Key information
Publication type: General
Contents
Mayor's foreword
The past year has been one of the most difficult and distressing in our city’s history. The coronavirus pandemic has killed more than 10,000 Londoners, delivered a profound shock to our economy and turned the lives of so many upside down. In fact, almost every one of us has suffered in some way – whether through losing a relative or loved one, missing out on big occasions with family and friends, or by experiencing anxiety, loneliness or isolation during lockdown.
And yet, the notion that this crisis has proved to be a ‘great leveller’ has turned out to be pure fiction. Instead, women, working-class Londoners, disabled people and members of our Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities have been hit disproportionately hard by a virus that has preyed on existing inequalities and injustices to deadly effect. Indeed, COVID-19 has laid bare the deep structural flaws in our society and economy, underlining the urgency of building a fairer, more equal city in its aftermath where the difference between life and death is never again determined by someone’s social class or skin colour.
As the Mayor of London – and as a proud Londoner – I truly believe our city is the greatest in the world. I can’t think of many other places where someone from my background – the son of a bus driver, the child of immigrants and someone of Islamic faith – could be elected to such a position. However, my own story does not blind me to the fact that there is still so much more to do to ensure that our city works for everyone. The coronavirus pandemic has pulled back the curtain on the poverty, deprivation, systemic racism and misogyny that has scarred our city – and our country – for too long. And once this crisis is over, we have a moral obligation to make sure that we do not simply ‘return to normal’ or to a status quo that was failing too many in our communities.
When you examine the statistics that tell how black people have been almost twice as likely to die from COVID-19 as their white counterparts, that reveal mothers were 47 per cent more likely than fathers to have lost or resigned from their jobs during the pandemic, and that show almost four in five (79 per cent) LGBTQ+ people had their mental health negatively impacted by this crisis, you cannot help but be shocked and angered. There is no question that some Londoners have been left more exposed to the effects of this virus simply because of who they are and where they live. This is true not only for BAME Londoners, women and members of our LGBTQ+ community, but also for disabled Londoners, older people, manual workers and those living in areas of high deprivation.
This annual equality report details the important work undertaken by City Hall to create a fairer London – in most part prior to the onset of the pandemic. It covers the period between 1 April 2019 and 31 March 2020, with its publication delayed due to the immediate need to divert City Hall resources away from regular workstreams and towards the COVID-19 response. The report therefore only references the lead-up and the very first actions taken in response to the outbreak of the virus. However, it also documents the considerable efforts and achievements that were already being made even before this crisis hit to transform our city into a more just place. These efforts ranged from tackling educational, environmental, gender, racial and labour market inequalities to helping rough sleepers, building more affordable housing and combating violence against women and girls.
However, as this past year has demonstrated in the starkest possible way, there is still so much further to go to eradicate inequality and put an end to injustice in London. Disparities in health, housing, income and immigration status, among others, have had tragic and devastating consequences for our communities. That’s why this pandemic must serve as a wake-up call for all of us and as a catalyst for far-reaching and fundamental change. We need to build back better, striving to fashion a city where nobody is left behind and where every single Londoner has the chance to lead healthy, happy and fulfilling lives. The new normal must be about prioritising the welfare, wellbeing and financial security of all of London’s communities, and living up to our values of fairness, equality and inclusion. This is because we owe it to all those who have suffered and sacrificed so much over the past year to continue our work to build a fairer, greener and more equal London.
Introduction
This equality report covers the period between 1 April 2019 and 31 March 2020. During this period Inclusive London – the Mayor’s equality, diversity and inclusion strategy – has been implemented by teams and functional bodies across the GLA Group.
Inclusive London sets out how, in all his policies and programmes, the Mayor will play his part in helping to address the long-standing inequalities and discrimination that some groups and communities face. It also sets out the Mayor’s ambition to go beyond his legal duties and consider not only the needs of the groups protected by the Equality Act 2010, but also groups like single parents, young people in care, care leavers, migrants and refugees as well as wider issues such as poverty and socio-economic inequality.
This report summarises actions taken against the objectives set out in that strategy. Alongside last year’s 2019-20 Strategy Update, this report also fulfils the Greater London Authority’s (GLA’s) duties under section 33 of the GLA Act 1999 to report annually on its equality work.
The GLA has also published a set of high-level equality, diversity and inclusion measures to track how London’s most significant equality issues are changing over time. These measures are published on the London Datastore: https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/equality--diversity-and-inclusion-evidence-base.
Steps taken towards our equality, diversity and inclusion objectives
This section summarises the actions the GLA Group has taken against the objectives set out in Inclusive London.[1]
[1] The Mayor’s last annual equality report covered the 2018-19 financial year and was published in summer 2019.
1. A great place to live
The communities Londoners live in should help them to reach their full potential. Making London a great place for everyone to live in is a vital part of the Mayor’s Inclusive London strategy. This includes everything from the quality of people’s homes to their ability to engage with their neighbours.
[2] Move-on accommodation is a stepping stone for those not quite ready for independent living. The accommodation is generally one-bedroom properties, where people can live in their own flat and receive support from tenancy support teams to help them access the support and training they need to move on with their lives.
