The Association of Event Venues (AEV) has played host to the first gathering of the Multi Association Security Awareness group (MASA).

More than a dozen senior representatives from event industry associations attended the inaugural meeting on 4 November.

The meeting was chaired by Henry Havis, who is head of security at ExCeL London.

MASA aims to meet the need for an “effective, unified channel” for information from authoritative security sources.

It hopes to have a seat at the table at official meetings at governmental level.

MASA will represent suppliers, and to enable greater and wider outreach of government guidance, particularly around counter terror measures and intelligence.

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It will monitor the flow of information from authoritative agencies like the National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO), the Home Office and Home Secretary, and provide updates to its members.

MASA will also work with associations to provide up-to-date security sections tailored to various industry guides, beginning with the AEV eGuide.

The group will meet quarterly, one month after its representative attends the latest Counter Terrorism Business Information Exchange (CTBIE) meeting.

Currently, MASA has the support of eight organisations in the UK events industry including AEV, Association of Event Organisers (AEO), Event Suppliers and Services Association (ESSA), Association of Independent Festivals (AIF), Association of Festival Organisers (AFO), National Arenas Association (NAA), NOEA (National Outdoor Events Association) and The UK Crowd Management Association (UKCMA).

Rachel Parker, director, AEV, said: “The formation of MASA consolidates and strengthens our industry’s response to the risk of terror attacks and other malicious risks. The UK events industry has an over-arching security and counter terror information framework, providing a solid foundation for safer events now and in the future.”