Olympics minister Tessa Jowell has announced that London 2012 has "irreversibly altered" what it means to host an Olympic Games due to a focus on the event's legacy.

Speaking at the 2010 Legacy Lives conference in London on 4 March, Jowell said the success of the 2012 Games will be measured against two promises but there would be no limit on legacy ambitions. Jowell revealed that pledges to transform East London and to increase the number of young people taking part in sport were the fundamental targets when the city won the right to host the 2012 Games.

The role of central government in helping to prepare a city to stage the Olympic Games has become more prominent due to London's efforts, according to the Olympics minister. Jowell said: "When it comes to London, the 2012 Games have become synonymous with the concept of legacy. For the first time ever, legacy has been an absolutely fundamental part to deciding to bid for, and planning of, the Games right from the start.

"It means that national governments have a more important role to play than ever before - not only in relation to government's responsibilities for staging a Games but, in pursuit of legacy, only government can provide the sort of scale and infrastructure that can match the ambitions of our bid." Legacy Lives also saw the launch of a new toolkit designed to provide guidelines for the evaluation of social, economic and environmental factors in relation to staging major sports and culture events to help create an industry standard.

UK Sport, VisitBritain, EventScotland, Yorkshire Forward, the London Development Agency, the North West Development Agency and Glasgow City Marketing Bureau helped to create eventIMPACTS. EventScotland chief operating officer Paul Bush said: "Working towards the creation of an industry standard for major events impacts is hugely important for the continued development of the UK's events industry."