2. A great place for young people
Childhood experiences – particularly those relating to learning and health – set the course of every Londoner’s life. Tackling emerging inequalities early is vital.
3. A great place to work and do business
Inequalities remain widespread in the labour market, from pay gaps to a lack of boardroom
diversity. Helping to make London a great place to work and do business will support the city's economy, while allowing people to fulfil their potential.
4. Getting around
Walking and cycling should become the default choice for shorter trips, and public transport for longer ones. This requires new ways of thinking about how we make streets more accessible and inclusive and transport networks easier to use. Achieving this will help make the city healthier, safer and less expensive.
5. A safe, healthy and enjoyable city
The Mayor is determined to ensure that London is a city where everybody can live a safe, healthy and enjoyable life, supported by strong communities, diverse relationships and access to culture.
Appendix 1: Progress against equality, diversity and inclusion measures
This appendix reports against a set of measures the Mayor is using to monitor the state of equality, diversity and inclusion in London.
In each case the most recent full year of data available has been reported. The years of comparison vary between measures and are specified for each.
The measures and the full data are all available on the London Datastore: https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/equalities-diversity-and-inclusion-measures
A great place to live
- Accessible housing: the proportion of new-build homes in London meeting housing standard M4(2), regarding accessibility and adaptability, has been decreasing. It fell from 86 per cent in the period 1 October 2015 to 31 March 2016, to 66 per cent in the year 2017-18. The proportion meeting standard M4(3), regarding wheelchair accessibility and adaptability, fell from 10 to 7 per cent across the same period.
- Housing affordability: around three in 10 (31 per cent) of London households spent over a third of their income on housing in the three years to 2017-18. The proportion has remained steady over the past few years. Unaffordability affects 64 per cent of private rented sector households and 43 per cent of social rented sector households. Londoners in the lowest-income quintile are more likely to have unaffordable housing (59 per cent) compared with those on higher incomes. Relative to white British and Indian households, housing unaffordability is higher among Black, mixed ethnicity, other White, Pakistani or Bangladeshi, and other ethnicity households.
- Overcrowding: around 8 per cent of London households were overcrowded (according to the bedroom standard) in the three years to 2017-18. The proportion has remained steady in recent years. Overcrowding affects around 15 per cent of social rented sector households and around 12 per cent of private rented sector households. The figure for owner-occupied households is 3 per cent. Households headed by a BAME Londoner are more likely to be overcrowded (16 per cent) compared with a household headed by a white Londoner (6 per cent). Around one third (33 per cent) of lone-parent households are overcrowded, compared with 19 per cent of households of couples with dependent children.
- Rough sleeping: the number of people seen rough sleeping in London in 2018-19 rose by 18 per cent compared with 2017-18. There has been a marked increase in the proportion of those sleeping rough who are from central and eastern Europe. This was 31 per cent in 2018-19 compared with 23 per cent in 2017-18.
- Statutory homelessness: new statutory homelessness duties for local authorities have led to the data for this measure changing in 2018-19. This means there has been a break in the time series. The change has led to a reduction in the number of households accepted as statutorily homeless in London in 2018-19. However, new relief duties are up. The Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 came into force in April 2018. It states that a relief duty is owed to households that are already homeless and require help to secure accommodation. The duty lasts 56 days, after which a household is owed a main (original) homelessness duty and accepted as statutorily homeless. There were 21,173 new relief duties and 8,290 main homelessness duties recorded in 2018-19. Black Londoners and those aged between 25 to 44 years remain over-represented among those owed a prevention or relief duty. This over-representation has fallen slightly since 2016-17.
- Tenure satisfaction: around eight in ten (82 per cent) London households were satisfied with their tenure in the three years to 2016-17. Satisfaction is near universal for owner occupiers (96 per cent) but drops to 75 per cent of social rented households and 62 per cent of private rented households. Among household types, lone parent households are least satisfied with their tenure (62 per cent). This contrasts starkly with households headed by a single person aged 60 or over (89 per cent).
A great place for young people
- Child mental health: around 2.5 per cent of secondary school age pupils in London had social, emotional and mental health needs in 2018. The highest rates are found in inner London boroughs such as Hackney (4.7 per cent), Wandsworth (4.4 per cent) and Westminster (4.3 per cent). The lowest rates (excluding the City of London) are found in outer London – for example, Havering (1.2 per cent), Hillingdon (1.2 per cent) and Kingston upon Thames (1.3 per cent).
- Child obesity: rates of child obesity in London have remained constant for children in Year 6 over the past few years (23 per cent in 2018-19). Black Year 6 children are more likely to be obese (29 per cent) compared with White Year 6 children (19 per cent). The same pattern is exhibited among reception-age children; 8 per cent of White children are obese compared with 15 per cent of Black children.
