Robert Raine

Director, Olympic Safety and Security Programme

Other news...

Lord West Olympic Park visit

Accompanied by the OSSU and senior officers, last Friday Lord West visited the Olympic Park and met with Howard Shiplee, ODA Director of Construction, where he received a thorough update on site security measures. They both commented on the close relationships that have been built around the Strategy and the Conops at a strategic level and the close and quality work undertaken by the OSSU on site. Impressed with site security being well ahead of schedule and expectations, Lord West was equally impressed by the magnitude and progress of the Games build.

Following his visit, Sky Sports and BBC London interviewed Lord West where he emphasised the first-class work he’d just seen and additional security planning messages including, our good IOC assessment, that we are well ahead of any other host city in our preparations and set out the benefits of our close working relationships with ODA and LOCOG, whilst making positive references to Contest 2 and the Strategy and Conops.

Metropolitan Police Special Constabulary

Vernon Coker, the Policing Minister, agreed last week to the Home Office’s making a contribution to a package of measures being announced on 27 March by the Mayor of London to expand the Metropolitan police Special Constabulary to 10,000 officers. The press reported this as an army for the Olympics, and we have contributed from Olympic funds because it will help to reduce the level of abstractions from neighbourhood policing teams in the summer of 2012 and the mutual aid demands on other forces. It should of course also provide a legacy in improved policing capability in London for many years to come

Civil protection and emergency management

This Friday, Chief Inspector Andy Goldston will be presenting to the institute of civil protection and emergency management in Kettering. The conference brings together practitioners and academics to see how they can improve the contribution they make towards disaster and emergency management, business continuity and resilience.

Andy's presentation will look at the roles academia can play in the preparation for the 2012 Games in these areas. This will be based on his previous experience with the London Resilience Team and international research achieved through a Churchill travelling Fellowship to America, Jamaica, Honduras and Thailand in 2006.

Other speakers include resilience, disaster and crisis management researchers and practitioners from Cranfield and Bournemouth Universities, the Health Protection Agency and London Fire Brigade.

Gold standard workshop in Dorset

On 18th March the Civil Contingencies Secretariat of the Cabinet Office hosted a Gold Standard workshop on Portland. The event, which focussed on determining the consequence management of a major incident occurring during Games period, drew key responders from the Local Resilience Forum. Attendees included Chief Superintendent David Griffith and Chief Inspector David Dent from the Dorset 2012 Planning Team as well as the LRF Coordinator and representatives from Fire, Ambulance, Portland Port, Marine Coastguard Agency, Weymouth and Portland Borough Council and Dorset County Council.

National Audit Office

The National Audit Office is carrying out a value for money study on ‘Major Project Management in the Home Office’. The study will assess and report on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which resources are being used in delivering major projects for the Home Office. The Olympic Safety and Security Programme is one of the projects, which will form part of the study.

At the moment the Programme Management Office and the Finance Team are assembling background documents for the NAO team to read. This will be followed by a series of interviews with members of OSD, and the SRO, in the week beginning 20 April. The final report, which will be presented to Parliament is likely to be published in July.