E.10Progress and next steps

South West of England: it is estimated that over 750,000 spectators saw the Flame pass through the region. In some areas local businesses reported very busy trading conditions, and in Cornwall alone it is estimated that the relay generated an increase in consumer spending of almost £3.8 million across the 21 communities on the route.

Wales: approximately 720,000 people saw the Torch pass through Wales over 5 days as it was carried by 500 runners along more than 300 streets. Evening celebrations took place in Cardiff, Swansea, Aberystwyth and Bangor.

Northern Ireland: an estimated 300,000 people lined the streets as the Flame travelled through Northern Ireland. Councils expressed positive feedback from local traders, such as the main shopping centre in Coleraine recording an increase in footfall of 3,500 people on the day the torch passed through. The torch also toured several locations in Dublin, culminating in a public celebration in St Stephen's Green.

Scotland: approximately 430,000 people saw the Torch Relay in Scotland with evening celebrations in Glasgow, Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh. The Relay offered the opportunity to build community engagement towards the Olympic football matches and 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

North East of England: an estimated 430,000 people came out to see the Torch Relay which showcased some of the region's most iconic attractions. The Newcastle Gateshead Initiative estimated that over 100,000 people were on the streets of Newcastle as the Torch passed through with a value to the local economy of £1.8 million.

Yorkshire and Humber: approximately 1.16 million people gathered to watch the Torch Relay. The economic value to the city of York of the increased activity generated by the relay was estimated at £1 million.

North West of England: the relay included seven evening celebration events and provided a way to showcase a number of Inspire marked projects in the region, including Balloons and Everyday Champions. An estimated 1.27 million spectators were attracted across the region in total. Based on evidence from comparable events, it is estimated that in Liverpool the relay generated £2.15 million of spending which would not have occurred otherwise.

West Midlands: the Torch Relay generated around £3.5 million of economic activity in the region. Over 1 million people saw the Torch pass through the West Midlands accompanied by a cultural programme that highlighted local cultural content.

East Midlands: approximately 1.15 million people viewed the Torch across the region. The cultural community fully engaged through commissions to provide the local content for evening celebrations, animating the route with dance and music and a specially commissioned carnival parade, Follow the Light.

East of England: an estimated 1.4 million spectators saw the Flame, approximately 1 in 5 of the population of the region. The largest evening celebration came in Cambridge where the Torch joined the annual Big Weekend festival to light a cauldron in front of 40,000 people.

South East of England: over 2 million people came out to see the Torch in the region. A number of areas worked with Tourism South East to use the Torch Relay to raise their profile, attracting foreign journalists and securing international media coverage.

London: the Torch Relay ended in London where an estimated 4.2 million people saw the Flame. Evening celebrations took place at Chestnuts Field, Danson Park, Tooting Common, Walpole Park, Alexandra Park and Hyde Park before being delivered into the Olympic Stadium during the Opening Ceremony.

In the Paralympic Torch Relay, 580 Torchbearers (working in teams of five people) carried the Flame as part of the 24 hour journey from Stoke Mandeville to the Olympic Stadium after 40 Torchbearers had taken part in the three Flame Festivals and the Paralympic Flame Lighting Ceremony. An estimated 223,000 people attended the events and gathered along the route to support the Torchbearers¹⁰⁵ further illustrating the extremely high level of interest and enthusiasm for the Games amongst the general public.

Evidence of success in encouraging community involvement more widely is provided by wave one of an online survey was distributed to all Inspire project leads in February 2012.¹⁰⁶ The key findings from wave 1 can be summarised as:

The majority of respondents (79%) reported that their project was still in progress. The majority of projects had run/been running for more than one year at the time of the survey (54%), although some were much more newly established (for example 9% had been running for less than one month);

Projects were most likely to fall under the sport strand (38%) while truce¹⁰⁷ was the least well-represented theme (1%) (see Figure 5 );

London and the South East (14% and 13% respectively) were the areas in which respondents' projects were most likely to primarily operate in, followed by the East Midlands (10%), although survey responses captured activity in all nations and regions;¹⁰⁸

The majority of respondents noted that their project was comprised of a series of linked events (71%). Almost two-thirds (65%) of projects involved both participation in an activity/activities and attendance at an event/events;

When asked to imagine what would have happened if London had not been chosen to host the Games, the majority of respondents noted that their project would either not have taken place (39% reported that it would definitely or probably not have taken place) or would have been changed in some way (33% reported that it would not have taken place with the same scale or profile and 22% stated that it would not have taken place in its current form) which implies a high level of additionality of activity associated with the programme;

Respondents felt that the main benefit of being part of the Inspire programme was a greater profile for the project (84%) (see Figure 5-6). A large proportion of projects also reported that they had made links to other Games-related activity, most commonly the Cultural Olympiad (31%) and Torch Relay (30%) (see Figure 5 );

Overall, there was significant variability in the number of people reported as being involved in delivering projects. Summing across all respondents gave a total of almost 154,000 people having been involved in this way. A significant proportion of the people involved in delivering the projects were volunteers (70%). The estimated number of volunteers totalled approximately 112,000 across the sample (n=290);

Estimates of participation in activity generated a total of 186,000 adults and approaching 613,000 children across the whole sample of respondents (n=290);¹⁰⁹

Respondents were also asked to rate the impact of their project in a number of areas. Significant positive impacts were perceived to have occurred in all areas, in particular provision of new skills, participants' involvement in their local community and encouraging volunteering (see Figure 5-8);

Additional positive impacts included partnership working, engagement with local communities and increased awareness of a range of aspects including London 2012, Olympic and Paralympic values, different groups and cultures, and local facilities. A number of respondents mentioned increased confidence or self-esteem as an important benefit for participants and/or volunteers and a number of others noted benefits in terms of cohesion, integration or bringing different sections of the community together;

Positively, over three-quarters of respondents (78%) reported that their project would continue following the Games and 93% stated that their project had inspired them to run similar projects in the future.

