AEV continues to support Protect Duty and cascade learnings with members

The Association of Event Venues (AEV) remains a supporter of the proposed Protect Duty legislation, following the publication of the results of the Martyn's Law consultation, the Kerslake report, and the first of three reports from the Manchester Bombing inquiry.

Members of the public, the police, and many stakeholders were involved in the consultation, including UK event venues, and the AEV fully supports the findings and recommendations of the consultation in forming the framework for the new legislation.

The AEV's commitment to improving event security has been constant, both before and since the 2017 attack at Manchester Arena, and the AEV's Security Working Group has led UK venue cooperation with counter-terrorism, law enforcement, and security service stakeholders for many years.

In April 2021 we instituted a joint session with the National Arena Association (NAA) to coordinate venue responses to the Protect Duty consultation. This year the AEV is inviting it's members from all the AEV, The Event Supplier and Services Association (ESSA) and the Association of Event Organiser (AEO) to quarterly Protect Duty awareness sessions. These sessions provide essential guidance, advice and resources for venues to align their security posture with the proposed legislation as it takes shape, and are led by Henry Havis, head of security - ExCeL London, and chair of the AEV Security Working Group.

In November 2021, the AEV Conference at BDC included a detailed update from our NaCTSO liaison, Rachel Duckett,  before she joined Kerry Mulloy, Director of Events and Operations, The ACC Liverpool Group and Paul Williams, Head of Security, The O2 to discuss and take questions about implementing Protect Duty.

The report published recently by ICC Wales, following its survey of conference organisers, provides valuable insight into how well the industry understands the ramifications of Protect Duty legislation and is a great example of how expertise and knowledge can be shared for the benefit of the whole industry. 

With the benefit of its collective knowledge and understanding, particularly through the Security Working Group, the AEV is striving to ensure its members are fully aware of and compliant with the requirements of the legislation when it is finally passed into law.

The new The Protect UK website is www.protectuk.police.uk - the information sharing platform. The platform will undergo continuous development and iterative changes as feedback from businesses is collected. During this phase you can contact the ProtectUK team providing feedback around what you like as well as any areas you feel could be improved - details in the aforementioned link.