- Early-years education: take-up of the two-year-old free early-education entitlement in London jumped from 46 to 57 per cent between 2015 and 2016. In 2018, it hit an annual high of 61 per cent, but this fell to 59 per cent in 2020. London take-up is still 10 percentage points below the national average. However, the gap has narrowed by one percentage point since 2018. London take-up for three and four-year-olds was 84 per cent in 2020.
- Educational attainment: has improved within key stage 4. The average ‘attainment 8’ score of students in London rose from 48.9 to 49.7 between 2016-17 and 2018-19. However, ethnic inequalities in educational attainment have increased. The gap in average score between secondary school student ethnic groups with the highest attainment (Chinese) and lowest (Black) rose from 19.2 to 21.5. Inequalities also increased according to FSM eligibility, deprivation status and SEND status.
- School exclusions: rates of both fixed-term and permanent school exclusions have remained about the same between 2011-12 and 2018-19. Comparing the change in inequalities over this period, ethnic inequalities in fixed-term and permanent exclusions have remained about the same. The gaps in rates of fixed-term and permanent exclusions between FSM-eligible students and their peers have increased slightly. Pupils with a statement; education, health and care plan; or SEND support continue to be more likely to be excluded on a fixed-term or permanent basis compared with pupils with no identified SEND.
A great place to work and do business
- Employment gaps: the gap between men and women narrowed by two percentage points between 2011 and 2019. Over the same period, the gap between disabled and non-disabled adults has dropped by three percentage points. By ethnicity, employment rate gaps relative to the employment rate for working-age White Londoners have fallen over time, but progress has slowed.
- Participation in training: the proportion of economically active Londoners aged 16-64 receiving training has fallen progressively over time. It was 23 per cent in 2019 compared with 29 per cent in 2004. White British Londoners are twice as likely to receive training as Pakistani or Bangladeshi Londoners (24 per cent and 12 per cent respectively).
- Pay gaps: the gender pay gap in London has increased to 18 per cent in 2019 from 17 per cent in 2018. Progress on reducing it has reversed in recent years. Previously, it fell from 22 per cent in the late 1990s to 15 per cent in 2012.
- Poverty: pensioner poverty (measured after housing costs) rose from 18 per cent in the three years to 2014-15 to 24 per cent in the three years to 2017-18. Yet poverty is far less common among this group than it was in the late 1990s, when it peaked at 32 per cent. Child poverty rates have remained about the same over the last few years. However, at 37 per cent it is still higher than for other age groups. Working-age poverty rates have not changed much. They are currently around two percentage points higher than in the early 2000s, at 25 per cent.
Getting around
- Public transport satisfaction: this has fallen slightly for most modes of transport, except for trams, decreased slightly between 2016-17 and 2018-19. Among disabled Londoners the fall in satisfaction was worst for taxis and the Underground.
- Public transport use: across London, usage rates of buses, the Tube, National Rail, private hire vehicles (PHVs) and walking rose slightly between 2016-17 and 2018-19. A slightly smaller proportion of people are using their car (as the driver). Among disabled Londoners, use of most modes of transport has decreased since 2016-17, the one exception being a slight increase in the use of PHVs.
A safe, healthy and enjoyable city
- Adult mental health: there was little change in the rate of most common mental health and neurological conditions among adults between 2015-16 and 2018-19. The exception is the proportion of adult GP patients with depression, which rose from 6 to 7.6 per cent.
- Adult obesity: the proportion of London adults aged 18 and over classified as overweight or obese has remained roughly the same over the last few years (56 per cent in 2018-19). The highest rates are in outer London boroughs such as Barking and Dagenham (73 per cent), Enfield (67 per cent), Bexley and Bromley (both 66 per cent). The lowest rates are in inner London boroughs such as Camden (42 per cent) and the City of London (44 per cent).
- Criminal justice: the conviction rates for indictable offences in London has remained fairly constant over the past 10 years and in 2019 was 61 per cent. The sentencing rate has followed a similarly steady pattern and stands at 60 per cent in 2019. Arrest rates have fallen among all ethnic groups between 2017 and 2018.
- Cultural participation: comparing the three years to March 2019 with the three years to March 2016, museum and gallery attendance has slightly fallen across London’s population. This decline was steeper among Londoners that rent, BAME Londoners and Londoners with below degree-level educational attainment. Renters’ participation fell by nine percentage points between the two periods, while the latter two groups exhibited falls of eight percentage points. There has been little change in library use, visits to heritage sites and attendance at arts events.
- Hate crime: hate crime incidents of all categories increased in 2019 from 2018. The exceptions were Islamophobic and religious hate crime incidents, which both fell slightly. The largest rate of increase was in transgender hate crime incidents.
- Knife crime: the number of knife crime incidents rose by 6 per cent between 2018 and 2019. Men remain over-represented in both the proportion of victims and the proportion of offenders.
- Sports participation: the proportion of London adults aged 16 and over taking part in sport and physical activity at least twice in the past month has remained steady. It was 78 per cent in the year to November 2019. Older Londoners aged 75 and oever, disabled Londoners, and Londoners in lower socio-economic groups are all less likely to take part in sports and physical activity.
