Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Andrew Scattergood, Head of Staging Policy for DCMS, on watching the Olympics Stadium light up for the first time.
Being there on Monday, I realised just how close the 2012 Games are. I’ve been working on the Games since the bid phase and a lot has been achieved, particularly on the construction side where the project has quite literally changed the face of East London, but we can’t underestimate how much there is to do.
My current role is to ensure that the Government puts in place its services for the Games. This includes a range of very different projects from restricting advertising and street trading at venues, health provision for athletes, revised import procedures, to the provision of broadcasting spectrum for wireless cameras! It is amazing what needs to be done to ensure an event as large as the Games can take place – almost all central Government Departments have a role, however small, to play. Across the public sector more widely (for example local authorities, GLA, the Met Police there will be a huge contribution to what, we hope, is successful Games.
Looking back across the year, we’ve made a lot of progress. Across all of the projects I work on we’ve fully scoped and agreed with the London Organising Committee what needs to be delivered; project plans have been developed and funding has been confirmed through the spending review. We are now putting together detailed operational plans for all the services, both primary and secondary legislation will be put into Parliament, and we are preparing to start to test our services next summer. Exciting times. I have a feeling that the next 18 months are going to go a lot quicker than the last 18 months, and I’m very much looking forward to being part of it!