Today, the Home Affairs Committee published its report on Olympic security delivery, suggesting that the Government should maintain a central register of high risk companies who have failed in the delivery of public services in order to inform future procurement decisions.
The chairman of the Home Affairs Committee, Keith Vaz MP, said: “Due to the swift actions of the MoD, the Home Office and LOCOG, London enjoyed a safe and secure Olympic Games.”
James Kelly, the chief executive of the British Security Industry Association (BSIA), has issued a detailed and extensive statement by way of response.
Supporting the police and public services
“It’s grossly unfair that the capability of the UK’s private security industry should be called into question based on the outcome of a single, highly unique and complex project,” said Kelly.
“For years, many BSIA member companies have supported the police and other public services very effectively at sporting and other celebratory events in the public realm, including Wimbledon, several large-scale music festivals and 2011’s Royal Wedding.”
Importantly, Kelly continued: “Securing the Olympic and Paralympic Games was a unique contract with many significant challenges. The contract was awarded to G4S because it’s an excellent company with a long-standing track record of delivering large-scale events and Government contracts to a consistently high standard.”
Delivering consistently high standards
According to a statement, G4S is “extremely disappointed” that the company was unable to deliver on its full commitments in relation to the Olympics contract, “but this does not reflect the high standards G4S delivers continuously in its other work for the UK Government every day.”
Despite the issues around security staffing, there were no major security incidents during the Olympics. Indeed, there are many positive outcomes from the Games which have been seldom reported:
- G4S, the military and the police service provided security during the Olympics. LOCOG’s plan always included the use of 7,500 service personnel to provide venue security.
- According to independent Government agency assessments there were no significant qualitative differences in service delivery between G4S employees and the military in terms of search times and the quality of searches.
- G4S delivered 81% of the workforce that it was contracted to deliver. During the Paralympic Games the company provided a full workforce, and there were no significant security incidents during the Games.
Dismissal of the industry’s contribution is unfair
“The BSIA itself has been an expert advisor to LOCOG throughout the many planning and preparation stages for the Games,” continued Kelly, “and has contributed to many other positive initiatives that have arisen directly from this work. These have included Operation Sentaur, Bridging The Gap and the Cross-sector Safety and Security Communications (CSSC) project.
“To completely dismiss the huge contribution made by the security industry to delivering a safe and secure Games is unfair, while the negative publicity around the delivery of this single contract is highly damaging for the UK’s private security industry as a whole. This is an industry that employs around 356,000 people and contributes approximately GB pound 6.94 billion to the UK’s economy each year, which equates to 0.55% of the UK’s GDP.
“Since regulation in 2003, the sector has developed a high degree of professionalism, working to reduce public and corporate risk at reduced cost to the benefit of all. Our industry is key to the Government’s plans for reform across the public sector, and private security contracts are already delivering significant cost and efficiency savings to cash-strapped police forces across the country, in turn enabling better allocation of resources and more expenditure on vital frontline areas, including beat policing and custodial services.
“The case for private sector involvement in public service delivery is clear, whether measured on cost, efficiency or any other metric. The BSIA and its members remain committed to helping the Government deliver public service reforms to achieve safer, more productive outcomes.”
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