- Stop and search: the number of stop-and-searches rose by 77 per cent between 2018 and 2019. The proportion of people stopped and searched who are of a White ethnic background increased slightly in 2019 compared to 2018. The proportion of people stopped and searched who are, or are perceived as, Black fell slightly. Young people aged 15-30 and men also remain over-represented.
- Violence against women and girls: the number of victims of domestic violence incidents increased by over 3,000 between 2018 and 2019, or 2 per cent. The number of victims of sexual offences fell by over 500, or 3 per cent.
Appendix 2: Readers’ guides
Inclusive London, published in 2018, is structured not by protected characteristics or groups, but around the issues that Londoners face. We also know that many Londoners have complex identities and that some face multiple disadvantages.
These readers’ guides highlight the actions the Mayor has taken to address the inequalities and discrimination experienced by different groups of Londoners
BAME Londoners and fulfils the GLA’s duties under Section 33 of the GLA Act 1999 to report annually on its equality work.
The following outlines the Mayor’s work on issues affecting Londoners from BAME communities:
Chapter 1 covers the Mayor’s efforts to make London a great city to live in:
- Under Objective 3 the Mayor has implemented his resident ballots funding condition, ensuring that councils and other social landlords get residents’ support for estate regeneration projects.
- Under Objective 4 the Mayor has encouraged boroughs, through their Local Plans, to carry out Gypsy and Traveller accommodation needs assessments.
- Under Objective 10 the Mayor has used the Good Growth Fund to support the Selby Centre in Tottenham that accommodates over 40 community and BAME-led businesses.
- Under Objective 12 the Mayor has helped 5,158 households in or at risk of fuel poverty, with more than half of these clients being members of BAME groups, through the Warmer Homes Advice Service.
Chapter 2 outlines the Mayor’s efforts to tackle inequalities in childhood experiences:
- Under Objective 13 the Mayor has taken action by piloting a project to support primary schools with tackling child poverty, including the embedding of welfare rights advisers in school settings. Of those who received advice, 70 per cent were from BAME communities.
- Under Objective 16 the Mayor has supported good-practice-sharing events between schools on improving educational attainment for specific groups of children, including Black Caribbean boys, and Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children.
- Under Objective 17 the Mayor has held targeted careers events and funded resources to inspire young people into the STEM and creative sectors. This included a specific focus on young BAME people.
Chapter 3 outlines the Mayor’s efforts to make London the best city in the world to work
and do business in:
- Under Objective 19 the Mayor has delivered a Digital Talent Programme in collaboration with GLA’s Workforce Integration Network (WIN), which supports young Black men into employment.
- Under Objective 20 the Mayor has taken action by publishing the GLA Group’s first ethnicity pay gap action plan.
- Under Objective 21 the Mayor continues to address the under-representation of BAME employees in the construction sector through the £12m Mayor’s Construction Academy.
- Under Objective 22 the Mayor has taken action to support the growth of BAME-led businesses by developing Funding London workshops for entrepreneurs and running the mentoring programme Start Up, Step Up London, which has aims to reach BAME Londoners who want to start a business.
Chapter 5 outlines the Mayor’s work to help Londoners lead safe, healthy, fulfilling lives:
- Under Objective 30 the Mayor has taken action to ensure stop and search powers are used fairly and effectively by working with the MPS to deliver new stop-and-search judgement training for new and existing officers, as well as strengthening community monitoring of stop and search. The Mayor has also helped to make London’s police force more reflective of the city it serves by supporting the MPS’s efforts to increase its number of BAME recruits.
- Under Objective 31 the Mayor, through MOPAC, convened criminal justice partners to co-design an action plan to tackle the overrepresentation of children from BAME backgrounds in London’s youth justice service.
- Under Objective 33 the Mayor has supported partnership work to tackle HIV through the Fast-Track Cities programme. This includes HIV improvement projects with people from BAME communities and faith groups.
- Under Objective 35 the Mayor has invested £370,000 funding in the legal advice sector to help Londoners with insecure immigration status.
- Under Objective 36 the Mayor has published research (March 2020) exploring the experiences of BAME volunteers and providing insights into inclusivity in volunteering.
- Under Objective 37 the Mayor has taken action by awarding £1.03m to 244 local grassroots arts, culture and heritage projects in every London borough through Culture Seeds. In total, 40 per cent of projects were awarded to BAME Londoners. The Mayor also launched a £500,000 skills programme in Tottenham to support 130 people, 50 per cent of whom will be from BAME backgrounds, to improve their career prospects. The Mayor supported Film London’s Equal Access Network helping 228 people into screen industry jobs, 60 per cent of whom are from BAME backgrounds.
- Under Objective 38 the Mayor has taken action, following the scrapping of Form 696, by launching the Safer Sounds Partnership, helping diverse music acts to perform safely in London.
The following outlines the Mayor’s work on issues affecting Deaf and Disabled Londoners:
Chapter 1 covers the Mayor’s efforts to make London a great city to live in:
- Under Objective 4, the Mayor has started 348 homes for older and disabled Londoners through the Care and Support Specialised Housing Fund.
