Foundation, funded by the Premier League, Football Association and Government, is creating first-class football class facilities for future generations and delivering community and education projects. Much has been done to improve facilities in London, particularly in areas of deprivation. In total the Foundation has spent £7.2 million on 109 projects worth £13.9 million in London.

The latest Business in the Community PerCent Club standard (a voluntary benchmark that seeks to promote a model of corporate behaviour that improves the impact business has on society) ranked the FA Premier League in third place in the rankings of UK companies contributing to community investment. Only Lloyds TSB and Barclays contributed more in absolute terms.

2. Encouraging young people at risk of offending to participate in sport

In addition to the Curriculum based coaching in local schools that provide opportunities for thousands of children (for example, Tottenham Hotspur Football in the Community deliver PE lessons to approximately 85,000 children in the last academic year) across London to play football, learn valuable life skills and promote healthy living, much of the work of Clubs targets those young people who are at most risk in terms of offending in order to deliver important lifestyle messages.

Clubs specifically target Estate based areas to run projects at times of ‘high crime.’ For example, Charlton Athletic, in partnership with the Metropolitan Police and local youth offending groups run The Thames Gateway Football Project that runs football-based diversionary activities for vulnerable youngsters and aims to discourage anti-social behaviour and youth crime. Late night five-a-side night leagues take around 200 young people off the street in any one time in crime hotspots such as Bexley and Greenwich. Positive behaviour is rewarded by various incentive schemes, while negative behaviour results in loss of points for the team.

In the inner city borough of Lambeth, one of the most ethnically diverse communities in Europe, Fulham Football Club run coaching sessions and education courses involving 40 coaches and over 500 children a week. The Lambeth Estates Programme provides footballing activities on five estates, running seven sessions a week for an average of 210 children.

Working in partnership with the largest neighbourhood and street wardens programme in Islington, Arsenal’s Positive Futures project, a partnership between the Football Foundation and the Home Office, positively engages 10 to 19 year old people who are at risk of becoming disengaged with current sports, education, training and employment opportunities. A national report found that 49% of Positive Futures participants are referred from statutory or voluntary agencies, Youth Offending Teams, the police, schools, social services and substance misuse prevention agencies.

Chelsea are currently working on the Westminster estates development programme that aims to restore and improve existing sports play areas in the local community in order to encourage residents of estates to participate in sport. Tottenham Hotspur deliver anti-trespass and vandalism messages to children through After School Clubs and are currently working with Hertfordshire Police to launch an anti-robbery campaign.

Arsenal also runs a project where disadvantaged young people visit the Arsenal sports centre. In 2002-03, 30 adults from groups from charities such as the Thomas Coram Foundation (for youngsters with social problems) and London Connection (providing safety and opportunity for young people in crises) made their way to the Club for sessions that offered regular supervised football.

The Football Foundation awarded £600,000 to the London Playing Fields Society for a new pavilion and football development officer for their new site in Greenwich. The project run by the London Playing Society received £510,000 from the Foundation as 90% funding for a modern pavilion, replacing a derelict sixty-year old building, providing new dressing rooms, seminar areas and social facilties. In addition, the Foundation provided an additional revenue grant of £89,000 for a Girls’ Football Development Officer to support girl’s football and mini soccer in the area.

The Football Foundation’s support for the London Street Leagues also engages socially excluded groups through football, and then seeks to address the needs and personal development of participants by increasing their life skills, providing opportunities for their education, training and future employment.

3. Offering future career opportunities to people in areas of high deprivation

As well as providing opportunities to participate in the game, Premier League Clubs in London work hard to ensure that young offenders and those who are unemployed have the chance to gain future career opportunities within football.

Prince’s Trust projects, formed in partnership with our London Clubs, provide 12 week structured courses that target young offenders and unemployed people aged between 16-25 years of age. The courses, which provide the opportunity for participants to gain vocational qualifications and advice on improving future career prospects, are effective with 83% of participants who were previously unemployed, going on to find work, further education or training.

