The Scottish Government is proud that Glasgow has been selected as one of the 12 cities to co-host the UEFA European football championships next summer—one of the largest sporting events in the world. Glasgow and Scotland have a strong record of successfully delivering major global sporting events, which bring significant benefits for our economy and international reputation.
Since Glasgow’s bid to be part of Euro 2020 was successful, a local organising committee has been created to aid delivery of the championship as a whole. It includes the Scottish Football Association, the Scottish Government, Glasgow City Council, Hampden Park Ltd, VisitScotland and Police Scotland. The organisers have been making good progress, and the Union of European Football Associations has confirmed that it is satisfied that planning is well on track.
The Scottish Government did not initially expect that additional legislation would be required in order to deliver the event. However, as UEFA’s requirements became clearer, it was evident that primary legislation would be necessary to provide the level of protection that UEFA sought, and to ensure that our arrangements were consistent with those for the other venues around Europe. Formal confirmation that additional legislation would be required was received from UEFA in April 2019. Since then, the Scottish Government has been working swiftly to develop the UEFA European Championship (Scotland) Bill. UEFA indicated that many of the provisions in the Glasgow Commonwealth Games Act 2008 are appropriate and, in preparing the new bill, we have sought to learn from the 2008 act, which is the most recent piece of legislation for a major event in Scotland.
The bill was introduced on 24 September. It aims to help ensure the successful delivery of the event by putting in place protections for commercial rights in relation to ticket touting, street trading and advertising. The bill also contains measures on enforcement. Subject to parliamentary approval, the Scottish Government proposes that the bill completes its parliamentary process more quickly than usual, so that the secondary legislation can be laid early in 2020, in order to give affected businesses as much time as possible to prepare.
Because the requirement for the bill was confirmed only recently, there has not been time for a formal public consultation on it, so the Scottish Government has undertaken targeted engagement with businesses and other bodies with an interest, so that they understand what is being proposed and can provide their views.
The Scottish Government, in liaison with Glasgow City Council, in order to raise awareness among businesses and the public, intends to continue to publicise the restrictions on advertising, street trading and ticket touting in the run-up to the event.
The bill provides for three event zones in Glasgow and, earlier this week, the Minister for Europe, Migration and International Development shared draft maps of the proposed Hampden park and George Square zones with this committee, along with proposed dates of operation for the zones. The Scottish Government expects to share the map and dates of the third proposed zone, in Glasgow’s merchant city, soon.
The preparation of illustrative regulations is also under way, so that the Scottish Government can indicate to Parliament how it expects to use the powers that are included in the bill.
In light of the expedited timescale, the Scottish Government is grateful to the committee for undertaking consideration of the bill swiftly, and we are happy to answer any questions that the committee has about the bill.