AEV Security Working Group – 15 October 2015

The AEV Security Working Group conducted its final meeting of 2015 on October 15^th at the NEC Birmingham, and covered a wide range of topics central to venues' security matters. The group welcomed some new faces as well as speakers from West Midlands Police, The Security Industry Authority (SIA) and Immigration Enforcement.

Following the formalities and approval of the minutes of the previous meeting, Ben Clutterbuck of the West Midlands Police Force addressed the group. Clutterbuck spoke at length about a criminal gang in the West Midlands which target hotels, venues and hospitals in order to perpetrate theft and fraud on individuals. Clutterbuck described how the gang members, who call themselves “The Coventry Falcons”, travel to venues, work in teams to obtain credit and debit cards, and then contact the cardholders pretending to be bank staff, in order to trick people into giving up their PINs.

Gary Masters, representing the NEC, added that venue security staff could be made more award of this kind of gang activity, and venues should reiterate to their guests that banks will never ask them for their PIN.

The next speaker to address the group was Mary Halle from Immigration Enforcement, who described the roles and responsibilities of her department, explaining how it was run from the Home Office, and how it worked alongside the police, HMRC and local authorities to enforce the UK's immigration law and policy.

The next presentation to the group came from Dave Humphries of the SIA, who explained precisely what the authority is, and in recognition of the previous speaker, how it shares information with Immigration Enforcement. Humphries went on to give a detailed account of a triennial review of regulatory regime body of the Home Office, which has just begun, and raised the need for the venue industry to submit its views of the SIA. The group agreed to collate the association's members' views on security and the SIA, and transmit them back to the Home Office challenge group towards the end of the year.

Following the invited speakers, Rachel Parker addressed the group with a CDM update, noting that the impact of the regulations had been largely mitigated through the cross-association provision of comprehensive guidance and assistance for their members. Parker remarked on the success of the CDM roadshow and the resource pack. Graham Masters added that the NEC had had an HSE inspection earlier in October that seemed to go very smoothly.

Paul Field then took the floor to give feedback to the group on Olympia's approved security contractors process followed by Kimberly Miles reading an update to the group from Spike Townsend at the National Counter Terrorism Security Office concerning Loss Mitigation Credit (LMC) as offered by Pool Re Insurance and how members might take advantage of NaCTSO verification to benefit from LMC.

The final agenda item was an update on cyber security circulated by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and Rachel Parker raised the possibility of an AEV conference in 2016, and that a representative from the department would be a valuable speaker.

After round table news and general updates from members, including the announcement from Delia Hanlon of ACC Liverpool that the new Exhibition Centre was open at the venue, and that members were welcome to visit the new venue and take a tour of its facilities, the meeting considered agenda items for the next meeting. The group agreed to invite Dave Humphries back for an SIA update, Spike Townsend for a NaCTSO update and a speaker from the host venue, and settled on dates of the next meetings as 20 April 2016 and 26 October 2016.