The Prince’s Trust are also currently piloting a five-week football coaching course in the deprived London borough of Tower Hamlets, targeted at young women from ethnic minority backgrounds, with a six month follow up programme for those who complete the course. Over the five weeks, the young women will work towards improving their chances of employment by gaining the FA Coaching Level 1 qualification, gain an understanding of a healthier lifestyle and put their skills to use by organising a football tournament for members of their community. The project will use football to develop the skills and increase the employability of those young women who are hard to reach and struggle to find employment.

The Premier League has also developed a new teaching and learning resource (First in Sport!) for the BTEC Sport Qualification. It is aimed at those for whom the motivation provided by a sports based course is critical to their continued educational inclusion and development and will be run at Colleges throughout London.

Fulham run a Football into Work Scheme in Lambeth that offers young, unemployed adults the opportunity to gain qualifications in football coaching and information technology. Courses also cover drug education, managing finance, interview and communication skills, time management and dealing with conflict. In 2002-03, 66 students obtained their FA Level 1 Coaching Certificate with five of these going on to pass their Level 2 certificate. Fulham have also launched Level 1 coaching courses in Wandsworth. So far 58 young people, aged between 16 and 22, have taken part and passed their qualifications and 100% of participants have found a part-time job coaching.

Young offenders from Bexley and Greenwich are referred to Charlton Athletic’s Football in the Community Scheme to carry out their reparation orders. The young people assist with maintenance, cleaning and organization of coaching and equipment and are required to set up various venues for school holiday football courses. Some young offenders are also given the opportunity to assist FA qualified football coaches to deliver coaching sessions and are encouraged to pursue their first coaching qualification, in hope of future employment. Football sessions are also provided specifically for those who are “at risk” of offending.

The Football Foundation has also providing funding for the London Action Trust’s ‘From Offending to Employment’ initiative, which offers football coaching, a fitness and social education programme for ex-offenders and those at risk of offending who are aged 14-25. Using football as a starting point, the project supports users in obtaining educational qualifications, skills and accessing jobs. Participants may obtain football relevant qualifications, such as an FA coaching certificate, or additionally study Open College Network courses such as sports photography.

4. The importance of using football to motivate young, disadvantaged people to learn

Club Learning Centres, classrooms based on club premises, play an important role in using football as a tool for raising literacy, numeracy and ICT standards, especially in urban areas, by focusing on the needs of underachieving pupils, often outside normal school hours.

In the fourth and most recent national evaluation of Playing for Success, a partnership between the Premier League and the Department for Education and Skills, results found that on average primary pupils improved their numeracy scores by about 17 months. Almost 85,000 pupils and over 5,000 different schools have been involved in Playing for Success nationwide since it was first piloted in 1997.

Arsenal has successfully piloted a new scheme, in partnership with the Department for Education and Skills. It is an extension at Key Stage 3 of their Arsenal 'Double Club', which has been an after schools club at Key Stage 2 in over 30 schools. In the new scheme, an Arsenal 'track suited' member of staff has been placed in four London secondary schools to implement a Double Club on a full-time basis. The Double Club sessions are split in half, with 50% of the lesson devoted to literacy and numeracy and the other half to football coaching. There is already evidence that the literacy and numeracy lessons are having an academic impact on the pupils, with participants motivated by incentives such as Arsenal match tickets and programmes. The participation in football is a vital part of the project and as well as promoting physical activity and improving pupils' football skills, it is hoped that the transferable skills that football develops, including teamwork, will influence behaviour in the classroom.

Crystal Palace’s Club Learning Centre, also stages a three week NOF-funded summer school with students from Croydon and neighbouring LEAs attending. This is a partnership course, with the Club’s Football in the Community scheme, blending football and IT.

