Key information
Decision type: Director
Reference code: DD2038
Date signed:
Decision by: Jeff Jacobs , Head of Paid Service
Executive summary
Team London is the Mayor of London’s volunteering team. This DD sets out the request for approval of £150,000 from the Communities & Intelligence Directorate’s minor programme budget to be used to support the maintenance of the current schools involved in the Enterprise Adviser programme and the annual Team London small grants programme.
1. Small grants programme - Team London has been supporting small London-based charities to develop their volunteering offers through providing small grant funding over the last three years. The economic climate is ever more demanding for small charities and so helping them to develop their ability to work with volunteers, to broaden their volunteer base and to improve their offer through grant funding is a valuable offer to the sector. We will ensure that the funding round is tailored to meet Mayoral priorities. The amount that will be distributed through small grants will be up to £100k.
2. Enterprise Advisers programme - matches professional volunteers with schools to develop a strong careers education strategy to enable their students to succeed in the workplace. In order to access external funding from the Careers and Enterprise Company, Team London need to provide a 50% match fund for all granted monies. This £50,000 will enable the current programme to continue whilst additional external funding is confirmed through a partnership with the Mayor’s Fund for London (Mffl) and Central London Forward (CLF), as set out in MD1661.
Decision
That the Executive Director approves expenditure of £150,000 from the Communities and Intelligence Directorate’s minor programmes budget to the Team London programme to fund:
- up to £100,000 on a small grants funding round to charities; and
- £50,000 to match fund two grade 8 GLA Enterprise Coordinators’ salaries. The match funding for these roles will come from the Careers and Enterprise Company.
Part 1: Non-confidential facts and advice
Team London is the Mayor’s volunteering programme for London, using volunteering as a way of increasing social action and positive outcomes for Londoners and the third sector in London. Team London encourages all Londoners to give their time to make our city a better place.
Team London is building the next generation of volunteers, connecting young people with their communities and giving them the skills, networks and experiences that they need to find work.
Team London had its overall aims and objectives for 2016-17 signed off in MD1661. This MD set out the different activities undertaken by the team in order to support volunteering and social action in London. These include support provided to the Third Sector through a mixture of training, brokering business support and grant support and the work undertaken through the Enterprise Adviser programme support schools and the senior leadership team to access strategic support and advice through matching them with business volunteers (Enterprise Advisers).
As part of the budgetary requirements which were not fully detailed in MD1661, in order to undertake this activity, namely the Third Sector grants programme and the Enterprise Adviser programme, Team London now requests approval for funding of these two activities. This decision therefore requests the approval of allocation of funds from the minor programmes budget to the Team London budget. The funding will be directed as follows;
• £100k to fund a small grants funding round for charities in London
• £50k to match fund monies from the Careers and Enterprise Company that will cover the salary of two grade 8 GLA Enterprise Coordinators. This complements the approved receipt of £500,000 external income set out in MD1661
The Enterprise Adviser programme is a national programme being delivered in 38 of the 39 LEPs. Team London is delivering the London programme in partnership with the Careers and Enterprise Company and on behalf of the London Enterprise Panel (LEP). Last year’s pilot was funded under MD1559 and worked with 150 Enterprise Advisers in 75 schools.
The Enterprise Adviser programme feeds into the wider London Ambition strategy supported by the GLA Education and Youth and the London Enterprise Panel (LEP). Team London was commissioned by the LEP to deliver this programme on behalf of the GLA and Team London feeds in to the London Ambitions Advisory Group.
A funding agreement for the Academic year 2016/17 has been received from the Careers and Enterprise Company (CEC) offering grant funding of up to 25K per Enterprise Coordinator. A proposed target of 60 additional schools has been suggested by the Careers and Enterprise Company next academic year. A copy of the proposed funding agreement is attached in appendix 1. These would cover the match fund for the two grade 8 Enterprise Coordinators as detailed in this approval.
A match fund of up to 500K is in the process of being agreed with an external funder called Central London Forward. This would provide the match fund for the Careers and Enterprise Company’s grant allowing the London Enterprise Adviser programme to grow substantially next academic year.
Small grants programme
Small charities in London are facing challenging times in terms of delivery and funding. Demand for their services has risen, whilst the funding environment is less favourable. Grant funding is less readily available and commissioners are much more likely to use commissioning and procurement via contracts to enable charities to be able to receive funding. However these contracts may not match up with the needs of the charity and their beneficiaries and may not be accessible to small organisations that lack procurement expertise. Our grant funding has been used to increase organisations ability to use volunteers to support their organisations, whether that is through better recruitment, outreach to new volunteers and use of technology to improve volunteer recruitment or other ideas. We will work with the Mayoral team to define the aims and objectives of the new round of grant funding, but it is likely to focus on this capacity building and sustainability element of small charities requirements.