- Under Objective 8, the Mayor has continued funding projects through the Skills for Londoners Capital Fund designed with community use, inclusive learning and accessibility in mind.
- Under Objective 9, the Mayor progressed the new draft London Plan through Examination in Public to its Intend to Publish version, which includes asking boroughs to support the creation of inclusive neighbourhoods by requiring development proposals to achieve the highest standards of accessible and inclusive design.
- Under Objective 12, the Mayor has provided Good Growth Fund investment to deliver regeneration, including supporting Action on Disability to create a new West London Disability Hub that will provide benefits advice, employability training and an independent living course, and will include a new community garden space
Chapter 2 outlines the Mayor’s efforts to tackle inequalities in childhood experiences:
- Under Objective 13, the Mayor has published a CIA of all tax and welfare reforms on Londoners since 2010, which provided evidence of welfare reform as a driver of poverty for households with a disabled family member.
- Under Objective 13, the Mayor carried out a pilot project to support primary schools tackle symptoms of child poverty by embedding welfare rights advisers in schools settings. One in three families benefited from additional household income, 20 per cent of those who received advice were from disabled households.
- Under Objective 14, the Mayor has funded 90 projects with his £45m Young Londoners Fund, supporting 45,000 young people including grants to Deafinitely Theatre, Magpie Dance, Hillington Autistic Care and Support, Waltham Forest Dyslexia Association, Resources for Autism and Whizz-Kidz.
- Under Objective 15 the Mayor expanded his London Early Years Campaign to engage families with SEND children and has provided level 3 SEND-accredited training developed by the Mayor’s Early Years Hubs in Wandsworth and Merton to 85 SENCOs.
- Under Objective 16, the Mayor is supporting good-practice-sharing events between schools on improving educational attainment for specific groups of children including pupils with SEND.
Chapter 3: outlines the Mayor’s efforts to make London the best city in the world to work and do business in:
- Under Objective 18, the Mayor fully funded adult learners in 2019-20 to study for BSL qualifications. He awarded £4.2m in Skills for Londoners Small Projects and Equipment capital funding, including facilities upgrades and equipment to enhance support and learning environments for SEND and ESOL learners.
- Under Objective 20, the Mayor launched his Good Work Standard to set a benchmark for good employment practice covering fair pay, inclusive recruitment and staff wellbeing.
- Under Objective 22, the Mayor took action to better understand barriers and support the needs of disabled entrepreneurs. Start Up, Step Up London, a mentoring programme with specific targets to reach disabled people, was established and roundtables were held to hear directly from disabled entrepreneurs.
Chapter 4 covers the Mayor’s work to make London an easier, cheaper and safer city to travel around:
- Under Objective 23, the Mayor – working with London Councils – has developed a new by-law to help overcome accessibility challenges for some older and disabled Londoners by enabling boroughs to specify where dockless cycles should be parked.
- Under Objective 24 the Mayor promoted TfL’s range of free and concessionary fares through schools and job centres.
- Under Objective 25, the Mayor has used the knowledge gained from TFL’s Design for the Mind audit to begin working on and producing a PAS to help designers create environments that remove barriers for those who may be neuro-diverse.
- Under Objective 26, the Mayor has supported TfL and transport providers to increase staff awareness and understanding of how to offer an inclusive service, including disability equality training for 900 staff professional services and 330 frontline staff.
Chapter 5 outlines the Mayor’s work to help Londoners lead safe, healthy, fulfilling lives:
- Under Objective 29, the Mayor via MOPAC doubled the funding City Hall has allocated for the hate crime victim advocacy service delivered by CATCH, which includes dedicated disability hate crime reporting through Stay Safe East, a user-led organisation.
- Under Objective 37, the Mayor’s community sport project Sport Unites supported community organisations to run inclusive and accessible sports activities for disabled Londoners.
- Under Objective 37, the Mayor’s flagship culture festival by Deaf and disabled artists was produced in partnership with Waltham Forest as part of the inaugural London Borough of Culture.
- Under Objective 37, the Mayor awarded Culture Seeds grants for accessible and inclusive arts culture projects including Croydon’s Club Soda for young people with learning disabilities, and a celebration of the work of Somali Deaf Centre.
The following outlines the Mayor’s work on issues affecting older Londoners:
Chapter 1 covers the Mayor’s efforts to make London a great city to live in:
- Under Objective 4 the Mayor has started 348 homes for older Londoners in 2019-20 through the Care and Support Specialised Housing Fund.
- Under Objective 9 he has progressed the new draft London Plan through Examination in Public to its Intend to Publish version.
- Under Objective 12 he provided grant support for 70 community events during the 2019 National Park City Festival.
Chapter 4 covers the Mayor’s work to make London an easier, cheaper and safer city to travel around:
- Under Objective 23 he developed a new by-law to enable boroughs to specify where dockless cycles can be parked, helping Londoners to overcome accessibility challenges.
- Under Objective 24 he promoted TfL’s range of free and concessionary fares to those who are eligible, through Job Centres and other locations.
