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Britain's politicians and career sports officials must be held to account during the London 2012 Olympic bid, as well as up to, during and after any potential London Games. Here is my proposal for a set of standards of conduct to which the British public should demand a London bid and any resulting Games adhere. There are three reasons this is particularly important. First, public money is being spent, and if a bid is successful the coffers will open to the tune of £2.6 billion or more. Second, if a London Olympics is to be anything more than part of the entertainment industry, it must aspire to inspire - it must embody the best values and standards of our times, not just in sport, but also in governance and social responsibility. Third, it is abundently clear from their history of scandals that the IOC and the Olympic Movement cannot be trusted to self-regulate. The London bid and any resulting London 2012 Olympic Games must be done right, or not done at all. Tell the world what you think of London 2012 and these suggested standards here.
FULL INFORMATION: Detailed and timely information on the 2012 bid must be made available regularly to press and public. PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION: The Bid Committee must publish detailed and regular updates of its bid plans. It must also hold regular public meetings on the progress of the bid and, if successful, of the organisation of the Games. Public feedback should be incorporated into the bid and operational plans. NEIGHBOURHOOD MEETINGS: Local authorities (GLA and councils) should hold regular neighbourhood meetings to listen to concerns of those living and working near to venues. GOVERNMENTAL OVERVIEW: The Government should appoint a Special Select Committee to monitor the bid and any eventual Games. This committee should hold regular hearings during the bid process. It should also review the bid in full before the final bid dossier is filed with IOC in 2005, with a view to making a go/no go recommendation to the government. FULL DEMOCRATIC ACCOUNTABILTY: The bid committee, organizing committee and all other Olympic structures must be fully and democratically accountable to the residents of London and the UK. REPRESENTATION: Bid and organizing committee should reflect London's demographic make-up, particularly with respect to gender and race and a mix of business and non-profit expertise. LEADERSHIP: Neither the Olympic bid committee nor the Organising Committee should be directly headed by a Government minister. The Government must maintain sufficient distance from the organisers to provide critical oversight, and is not be compromised by leading the bid or organisation. OLYMPIC IMPACTS FOUNDATION: The Government and/or the GLA should provide funding for organisations to investigate and alleviate any negative impact of the Games on those whom they represent. Funding should be administered by an Olympic Impacts Foundation completely independent of the bid and organising committees.
INDEPENDENT COST/BENEFIT ANALYSIS: Before supporting and underwriting any bid, the Government and the GLA must together commission and publish a full, independent cost/benefit analysis of the bid. FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY - COSTS: All spending on the Olympic bid and any subsequent Games must be transparent. The bid document must include full cost budgets, including separate estimates for public spending on facilities, costs of any necessary upgrading to transport and other infrastructure, security and cultural programmes. FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY - REVENUES: The bid document and accounts of any subsequent Games must account fully and transparently for revenues. Any assumptions about indirect benefits such as tax income must be explicitly stated. Any use of public money must be stated, including diversion of existing public resources (eg police and council officer time). FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY - GUARANTEES: Rule 40 of the Olympic Charter requires that in order to bid, a host city and bid committee must accept "joint and several" liabilities for the cost of hosting the Games, which could amount to billions of pounds. This is nonsense. The financial risk of the Games should be transferred away from taxpayers by means of underwriting in the capital markets, securitised if necessary by earnings from TV rights, sponsorship and franchising. Any remaining off-balance-sheet liability held by Government or the GLA must be stated explicitly in the bid document and in public accounts. INDEPENDENT AUDIT: The bid budget must be subject to an independent audit before the Government and the GLA declare their support. The bid budget must then be re-audited annually as it evolves. In the event of a successful bid, the accounts and budgets of the Organising Committee must be subject to an annual, independent audit. Within two years of the closing of the Games, there must be a final independent Closing Audit to review the financial impact of the bid and the Games, and assess budgeting accuracy at all stages. All audit results must be promptly published. ACCOUNTING FOR PUBLIC MONEY: All Government, GLA and local authorities to make explicit in their accounts any spending on a bid or eventual Games. This must explicitly include resources diverted to the Games, such as police and council officer time. Government, GLA and local authorities must also make explicit any projects put on hold due to pressures created by the Olympics, as well as listing infrastructure or other projects brought forward to coincide with the Olympics. OPEN PROCUREMENT: Competition for all contracts related to an Olympic bid and any eventual Olympic Games must be open and fair. No contracts should be awarded without an open and properly-scrutinised procurement process, in line with best practice in business and government. Arguments of 'commercial sensitivity' must not over-ride the public's need to have confidence that Olympic contracts are awarded on the basis of value, not connections. EXECUTIVE MODESTY: Executives working on a London bid or on any eventual Games must be paid no more than executives with equivalent responsibilities in the public sector, and must not benefit from excessively lavish travel and entertainment budgets. ENTERTAINMENT: Similarly, executives must not provide excessively lavish travel and entertainment to IOC members, IOC Commission members, Olympic and other sporting officials, politicians or others. Details of travel and entertainment expenditures must be subject to separate scrutiny during all audits, as must all awards of free tickets to the Games, Opening and Closing Ceremonies and other Olympic events.
CLEAN GAMES: All those involved in a London bid must commit to the highest standards of ethical behaviour.
