Recommendation 9

HM Government Acknowledged

The Government is confident that the 2022 programme of events will play a key part in our journey of renewal as a country after the challenges of recent years, reflecting the diversity within our nation as well as the things that unite people across the UK. The events in 2022 provide something for everyone, wherever they are from, whatever their background and interests. The Birmingham Commonwealth Games, for example, will celebrate world-class sport and promote the very best of the West Midlands and the UK to the rest of the world. UNBOXED is taking free-to-access world-class culture, science, technology and engineering around the country to places and people that don’t normally have access to this on their doorsteps. The Rugby League World Cup will put men’s, women’s and wheelchair tournaments on the same, equal platform in a truly unprecedented way, with the vast majority of matches taking place across the game’s northern heartland. And the Platinum Jubilee celebrated Her Majesty The Queen’s 70 years of public service to this country and the Commonwealth, focusing on history and tradition - UK High Commissions and Embassies around the world used the Jubilee not only to pay tribute to Her Majesty, but also to celebrate the international cooperation and shared values that mark her reign. Over 7,500 unique events across the UK were registered on the Government’s events map, capturing a sense of the variety and excitement with which the Jubilee was marked. Ensuring that this varied programme of events would deliver a cohesive vision and work toward common aims was a priority from the outset, and synergies between the different events have been carefully considered from both an operational and a strategic perspective. For example, UNBOXED is being delivered by a subsidiary of the Birmingham 2022 Organising Committee of the Commonwealth Games. Both organisations are co-located in the same premises in Birmingham, sharing some strategic and operational staff, which is helping to ensure that both events complement each other while also delivering efficiencies for the taxpayer. The Platinum Jubilee and Commonwealth Games teams have worked closely together on a number of aspects of the Games, particularly the Queen’s Baton Relay. Synergies between the different events are also being managed by the Government at a strategic level through a dedicated Board, which is chaired by the DCMS Directors General for Culture, Sport and Civil Society, and includes the Senior Responsible Owners (SROs) for the main three events in the 2022 programme. In addition to this, Ministers and senior officials across relevant departments - including the Cabinet Office, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the Department for International Trade and the Home Office - regularly discuss the opportunities to realise synergies across these strategies through the staging of major events, and will continue to do so. All of these events are considered against the Government’s wider policy programme, and leveraged to maximise benefits against key objectives, such as Levelling Up the country. As an example, we hope to see the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games play a key role in dispersing international visitors outside of London and the South East. To capitalise on this, the Government is investing over £20 million in a Birmingham 2022 Business and Tourism Programme to showcase Birmingham, the West Midlands and the UK to international investors, businesses, entrepreneurs, event organisers and visitors. This will help ensure the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games deliver lasting economic benefits for the region and the entire country, helping the sector bounce back from Covid-19.