- Under Objective 25 he used the knowledge gained from the Design for the Mind audit to begin working on and producing a PAS.
- Under Objective 27 he coordinated plain-clothes and uniformed operations across transport modes to tackle theft offences.
Chapter 5 outlines the Mayor’s work to help Londoners lead safe, healthy, fulfilling lives:
- Under Objective 35 he awarded £144,551 grant funding for the second year of the London Family Fund, prioritising projects that focussed on intergenerational mixing.
The following outlines the Mayor’s work on issues affecting younger Londoners:
Chapter 1 covers the Mayor’s efforts to make London a great city to live in:
- Under Objective 2 the Mayor has taken action by publishing his blueprint for reforming the private rented sector to make it more stable, secure and affordable.
- Under Objective 4 the Mayor has taken action by starting 69 Units through the Homelessness Change and Platform for Life programmes.
- Under Objective 9 the Mayor has taken action by developing and launching guidance on Making London Child Friendly.
- Under Objective 10 the Mayor has taken action by funding projects through Crowdfund London and the Good Growth Fund.
- Under Objective 11 the Mayor has taken action by making sure younger Londoners have access to information on air quality and are able to manage their exposure to poor air quality.
Chapter 2 outlines the Mayor’s efforts to tackle inequalities in childhood experiences:
- Under Objective 13 the Mayor has taken action by carrying out a pilot project to support primary schools with tackling some of the symptoms and underlying causes of child poverty.
- Under Objective 14 the Mayor has taken action by funding 90 projects with his £45m Young Londoners Fund focusing on supporting mental wellbeing.
- Under Objective 16 the Mayor has taken action by investing £8m through his ESF programme to support young people who are at high risk of leaving education.
- Under Objective 17 the Mayor has taken action by developing ESF 2019-24 youth programmes to support 15 to 24-year-olds into work or return to education.
Chapter 3: outlines the Mayor’s efforts to make London the best city in the world to work and do business in:
- Under Objective 19 the Mayor has taken action by delivering ‘Future x Skills’, a Digital Careers event and part of the Digital Talent Programme.
- Under Objective 21 the Mayor has taken action by continuing, through the £12m Mayor’s Construction Academy, to address the under-representation of younger employees in the construction sector.
Chapter 4 covers the Mayor’s work to make London an easier, cheaper and safer city to travel around:
- Under Objective 24 the Mayor has taken action by promoting TfL’s range of free and concessionary fares through schools and Job Centres to those who are eligible.
Chapter 5 outlines the Mayor’s work to help Londoners lead safe, healthy, fulfilling lives:
- Under Objective 28 the Mayor has taken action by investing £1.4m in 40 community projects to provide extra support for thousands of young Londoners living in high-crime areas.
- Under Objective 29 the Mayor has taken action by enhancing the Children and Young People’s Victim Support Service.
- Under Objective 30 the Mayor has taken action via MOPAC, to ensure there is ongoing work to engage with young people and improve relationships with the MPS.
- Under Objective 31 the Mayor has taken action via the VRU and invested £350,000 in developing a community-led pilot to support the public health approach to violence reduction.
- Under Objective 33 the Mayor has taken action by supporting partnership work to tackle HIV through the Fast-Track Cities programme.
- Under Objective 34 the Mayor has taken action by launching a new £2.35m scheme to support people with mental health needs who are sleeping rough in London.
- Under Objective 35 the Mayor has taken action by awarding £144,551 in grant funding for the second year of the London Family Fund.
- Under Objective 36 the Mayor has taken action by providing capacity building support to 10 grassroots organisations across eight London boroughs to deliver the HeadStart Action model.
- Under Objective 37 the Mayor has taken action by investing in projects focused on social inclusion, including £7.5m awarded to creative projects via the Young Londoners Fund.
The following outlines the Mayor’s work on issues affecting women in London:
Chapter 1 covers the Mayor’s efforts to make London a great city to live in:
- Under Objective 3, the Mayor has taken action by encouraging councils and housing associations to sign up to the Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance’s National Domestic Abuse Service Standards.
- Under Objective 4, the Mayor has taken action by entering into contracts to deliver homes to enable former victims of domestic abuse who no longer need to live in hostels or refuges to move on.
- Under Objective 5, the Mayor has taken action by successfully lobbying the government to support pan-London commissioning of refuges for victims of domestic abuse.
Chapter 2 outlines the Mayor’s efforts to tackle inequalities in childhood experiences:
- Under Objective 12, the Mayor has taken action by carrying out a pilot project supporting primary schools to tackle some of the symptoms and underlying causes of child poverty, by embedding welfare rights advisers in schools. A total of 75 per cent of parents and carers who received advice were women.
- Under Objective 13, the Mayor has taken action by lobbying the government on welfare reform, highlighting the findings of a CIA of all tax and welfare reforms on Londoners since 2010, carried out by the GLA. This found that households with children, particularly lone-parent families (90 per cent of which are led by women) would lose out the most.
- Under Objective 15, the Mayor has taken action by funding local projects reaching over 2,000 low-income families who weren’t accessing free early years education, expanding the Early Years Campaign to engage families with SEND children, and lobbying the government for adequate funding for quality accessible early-years provision.
