The Handbook of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games is an officially-licensed account of the world's greatest sporting and cultural event. It tells the complete story of the 2012 Games from inception, through the successful bidding process and the planning and preparation phase, to delivery, the post-Games period and legacy. Written by a world-class team of international sport scholars, researchers and writers, the book offers comprehensive analysis of the full social, cultural, political, historical, economic and sporting context of the Games. From the political, commercial and structural complexities of organising an event on such a scale, to the sporting action that holds the attention of the world, this book illuminates every aspect of the 2012 Games, helping us to better understand the vital role that sport and culture play in contemporary global society. The book is divided into two volumes. Volume One: Making the Games, examines the build-up to London 2012, covering key topics such as: the bidding process planning and decision making financing the Games developing the infrastructure engaging national and international governing bodies of sport engaging the UK public engaging a global public developing a legacy programme the Cultural Olympiad. Richly illustrated with the personal accounts of key stakeholders, from sports administrators and politicians to athletes and spectators, and including essential data and evocative visual material, this book is essential reading for anybody with a personal or professional interest in the Olympic and Paralympic Games, global culture or the development of sport.

Venues and infrastructure for the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games are on track to be delivered on time for the Games and the cost is currently forecast to be within the £9,325 million budget for the Games announced in March 2007. In 2009, it was decided that the Olympic Village and the Media Centre would be publicly funded after the economic downturn left the private finance plans untenable. These decisions were made on clear value for money grounds, but required some £621 million of contingency funding from within the budget, with the requirement reduced by savings elsewhere on the Olympic Delivery Authority's programme. During 2009, the Government Olympic Executive made progress in bringing together the delivery plans of the various organisations involved and developing an integrated programme. These plans need to be finalised so that testing can start in early 2011. The Home Office has prepared costed plans for its Olympic safety and security programme. However, the Home Office and the London Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) have not yet agreed the precise responsibilities, scope and costs for venues security operations. Concerns remain over: the location of the Media Centre away from the Stratford transport hub and the securing of intended legacy benefits from the Olympic Park and associated venues, including the Media Centre; and the risk of LOCOG being in deficit after the Games.

The chaos which has emerged over the G4S Olympics security contract was predictable and undermines confidence in those responsible for managing the Games. There is now a last minute scramble to make sure there will be enough security personnel on the ground. In evidence given before Christmas, all those concerned gave assurances that the contract could be met despite more than doubling the number of guards. No credible explanation has been given for an astonishing twelve-fold hike in management costs, from £10 million to £125 million, and G4S still has not been able to deliver. Now troops are having to be drafted in. The Home Office needs to get a grip on LOCOG and G4S urgently. It is still not known just how many security guards will actually be delivered or whether G4S will face any penalty. The Committee will carry out a post-mortem in September. There is also dissatisfaction with how the DCMS has engaged with the Committee. Legitimate monitoring of implementation has been an unnecessarily frustrating process, characterized by a resistance to giving clear and consistent information and a readiness to depart from proper ways of conducting public business. A big concern is that the Department has no intention of producing a single auditable account for the Games, drawing together both the costs within the Public Sector Funding Package of £9.3 billion and those outside. Such an analysis must be produced

This report focuses on the funding UK Sport has allocated to prepare athletes for the Summer Olympic and Paralympic sports at Beijing in 2008 and at London in 2012. It examines what progress the Department and UK Sport have made in implementing the Committee of Public Accounts' 2006 recommendations, whether they have a clear funding strategy and performance framework through which to deliver their objectives for sporting success at London 2012 and beyond, and what steps they are taking to manage the emerging areas of risk.

The Olympic Delivery Authority remains on course to deliver its work on the Olympic Park on time, within budget and to the standard required. On current projections, however, almost the whole of the £9.298 billion Public Sector Funding Package for the 2012 Games is likely to be required, with little scope for further unforeseen costs to emerge in the eight months left. The construction project was 91.9 per cent complete at the end of September 2011, against a target of 92.5 per cent. Fourteen of the 26 construction projects have been completed and handed over and the remaining projects are on course. The Olympic Delivery Authority has also either completed, or is on course to complete, its transport infrastructure projects, such as increasing capacity on the Docklands Light Railway. However, detailed work by the delivery bodies has identified significant challenges. The likely cost of venue security for the taxpayer, for one, has nearly doubled: the latest estimate is £553 million, an increase of £271 million. The London Organising Committee, LOCOG, had estimated that it would need 10,000 security guards. The current estimate is for as many as 23,700. In transport planning, there have been delays to the full integration of some elements of the transport programme. Until this is completed, it will not be possible to inform local authorities, businesses and individuals of the full impact of the Games on transport in London. It will also be years before the value for money of legacy projects, a key element of London's bid, can be fully assessed

The Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) and UK Sport have responsibility for elite sport in the UK. To support goals for London 2012, the Government has agreed a package of funding of over £700 million, while the DCMS will be required to raise £100 million from the private sector. This report follows up recommendations in the Committee's previous report on supporting elite athletes published in July 2006 (HC 898, session 2005-06. ISBN 9780215029768). It was found then that many funded sports had not met their medal targets at the Athens games in 2004. In particular concerns were raised about the way UK Sport measured and reported its own performance and the need for greater clarity about the level of performance required from individual sports in order to secure future funding was highlighted. UK Sport continues to plan on the basis that it will receive all of its funding up to 2012. However there remains a risk that the £100 million from the private sector will not all be raised.On the basis of a report by Comptroller and Auditor General (HC 434, session 2007-08, ISBN 9780102953084) the Committee took evidence from the DCMS and UK Sport on their fudning strategy for medial success at London 2012; their setting of targets and monitoring of progress towards the Games; and their approach to securing wider and long term benefits from elite sporting success.

This is the second in a series of National Audit Office reports on the preparations for hosting the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games (the first report was HC 252, session 2006-07, ISBN 9780102944273). It examines the development of the budget - costs, provisions and funding - for the venues and infrastructure required to host the Games and related costs such as security. On 15 March 2007 the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport announced to Parliament the budget for the Games and infrastructure associated with the Olympic Park and other venues totalling £9.325 billion, some £5.289 billion higher than the cost estimate at the time of the bid in gross terms. This increase in cost estimates, along with a reduction in anticipated private sector funding, means that public sector funding for the Games has increased by £5.906 billion (which includes contingency of £2.747 billion which may not be used in full.) The overall conclusion is that the budget announced in March 2007 represents a significant step forward in putting the Games on a sound financial footing and should help those involved in delivering the Olympic programme to move forward with greater confidence. The budget process followed has been thorough, and the judgements and assumptions made by the Department and the Olympic Delivery Authority have been informed by detailed analysis and expert advice. Significant areas of uncertainty remain such as the finalisation of detailed design specifications, the legacy benefits to be delivered, how potential suppliers will respond to invitations to bid for work, and the impact of inflation in construction prices, as reflected in the high level of contingency that has been provided for. A number of recommendations are made covering the management of the budget and risk.

In this review, the success of the Games is underlined - the opening and closing ceremonies and 11 million tickets sold, LOCCOG met the challenge of recruiting and deploying 70,000 volunteers and medal targets were exceeded. The review also stresses the importance of building on that success to deliver the promised legacy benefits. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has managed the £9.3 billion Public Sector Funding Package since 2005. There is likely to be a £377 million underspend, though the final position depends on the accuracy of assumptions about remaining expenditure and will not be known precisely until 2014. The final cost of converting the Athletes' Village, and of settling outstanding contracts with suppliers remains uncertain. Operational costs within the package increased, with £500 million additional costs for venue security. The final cost of the Olympic Delivery Authority's programme to build the venues and associated infrastructure is expected to be around £6.7 billion, compared to the £8.1 billion that was originally available to it. The Cabinet Office now has central responsibility, with numerous organisations responsible for particular aspects of the legacy, for coordinating and assuring delivery of the legacy. Whilst future use of the Olympic Stadium is still uncertain, most venues and facilities on the Olympic Park now have an agreed long-term use and legacy tenant. The NAO also recommends that the valuable skills in project management, contracting and risk management gained by officials who have worked on the Games be deployed on other public sector projects.

The success of the London 2012 Games demonstrates that it is possible for government departments to work together and with other bodies effectively to deliver complex programmes. The £9.298 billion Public Sector Funding Package for the Games is set to be underspent. The Department is also committed to reflect on what more it can do to present costs in a way that goes further and brings out those costs associated with the Games and the legacy that are not covered by the Funding Package. The notable blemish on planning for the Games was venue security. Also, during the Games a large number of accredited seats went unused at events for which the public demand for tickets could not be met. International sports bodies and media organisations wield a lot of power but demands should be challenged. It is now up to the London Legacy Development Corporation to attract investment in the Olympic Park and generate the promised returns to funders. There is concern that the lottery good causes do not have any clear influence over decisions about future sales, despite these decisions directly affecting how much will be available to them and when. On the wider legacy, we look to the Cabinet Office to provide strong leadership to ensure delivery of the longer term benefits. The Government also needs to do all it can to learn and disseminate lessons and to encourage volunteering opportunities both within sport and beyond

The Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games in 2012 was largely celebrated as the greatest ceremony ever. It won over critics and the general public, and made a nation proud. This book describes the entire rehearsal process of the volunteers, told from a performer's perspective, for what most agreed was the most spectacular part of the show.