Source · Select Committees · Culture, Media and Sport Committee
Recommendation 18
18
Accepted
Paragraph: 86
Mandate local authorities to include diverse perspectives at Safety Advisory Groups.
Recommendation
Safety Advisory Groups are the one major opportunity for sport stakeholders to voice their priorities and concerns for safety at events. It is wrong that any group should have its input restricted, but this too often seems to be the case. SAGs have, at best, a mixed record on seeking out and considering the necessary perspectives to inform better decision making. Although we accept the Government’s position that local authorities should continue to run SAGs in their areas, there is a role for the Government to play in mandating that local authorities include a full array of perspectives at SAGs.
Government Response Summary
The government indicated that existing guidance from the Emergency Planning College already recommends a diverse list of stakeholders for Safety Advisory Groups (SAGs), balancing expert advice with flexibility, without mandating further inclusions.
Paragraph Reference:
86
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The Emergency Planning College (EPC) has guidance for the participants of Safety Advisory Groups (SAGs). This is designed to standardise the approach to SAGs across the UK for members, event organisers and others in the industry. Supplementing this, the EPC also runs a ‘working in SAGs’ course which is catered for those who work in local authorities, emergency services, and event organisation. The absence of legislation on SAGs creates a core advantage as it means that SAGs have no limitation as to what event they consider. A key principle is that a SAG should consider any event that presents a significant public safety risk and therefore their focus is often much wider than just sporting events. SAGs are already used as a mechanism for local authorities to advise on a range of other events happening within their demographic areas. Within the guidance, there is a recommended stakeholder attendance list which includes a variety of stakeholders to be invited depending on the event. This includes, but is not limited to, community representatives, fan representatives, housing associations, religious groups, and more. Organisers must consider the relevant partners invited to SAGs to allow for a suitable and sufficient review of the event proposals to take place. The government believes this strikes a balance between encouraging a breadth of expert advice, and allowing adequate flexibility for the wide variety of events for which local authorities may convene a SAG.