- Under Objective 17, the Mayor has taken action by supporting over 300 education settings in London to sign up to the Gender Action charter mark to tackle gender stereotyping in nurseries and schools. He has also held targeted careers events and funding resources to inspire young people under-represented in STEM sectors, including girls, young BAME people and young people with SEND, into STEM careers
Chapter 3 outlines the Mayor’s efforts to make London the best city in the world to work and do business in:
- Under Objective 18, the Mayor has taken action by extending full funding of AEB courses in 2019-20 to eligible in-work groups earning below the London Living Wage, and awarding £7.2m in Skills for Londoners Innovation Fund grants to support 25 AEB grant-funded providers in London.
- Under Objective 19, the Mayor has taken action by addressing London’s parental employment gap through £6.5m of ESF funding. This has been assigned for projects to support workless or low-paid parents to take up childcare entitlements and access provision. He has also set out how to prioritise under-represented groups in project delivery through the Skills for Londoners Round 2 prospectus. For example, the prospectus sets out that there are very few women in specialist tech roles or in computer science courses.
- Under Objective 20, the Mayor has taken action by launching his Good Work Standard to set a benchmark for good employment practice, which will include inclusive and flexible working policies. He launched the second cohort of the Our Time scheme, which helps employers address the barriers preventing women from reaching senior levels in their organisations.
- Under Objective 21, the Mayor has taken action by delivering training through the £7m Digital Talent Programme, targeted at learners who are BAME, women, disabled people or lone parents. He has also continued to address the gender imbalance in the construction sector through the £12m Mayor’s Construction Academy.
- Under Objective 22, the Mayor has taken action by developing Funding London, a programme of workshops for women entrepreneurs focusing on early-stage and growth investment. He has held roundtable discussions with the London Economic Action Partnership for Black women entrepreneurs, and partnered with the British Library to invite successful BAME businesswomen to share their experiences of founding a STEM company.
Chapter 4 covers the Mayor’s work to make London an easier, cheaper and safer city to travel around:
- Under Objective 27, the Mayor has taken action by promoting Project Guardian and the Report it to Stop it messaging service to make public transport safer for women and girls.
Chapter 5 outlines the Mayor’s work to help Londoners lead safe, healthy, fulfilling lives:
- Under Objective 28, the Mayor has taken action by continuing investment in the Rescue and Response partnership for a comprehensive programme of one-to-one support for girls and young women exploited by or involved in county lines activity. He also launched MyEnds, a community place-based programme that invests £3.3m in hyper-local neighbourhoods affected by violence where inequalities related to poverty, gender and race intersect.
- Under Objective 29, the Mayor has taken action by investing a further £15m funding to support the work of Domestic Abuse Refuges and Rape Crisis Centres in London, including increasing the number of women who can access the support of an Independent Sexual Violence Advocate, and funding the growth and networking of grassroots community organisations responding to violence against women and girls in London.
- Under Objective 30, the Mayor has taken action by overseeing implementation of the MPS ‘STRIDE’ Strategy, which sets out the MPS’s ambition for diversity and inclusion through the MOPAC Oversight Board and Audit Panel, helping to make London’s police force more reflective of the city it serves.
- Under Objective 31, the Mayor has taken action by launching the Blueprint for Women, piloting a new approach to working with female offenders who have committed low-level offences.
- Under Objective 33, the Mayor has taken action by supporting partnership work to tackle HIV through the Fast-Track Cities programme. This includes HIV improvement projects targeted at vulnerable groups including people from BAME communities, younger people, women and faith groups.
- Under Objective 36, the Mayor has taken action by working with London Plus during Volunteers Week 2019 to distribute £20k in grants to enable organisations to hold recognition events for volunteers.
- Under Objective 38, the Mayor has taken action by increasing signatories to the Women’s Night Safety Charter from 38 to over 320.
The following outlines the Mayor’s work on issues affecting LGBTQ+ Londoners:
Chapter 1 covers the Mayor’s efforts to make London a great city to live in:
- Under Objective 3 the Mayor has taken action to improve engagement and support for LGBTQ+ residents by encouraging councils and housing associations to sign up to the HouseProud pledge scheme, which offers a framework for social housing providers to improve engagement with and support for their LGBTQ+ residents.
Chapter 2 outlines the Mayor’s efforts to tackle inequalities in childhood experiences.
- Under Objective 8 the Mayor has taken action to continue to successfully focus on developing civic infrastructure through the Good Growth Fund.
- Under Objective 14 the Mayor has taken action to fund projects through the Young Londoners Fund to support young people at risk of poor mental health, such as LGBTQ+ young people.
Chapter 5 outlines the Mayor’s work to help Londoners lead safe, healthy, fulfilling lives.
- Under Objective 29 the Mayor has taken action to ensure the VRU work programme is aligned with the MOPAC Hate Crime strategy to ensure that LGBTQ+ individuals and groups are positively impacted. The Mayor has also funded specialist case work support for victims of LGBTQ+ hate crime.