SOCIAL IMPACT STUDY: The Governement and the GLA committee should commission a full, independent social impact assessment of the bid committee's first draft plan. They should then demand that strategies for dealing with any negative impacts are incorporated into a final bid document. AFFORDABLE HOUSING: All housing development undertaken in the run-up to the Games must help solve identified shortfalls in London's affordable housing stock. An Olympic Village Housing Association should be created to develop and manage the Athlete's Village. HOUSING PROTECTION: A housing action plan must be developed for residents who will have to move to allow the redevelopment of Olympic sites and infrastructure. This plan must identify alternative accommodation and support services required during and after such a move. RENT PROTECTION: One known outcome from experience in other Olympic host cities is an increase in levels of rental in regenerated localities. Long-time residents and businesses must be protected from overly-rapid rental inflation, either by existing legislation or, if necessary by special legislation. HOUSING FOR HOMELESS: The Housing Protection Plan must also deal with the replacement of facilities and services for the homeless, such as shelters, which will be lost during redevelopment of Olympic sites. AFFORDABLE GAMES: Any London Games must be enjoyed by all Londoners. Bid Committee must publish plans on how it will make available tickets to events, including opening and closing ceremonies to low-income and disadvantaged groups. CIVIL LIBERTIES: Rule 61 of the Olympic Charter states that "No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in the Olympic areas." For a London bid to succeed, the Government and the GLA will have to sign a document committing them upholding this rule. The definition of 'Olympic Areas' must be restricted to Olympic venues themselves, and not cover vast swathes of the host city, as has happened at previous Games. Specific measures may be required to protect civil liberties before and during the Games, including freedom of expression, freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom of association and non-harassment of homeless and legitimate protestors. GENDER BALANCE: There continues to be a pronounced gender imbalance within the Olympic Movement and in almost all sporting organisations. Measures to ensure this is not replicated within any London bid and eventual Games must be identified and taken early. Such measures to cover recruitment and facilities offered to London bid and Games Committee employees.
NEW FACILITIES: New facilities to be built only where there is pronounced legacy utility for the local community. No public money to be spent on facilities that will later only be used for professional sport. SPORT FOR ALL LEGACY: Any London Olympics will be judged on its lasting legacy improved sporting access for Londoners. Sporting facilities with no ongoing funding are of no use. Currently, ongoing funding is made available to host cities only when all other direct Olympic costs are met. Funding of legacy facilities must be treated as a core cost of hosting the Olympics; appropriate funding must be identified and guaranteed at the time of bidding. ACCESSIBLE GAMES: Any London Games and legacy facilities must be fully accessible for persons with disabilities. INTEGRATION OF PARALYMPIC GAMES: The decision to hold the Paralympic Games in association with the Olympic Games is to be applauded. Over time, closer integration of the Paralympic Games and the Olympic Games is to be encouraged, and specific measures should be developed by the bid committee.
HEALTHY SPONSORS: No sponsorship should be accepted from corporations promoting unhealthy activities.
ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT: The bid committee must commission a full independent environmental assessment of their bid plan. Strategies for dealing with any negative impacts should then be incorporated into the bid. The bid must also identify measures required to protect and improve London's air & water quality, as well as make plans for waste disposal and recycling. AIR & WATER: The bid must include plans to use the opportunity of the Olympics to remediate as many of London's unused brown-field sites as possible. TRANSPORT: There must be an independent review of the transportation requirements of the Olympics. Where possible, investment in transport infrastructure should be restricted to projects that alleviate existing, identified transport bottlenecks. Where this is not the case, the costs of such investment must be explicitly borne by the Olympics. GREEN CONSTRUCTION: Designs for venues must ensure mimimum feasible environmental footprint, both during construction and later operation. This should be subject to independent audit by reputable environmental organisations.
THAMES ACCESSIBILITY: The river Thames plays a special role in London's history. Any London Games should pay special attention to improving the quality and accessibility of public facilities along the banks of the Thames, to help the river return to the heart of London's life.
NO REDUCTION IN PUBLIC SERVICES: There should be no reduction in the provision of public services in London as a result of any successful London Olympic bid. LOCAL JOBS: Measures must be taken to protect temporary Olympic-related activity from displacing permanent businesses and employment from London. WORKER RIGHTS: Workers recruited to Olympic jobs, including those in construction, tourism, hotels, apparel, hospitality must benefit from normal employment protection with respect to Health and Safety, and union representation rights. WAGE & BENEFIT PROTECTION: Work on Olympic projects should be protected by minimum wage and social security provisions as per best practice in construction and other project-related industries. EMPLOYMENT EQUITY: The London bid committee and any Games committee must commit to and implement equal opportunity hiring. CONTRACT COMPLIANCE: Olympic-related contracts must only be awarded to providers committed to equity in hiring and employment.
VOLUNTEERISM: Long-term volunteer labour should not be used to replace paid workers. Specific measures should be adopted to help existing charities retain their own volunteers up to and during the Games. Job training should be incorporated into volunteer work, particularly in the case of student internships.
LASTING STANDARDS: Olympic standards shall be in place for the duration of the Olympic bid and throughout the Games. LONG-TERM: The financial, social and environmental impact assessments should not end at the Games, but should include a two-year period after the end of the Games. WITHDRAWAL OF BID: No Olympic bid should proceed if these standards are not met. Failure to follow the standards throughout the bid process must result in the withdrawal of the London 2012 Olympics bid.
London, April 22, 2002 Discuss the bid and these standards of conduct here |