Football is also used as a way of improving attendance. Charlton Athletic run coaching specifically targeted at schools in Bexley and Greenwich as an incentive for those children who improve their attendance at schools. Schools, in a bid to raise attendance in certain subjects, reward improved attendance results with access to free coaching sessions.

Premier League Clubs also provide educational opportunities to young people who have been excluded from school. Launched in September 2001, Arsenal in conjunction with Springboard Islington use football as a motivating tool for excluded year 10 and 11 pupils and re-engage youngsters who at risk of offending and encourages them to move into further work or education. Fulham Football Club also work with Hammersmith and Fulham Pupil Referral Unit to deliver football coaching to 200 children.

Football stars in London such as Sol Campbell, Kasey Keller and Carlo Cudicini are also being used in a new scheme, run by the Premier League, the Football Foundation and the National Literacy Trust, to promote reading and the use of public libraries. A first team player from every Premier League Club is nominated as a Reading Champion. The player selects his favourite book, which is then tailored into a national reading list, and Premier League Clubs adopt their local libraries.

5. Tackling racism in local communities

Football Clubs have played a significant role in their local communities in tackling racism.

As well as vigorous efforts to eliminate racism from football, through support of the Kick It Out campaign and the Football Foundation, Clubs run a variety of initiatives designed to promote inclusion and ethnic diversity within society.

The Charlton Athletic Race Equality Partnership carries out education work in schools and provides training and employment opportunities in sports for people from ethnic minority backgrounds and poorer communities.

Chelsea work with London Tigers in order to provide more opportunities for Asians to play football, while in May 2003 Fulham hosted the inaugural All Nations Football Festival which was organised in conjunction with the Metropolitan Police and saw Columbian, Afro-Carribean, Somalian and Asian teams come together for a tournament.

Tottenham Hotspur distribute free tickets to local ethnic minorities in order to encourage them to attend matches, while ‘Arsenal and Maimonides’ is a key project that promotes related through Jews and Muslims by providing coaching sessions.

The Premier League also provides funding and support for the UK Asian Five A Side Tournament which encourages young Asian boys and girls to play football. The tournament is held on an annual basis at Wembley Goals in Alperton and attracts many London teams.

6. Developing new partnerships

The Premier League is working with the Metropolitan Police to develop a pioneering new social inclusion initiative targeted at young people in London at high risk of offending or reoffending.

Primarily an anti-crime initiative, the project is focused at using the power of football to target 50 of the most high risk category young offenders and a further 150 people around that group.

The pilot will run at Tottenham Hotspur and engage small groups of young people on long-term focused projects, in order to provide diversionary activities aimed at giving a positive direction to their lives. Morning sessions will be focused on personal development and education, run at facilities such as the Club Learning Centre, while afternoon sessions will provide coaching opportunities and participation for participants.

Discussions for the project are well advanced with commitments from the Football Foundation and the Metropolitan Police to provide funding for the initiative. A project plan is currently being designed by the Metropolitan Police, in conjunction with Tottenham Hotspur, which will be submitted to the Football Foundation board in order to unlock the agreed funding.

There are plans to use this project as a model of best practice in the hope that this initiative can be replicated all over the country, with a similar project already being set up in conjunction with Southampton Football Club.

The Football Association: community involvement in London

Football and Offenders

The Football Foundation funds a full-time post working with NACRO (the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders) and provides a budget of £1.4 million per year to manage a series of projects around the country.

Social inclusion projects

The FA now consults and informs a database of around 2000 community groups and significant individuals on all many issues, including social inclusion and racism, and updates the groups with news of initiatives and job opportunities.

The FA is also rolling out its Football for All workshop which identifies many areas of work where The FA and the police have similar messages and ambitions. Similarly the current Referees' Pilot, which spells out the sort of language which is unacceptable, supports work the Met and other forces do through Diversity Units.