Figure 5: Response to the question 'which one of the main strands does your project fall into?' (n=290)

Source: Survey of Inspire Mark project leads, Nielsen/LOCOG (2012).

Figure 5: Response to the question 'does your project link to or support any of the following Olympic or Paralympic related projects or activities?' (multiple responses permitted; n=290)

Source: Survey of Inspire Mark project leads, Nielsen/LOCOG (2012).

In addition, an ongoing survey of participants in Inspire projects in the North West region had attracted over 500 responses prior to the Games. Key findings include:

Around 87% of respondents had attended an Inspire project which involved participation in sport and physical activity;

Respondents reported an increased frequency of involvement in sport and the arts since their participation in an Inspire project with 69% taking part in sport at least once a week prior to their involvement in Inspire rising to 79% after and the respective figures for arts and cultural activities being 27% and 35%;

The survey asked about the impact on views and behaviour for a range of outcome measures. People were most likely to say that they had made friends whilst on the programme (a net effect of +74%), felt healthier and fitter (+68%), were more likely to get involved in their local community (+65%) and felt more self-confident (+65%);

Respondents were also asked their opinion on the extent to which the Games will impact on a number of areas based on a scale from 1 (low) to 10 (high). The area where the programme was seen as having the highest potential impact is the ability of Paralympic sports to generate a more positive view of disabled people and their achievements (generating an average score of 8.49), followed by the extent to which the Games will lead to an increase in public pride (7.94).

Evaluation of the social impacts of the Cadbury Spots v Stripes Community Programme is underway and at the interim stage had involved surveys being completed by 44% of long term volunteers. An interim Social Return on Investment (from August 2010 to the end of November 2011) found that for every £1 invested in the Cadbury Spots v Stripes Community Programme, an estimated social value of £1.90 or £4.7 million had been created.¹¹⁰

The research also found that participants and spectators had met new people of different ages and backgrounds with 98% of volunteers and 86% of participants and spectators surveyed having met and spoken with people of different ages and over 75% having met and spoken with people of different cultures. There is also evidence that the programme had helped to build stronger and more cohesive communities as 83% of responding participants said they were now more likely to get involved in community activities, one in three were more likely to consider volunteering in the local area and 85% agreed that there was a greater sense of community in the area.

Volunteers reported that they had improved skills in the areas of: communication (86%), team working (87%) and organisational/time management (69%) as a result of taking part, and 81% stated their confidence and self-esteem had increased.

(iii)Conclusions: Outcomes and additionality

The latest data from the Taking Part survey (April 2011 to March 2012) shows that the proportion of adults who had volunteered in the last 12 months was 23.3%. This is not a significant change on 2010/11 suggesting that up to March 2012 the Games was yet to have a discernible effect on participation in volunteering in the general population.

However, the latest wave of the survey also found that 6% of adults reported that they had been motivated to do more voluntary work as a result of the UK winning the bid to host the 2012 Games. The greatest impact on motivation to volunteer is observed amongst young people (aged 16-24) with 14% of this group reporting that they had been motivated to do more voluntary work. The same survey reveals a strong effect on people from BME groups (21%). There are some regional differences with the highest proportion of people motivated to volunteer in London (12%)

One possible explanation for these findings is that so far the winning bid may have been more likely to encourage existing volunteers to increase their volunteering activity, rather than encouraging more people to participate. Another possible factor is that the motivation is to volunteer during the Games and so has not yet been captured by the Taking Part volunteering data.

(iv)Progress in answering the research questions

To what extent and how have the 2012 Games resulted in more active, cohesive and successful communities, including through: • Inspiring more organisations to offer volunteering opportunities and building the capacity of the sector? • Inspiring more people (and especially young people and disabled people) to volunteer their time, and tackling the barriers to participation? • Inspiring people to set up their own 2012 Games-related activities, which engage people across the UK in the Games?

Interim findings from surveys of Inspire project leads and the Spots v Stripes evaluation provide some evidence of Games-related activity having had a positive effect on community engagement and cohesion. For example, across the survey sample of 290 Inspire Mark projects the estimated number of volunteers exceeded 100,000 and at the interim evaluation stage over 2,900 volunteers had been recruited to support Spots v Stripes activity. In addition, both the survey of Inspire project leads and research undertaken as part of the Spots v Stripes evaluation provide evidence of a perceived increase in community engagement/involvement more generally. However, a more extensive evidence base will begin to emerge later in 2012, including findings from a survey of Games Makers (which will provide important evidence related to the motivations and experience of volunteers, including disabled people) and wave 2 of the Inspire project leads research.

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