By Simon Hughes - January 2016 saw something really significant happen for the UK event industry. The first meeting of the new Event Industry Board (EIB) was held, under the chairmanship of Nick de Bois. The Tourism Minister Tracey Crouch said: "The UK boasts a world-leading events industry that contributes around £40 billion to the economy and draws hundreds of thousands of business visitors to our shores every year. This board will bring together leaders from across the sector to help us build on the success of this growing industry." The assembled representatives from across the industry and government departments will report into the Minister for Tourism and subsequently the Inter-Ministerial Group on Tourism, and the GREAT programme Board. The aim is clear – to help the UK event industry win more business.
For many of those present this was a remarkable moment – and the role that the BVEP has played in helping bring the EIB into being should be celebrated, as it represents the culmination of many years of patient work putting forward the case for the contribution that our industry makes to the UK economy as a whole. Finally we have a forum where the industry can collaborate directly with the UK government to secure more events, conferences, congresses and association meetings, all of which will benefit members of the wide range of trade bodies that have come together, working in partnership as the BVEP. Regular readers will know that this is where I write so far, so good.
I should declare an interest at this point too. I’m really pleased to be a member of the EIB representing EVCOM. I’m also a non-executive director of the Queen Elizabeth II Centre, which by coincidence is kindly hosting the next BVEP meeting. Unfortunately the team at the QEII have had a slightly more taxing start to the year, as the last couple of weeks have seen the vexed question of how to deal with the restoration and renewal of the Houses of Parliament cast a shadow over them once more. Despite enjoying the best trading results in six years since 09/10, which included achieving the highest single income and occupancy month in 29 years, the Centre has once again been linked to speculation surrounding possible options being examined for a de-camp of the Palace of Westminster.
The media coverage of the options under consideration has thrown up some interesting facts, one of which Chris Evans picked up on his BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show. Richmond House, currently home of the Department of Health, could be used by the House of Commons as a temporary home – but it would have to be an alcohol free zone, so no bars for our hard working MPs to hide away in. It transpires that the property was one of three buildings used to finance an Islamic Bond Scheme two years ago and one of the conditions required by sharia law means that the sale of alcohol would be forbidden. The local Westminster publicans are obviously rubbing their hands with glee, but for the QEII Centre this kind of speculation is at the very least commercially damaging – and is no joking matter.
The irony of the situation is that the Joint Committee tasked with examining the options appears to view their task as being to make a political decision on the best option available before examining the full cost implications. This is because the various options for the renewal and restoration works programme already have an eye watering set of costs against them, so to consider the additional costs involved in destroying the award winning work that the QEII Centre have been delivering over the last few years would simply add to the total expense involved. Over the years it has been a lack of political will to tackle the state of the crumbling buildings that has got us to the point where an enormous amount of public money will have to be spent to restore what is after all a world heritage site.
Yet London needs all the event space it can get to remain internationally competitive and the broader economic impact that the QEII Centre brings is estimated to be £122 million per annum. In many ways as a successful and iconic venue it has much of the same DNA as the BVEP, providing event space and services that involve full time and temporary staff, a wide range of contractors, an extended supply chain, a unique location for creative agencies working across many different sectors to deliver outstanding events with their clients and a destination that sits in the very heart of central London. This is why the BVEP will be discussing this issue at their next meeting. The power of working in partnership to promote the UK events industry means that we have to use our voice to ensure that informed decisions based on commercial imperatives are part of the debate when we engage with the world of politics – whether that’s Westminster or Whitehall.
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