The FA has provided over £50,000 to fund Report Racism for the Metropolitan Police. The launch of this Report achieved broadcast audience figures of 12.6m in April for this Metropolitan Police initiative. The FA is now working with the Metropolitan Police in an intelligence gathering exercise on racism, and an FA-funded film, Report Racism, is being shown by the CRE in cinemas across London.

The FA is a funding partner in Kick It Out, football’s anti-racism campaign. The FA has developed a project, Asians in Football, aimed at getting more of England’s Asian community involved in playing and supporting football. The project is funding a number of initiatives around the country, including West Ham United.

The FA has a drug awareness campaign, to educate all those involved in coaching young players. The FA has produced four specific booklets for County Football Associations, plus a health education pamphlet for the Department of Education. County Football Associations will contact local police forces as part of the campaign.

The FA is a partner in the national Football in the Community scheme, which co-ordinates a national programme of community-based activities across the vast majority of FA Premier League and Football League clubs.

The Football Foundation provided a £300,000 grant to one of the capital’s most deprived areas, allowing the London Borough of Tower Hamlets to construct a new pavilion at Millwall Park, housing 6 team changing rooms, officials rooms and a social area. Previously development of the game has been held back as teams playing on the five pitches have had to share a number of ramshackle cabins, which substitute for changing rooms.

The London Communities League, supported by a Football Foundation grant, provides tournaments, professional training and education courses for teams involving refugees, asylum seekers and minority ethnic communities.

With a £500,000 investment from the Football Foundation, The Street League is working with London’s most vulnerable people, the homeless, refugeees and people in drug rehabilitation. The Street League offers coaching, training, education and employment opportunities within the sport and leisure industry.

Football and Child Protection

The FA has a national Child Protection programme, GOAL, at an annual investment of £1 million. The FA’s Child Protection Team deals with procedural and educational issues. To allow the reporting, referral and management of child protection and poor practice issues, The FA has established a network of Child Protection Officers in all County Football Associations and professional clubs. The role of the Child Protection Officer is purely procedural and contributes significantly to The FA's ability to deal with child protection matters. The department has also developed workshops and resources to support the messages of best practice in football where youngsters are involved. The training and learning programme has now seen nearly 70,000 people complete the courses and that means 70,000 more pairs of eyes watching out for abuse and helping the police in its activities.

The establishment of The FA CRB Unit has extended this work and uses the Police National Computer information through the Criminal Records Bureau to investigate all those with access to children in football. This is a three year rolling programme aimed at reaching all the 500,000 people with access to children. The process has already established close links with the Met who provided training for those answering The FA's Goal Freephone Line and the Report Racism (Football for All) Freephone Line.

The FA is looking to develop work this year with Childsafe and ACPO as a natural extension of the child protection and CRB work. A child protection workshop will stress the importance of positive behaviour from parents and carers, particularly on the sidelines.

Football and Youth Schemes

The FA has secured around £3m of funding from the New Deal for Communities and UEFA to run a Community Football Co-ordinators programme throughout the most deprived wards in England – many of these wards are in London.

The Football Foundation runs Positive Futures in conjunction with a number of other bodies. The scheme aims to identify, engage and support young people by creating opportunities and helping them into education, training and employment. At present, 18,579 young people are attending regular activities organised by Positive Futures at 107 projects in England and Wales. Projects are all based in the top 20% most deprived areas (according to the Index of Multiple Deprivation).

An example of successful Positive Futures work has been run by Leyton Orient Community Sports Programme and carried out on the Gascoigne Estate in Barking where a football project has been part of a wider youth inclusion project. According to Police, crime in the area was reduced by 58% in the first year that the project was running.

The Foundation has provided the Africa Foundation Stone charity with a £60,500 grant to establish a community sports initiative, bringing youngsters from different backgrounds together in Leyton. The scheme will support the establishment of local grass roots teams, assisting young people to participate in sport in the community, raising personal aspirations, self esteem and educational attainments.