- Under Objective 33 the Mayor has taken action by supporting partnership work to tackle HIV through the Fast-Track Cities programme.
- Under Objective 38 the Mayor has taken action by helping to keep creative and community spaces open through the Culture at Risk Office and increasing signatories to the LGBTQ+ Venues Charter.
The following outlines the Mayor’s work on issues affecting low-income Londoners:
Chapter 1 covers the Mayor’s efforts to make London a great city to live in:
- Under Objective 1 the Mayor has taken action to increase the proportion of affordable homes in new developments through the Threshold Approach in the new London Plan. In the past year he also supported 17,256 affordable housing starts and assisted councils to start 3,300 new council homes through the £1bn Building Council Homes for Londoners programme.
- Under Objective 2 the Mayor has taken action to support fuel-poor households in the private rental sector by including them in the second phase of the Warmer Homes programme, for which he secured government funding.
- Under Objective 11 the Mayor has taken action to ensure that low-income Londoners are ready for the expansion of the Ultra-Low Emission Zone in 2021 by providing £48m funding for scrappage schemes for charities, micro-businesses, disabled Londoners, and Londoners on low incomes.
- Under Objective 12 the Mayor has taken action to support households in, or at risk of, fuel poverty by launching London Power, which has provided fairer electricity bills for Londoners, and provided 5,158 households (including 2,601 in 2019-20 alone) with energy bill saving advice through the Warmer Homes Advice Service.
Chapter 2 outlines the Mayor’s efforts to tackle inequalities in childhood experiences:
- Under Objective 13 the Mayor has taken action to address the root causes of child poverty by carrying out a pilot project to embed welfare advisers in primary schools which generated an average of more than £7,000 in additional income for one in three families that received advice. He also published a CIA of tax and welfare reforms since 2010, and lobbied the government to provide more financial support to low-income families at the start of the pandemic.
- Under Objective 15 the Mayor has taken action to improve access to childcare for all by funding local projects that have reached 2,000 low-income families who weren’t previously accessing free early years education.
Chapter 3: outlines the Mayor’s efforts to make London the best city in the world to work and do business in:
- Under Objective 18, the Mayor has taken action to help Londoners on low incomes gain the skills they need by extending full funding of AEB courses in 2019-20 to eligible in-work groups earning below the London Living Wage.
- Under Objective 19 the Mayor has taken action to ensure that all Londoners take advantage of employment opportunities by assigning funds to support workless or low-paid parents to take up childcare entitlements and access provision.
- Under Objective 20 the Mayor has taken action to promote fair and inclusive employment practices by urging London’s employers to pay their staff the London Living Wage through targeted approaches.
Chapter 4 covers the Mayor’s work to make London an easier, cheaper and safer city to travel around:
- Under Objective 24 the Mayor has taken action to keep transport costs down by freezing TFL fares, introducing the hopper bus fare, and promoting concession or other affordable transport initiatives.
Chapter 5 outlines the Mayor’s work to help Londoners lead safe, healthy, fulfilling lives:
- Under Objective 33 the Mayor has taken action to tackle the health inequalities that disproportionately affect low-income Londoners by becoming a signatory to the ‘London Vision’ that sets out ten priority areas of focus for collaborative, pan-London action.
- Under Objective 36 the Mayor has taken action to support ex-forces personnel take-up high-quality skilled volunteering opportunities, undertake employability skills training, and secure sustained employment by delivering Forces for London for two years until July 2021.
The following outlines the Mayor’s work on issues affecting migrant Londoners:
Chapter 1 covers the Mayor’s efforts to make London a great city to live in:
- Under Objective 4 the Mayor has taken action by entering into contracts to deliver homes to enable former rough sleepers who no longer need to live in hostels or refuges to move on.
- Under Objective 5 the Mayor has taken action by successfully lobbying the government to support pan-London commissioning of refuges for victims of domestic abuse.
- Under Objective 6 the Mayor has taken action by more than doubling City Hall’s rough-sleeping budget to over £20m.
Chapter 3 outlines the Mayor’s efforts to make London the best city in the world to work and do business in:
- Under Objective 18 the Mayor has taken action by awarding Round 2 of the Small Projects and Equipment Fund.
- Under Objective 19 the Mayor has taken action by completing phase 1 of procurement for the 2019-23 ESF programme.
- Under Objective 20 the Mayor has taken action by supporting unemployed via the Head2Work programme.
Chapter 5 outlines the Mayor’s work to help Londoners lead safe, healthy, fulfilling lives:
- Under Objective 29 the Mayor has taken action by delivering a Community Outreach Programme to support communities targeted following the EU referendum in 2016.
- Under Objective 34 the Mayor has taken action by launching a new £2.35m scheme to support people with mental health needs who are sleeping rough in London.
- Under Objective 35 the Mayor has taken action by providing advice and support to European Londoners and their families facing barriers to accessing the EU Settlement Scheme.
- Under Objective 37 the Mayor has taken action by launching the ESOL Plus Arts programme.
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