Fitzrovia Youth in Action were awarded a £184,000 grant from the Football Foundation to allow the London group to continue their groundbreaking football development programme for young people in Camden and the City of Westminster. The Fitzrovia programme promotes the use of football as a tool to assist in building relationships within their community, promoting cohesion between young people and the older generations as well as the wider community of Fitzrovia.

The Football Foundation awarded a community project in Lambeth grants totalling £30,000 to provide a summer sports programme for local youngsters for each of the last three years. The programme is designed so that as well as promoting sport and a healthier lifestyle, young people will also become encouraged to develop a greater degree of trust in the police.

The Football League: community involvement in London

The Football League is the governing body for the 72 Clubs of The Coca-Cola Championship, League 1 and League 2 (formerly Divisions 1, 2 and 3), and is the organising body for The Carling Cup, the LDV Trophy and the end of season Divisional Play-Offs.

There are currently five London Clubs in membership of The Football League: Brentford, Leyton Orient, Millwall, Queens Park Rangers and West Ham United. Each of these Clubs runs a community programme.

Football in the Community

The Football League is a full partner in The Footballers Further Education and Vocational Training Society, the parent organisation of the national Football in the Community Scheme. In total there are 94 professional clubs with community schemes, with a turnover in excess of £17 per annum. The schemes combined involve an estimated 1,000,000 people per year.

The formal objective of FITC is to encourage more people to play, watch and support football, and also to improve the image of the game, the atmosphere at matches and the behaviour of players and spectators. The main area of involvement is working within schools, which includes delivery of football coaching and games, inviting children to matches and training grounds and players visits. FITC schemes also offer holiday courses to the local community during half-term, Easter and summer holidays.

FITC plays an increasing role in addressing social exclusion, by working in conjunction with Probation Services, Youth Offending Teams, Education Services, Connexions and others. FITC schemes also play an active role in combating anti-social behaviour, for example, by passing on anti-drugs and anti-crime messages, and many schemes have commitments to encourage female interest in football, support anti-racism initiatives and assist disabled persons participate in football activities.

Prince’s Trust

The Football League intends to adopt the Prince’s Trust as its main charity partner. The Trust’s Football Initiative target young offenders and unemployed people aged between 16-25 years of age projects. Over 40 Football League Clubs are involved in these schemes, which have reached over 4,000 young men and women at risk from re-offending or being trapped in youth unemployment.

Club initiatives

The following is a selection of club initiatives that demonstrate Football League Clubs’ commitment to their local community.

Brentford

The Brentford Football in the Community programme has teamed up with Active Ealing and Ealing’s Drug and Alcohol Team (DAAT) to launch a new Positive Futures activity programme called Xtreme Football Plus. Positive Futures is a national sports-based social inclusion programme managed by the Home Office Drugs Strategy Directorate and the Brentford scheme will focus on target wards in Ealing. The aim of the scheme is to use football as a way of contacting “hard to reach” 10-19 year olds and providing them with more informed education, health and lifestyle choices. For example, Xtreme Football Plus offers young people the opportunity to play football and rugby, and even to have a go at kayaking! There are also pathways in place to allow the same young people obtain coaching qualifications and become role models in their own communities.

Brentford are also taking a lead by coordinating a West London social cohesion football programme involving Brentford as well as Chelsea, Fulham, QPR and Watford. Known as “Community Cohesion”, the project seeks to proactively assist multicultural understanding by bringing communities together to play and talk about football. The scheme builds upon the strong existing links between communities in West London, and at the same time aims to avoid members of respective communities becoming to feel relatively disempowered or disenchanted.

Leyton Orient

The Leyton Orient Community Sports Programme is often highly commended for its far-reaching development activities in the Boroughs of Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Barking and Dagenham and Newham. Formerly a FITC scheme, LOCSP is now an independent charity.

The Football Foundation has recently provided funding to LOCSP’s Sports Club Orient (SCORE) project. The facilities for SCORE are currently being constructed, and when completed will create a combined community, health, sports and activity venue in Leyton. The indoor facilities will include a community centre, facilities for the Primary Care Trust and for Face2Face services which provide support on a range of health and social issues for young people aged 11-21.

The Football Club is the driving agency behind several projects being undertaken with the aim of engaging with young people through sport and the football brand. These include:

The Leaside Racial Tolerance Programme, carried out in the Tower Hamlets area by going into the estates and involving young people in sport as a means of braking down racial barriers.

The Leytonstone Bridging Project a unique programme aimed at bridging the gap between primary school and the secondary school. Pupils from five primary schools who next year would be moving to the secondary school take part in an after schools football tournament held at the secondary school so that these children get to know the school in advance and ease the transition for those pupils into the secondary school.

The Isle of Dogs Confidential Communities Programme works with that areas Community Foundation to provide education and employment training to young adults to assist them moving into full time employment.

Millwall

Millwall FC has piloted a new race equality initiative in Lewisham and Southwalk, in partnership with the Met Police. The programme, known as “Report It” enables fans and players who have suffered, or been aware of racist abuse, to report it. With the assistance of using Millwall FC’s FA Cup Semi Final as a platform, media coverage of the pilot reached an estimated 12 million people. In addition, 10,000 card fliers and 4,000 posters have been distributed locally with the help of the Met’s cadet force. The message is simple: racial abuse is unacceptable, illegal and will be acted upon. The project is now being considered for a national roll-out.

Millwall, together with West Ham United, Charlton Athletic and Leyton Orient are involved in The Thames Gateway Football Project. This involves a partnership between the Clubs, the Met Police, local government and the private sector, and aims to discourage anti-social behaviour and youth crime in troubled housing estates. Targeting times of ‘high crime’, the project offers football-based diversionary activities for vulnerable youngsters, such as late night five-a-side night leagues.

Queens Park Rangers

Queens Park Rangers undertake several community projects including:

The Goals Project, which is carried out at the Loftus Road Stadium, and provides motivational training sessions over a six weeks period for any person over 16 years of age and is directed at the long term unemployed or persons referred by the youth offending teams to assist and encourage attendees to get back to work.

The Community Cohesion Scheme targeting particularly the Somali population in the Queens Park area and provides coaching sessions to community leaders. Young Somali youths between the ages of 14 and 21 are encouraged to engage in football at weekends in arranged games initially between members of the same community and are then introduced to playing games with other diverse groups. Level 1 coaching training is provided to youths identified with potential.

West Ham United

West Ham United in partnership with Sport England, are making a proactive, ground breaking contribution to encourage Asian people to participate in football. The project operates across the London Boroughs of Newham, Tower Hamlets and Redbridge.

The scheme assists Asian people to benefit from specific levels of participation including a Schools P.E. Programme, FA Teaching Certificate Courses, Coaches Development Scheme and Technique Development Performance Coaching. Girls only football sessions are provided in the three boroughs in order to introduce young females to participate in football as both players and coaches. Structured football games, incorporating game related coaching is in operation in both Tower Hamlets and Newham. The Asians in Football is based at Mile End Stadium in order to consolidate and develop a strategic partnership with Tower Hamlets Leisure Services.

West Ham United operates a project entitles “From Offending to Employment” which is funded by the Football Foundation and the Association of London Government. The working programme is delivered by the London Action Trust and West Ham United in the Community staff. The project aims is to provide high quality coaching, fitness training, qualifications and social education to young people aged 14 – 25 years involved with the youth justice system, socially excluded or considered to be at risk of offending. Through this scheme it is intended to stimulate those involved to obtain recognised qualifications. This scheme is operational in the London boroughs of Redbridge. Newham, Havering, Barking and Dagenham and Tower Hamlets. The club are currently also working an association with Barking College to deliver a Year 11 Project for students to obtain an Open College Network qualification.

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