Depending on the aims and objectives we will set clear and measurable outcomes which will be included in the grant funding agreements with the organisations. We require regular monitoring to be submitted and we ensure that our grant recipients are supported in order for them to be able to satisfy these requirements and gain benefit not only from the grant but through being part of a wider network of small charities supported by Team London so that they can benefit from peer networking, training opportunities and events such as our upcoming International volunteering conference.
Enterprise Advisers programme
The Enterprise Adviser programme will work with 100+ Enterprise Advisers this academic year. The current Enterprise Coordinators will continue to be managed by Team London and will be based at City Hall and employed by the GLA. Team London will report formally to the Careers and Enterprise Company on a quarterly basis.
The Enterprise Adviser programme will:
• Match 100+ schools with a minimum of 200 Enterprise Advisers
• Enable 100 London schools to develop whole school careers education strategies
• Support teachers to have an improved understanding of the varying routes into employment
• Support teachers to become more confident in offering careers advice
3.1 Small Grants programme
The small grants programme will be available to applicants through an open application process. Application forms, guidance notes and FAQs will be prepared to give as much information as possible to potential applicants and will be tailored to make them as simple and accessible as possible in order to help make the funding accessible to as wide a range of organisations as possible. In order to help applicants who may not have applied for grant funding before there will also be a briefing event so that potential applicants can ask questions in person. All questions asked and information given at the briefing event will also be made available on the Team London website so that no favourable treatment is given to those who attend the briefing over those who are not able to.
3.2 Enterprise Advisers programme
Enterprise Advisers will continue to work with non-fee paying London based schools, with the ambition that 80% of the schools involved will have an above National average of students receiving Free School Meals (FSM). Last year’s programme was active in 14 boroughs across the Capital.
Small Grants programme and Enterprise Adviser programme
a) Links to strategies and Mayoral and corporate priorities
The work will contribute towards the following Mayoral commitments:
• Building opportunities for London’s communities, including skills, employment and inclusion.
• Giving young people in London more opportunities and in particular to access the world of work
• Supporting the Third Sector in London
• Driving volunteering in the capital to continue to build on the success of London 2012 and European Volunteering Capital 2016.
The Team London programme directly supports the Mayor’s priority to use volunteering as a way of increasing life chances, and ensuring better social cohesion within London. The small grants programme and the Enterprise Advisor programme both contribute to these priorities.
b) Key Risks and issues
Small grants programme;
Risk – the grants will not be awarded to those organisations that can benefit the most. Mitigation; the application process will be clear and transparent and accessible to all. Applications from organisations that are working with particularly hard to reach groups and/or in deprived boroughs and/or are organisations that have not received funding before will be prioritised and this will be made clear in the marking scheme and guidelines.
Risk- that outcomes will not be achieved. Mitigation; the grants will be regularly monitored and organisations will have to report on their deliverables. Strong relationships will be built between the grantee organisation and Team London so that issues and problems can be successfully resolved before they impact on the award.
Risk – that some of the grants awarded will go to organisations that close down during the period of the grant. Mitigation; that organisations finances will be considered as part of the application process, and monitoring will be carried out. However, when working with small organisations it is reasonable to expect some degree of closedown, and this is part of the risk of working in this sector in such a challenging economic context.
Risk – we will not receive sufficient high quality applications for the grants. Mitigation; creation of clear FAQs and guidance notes, use of case studies of previous applications, briefing event to be held for face to face briefings, help also to be available to applicants by phone for a specified period.
Enterprise Advisers Programme
Risk – Funding from the Careers and Enterprise Company can only be accessed if match funding is sourced. The 50K provided through the Minor programmes budget will cover the match funding of the two current Enterprise Coordinators, allowing Team London to maintain the existing schools that are on the pilot. Mitigation; Additional funds will need to be sourced to access the monies outlined in the Careers and Enterprise Companies agreement. If the Central London Forward proposal does not go ahead, an additional funding stream for expansion will need to be sourced. This will be achieved working with the GLA commercial partnership team and the LEP.
c) Impact assessments and consultations.
Small grants; The third sector team work with their beneficiaries in order to take into account feedback on our processes and procedures in order to make them fit for purpose and match with their needs and capacity. We also need to take into account our status as a public body and the need to use the legal frameworks and guidance in order to protect our financial and legal status. We will be working with our stakeholders to ensure that the outcomes and outputs suggested, and the focus of our grants programme 2016-7 fits with stakeholder needs as well as our own requirements.
Approval is being sought for the transfer, and expenditure of £150,000 from the Communities and Intelligence Directorate’s minor programmes budget to the Team London programme budget
1. £100k to fund a small grants funding round for charities in London
2. £50k to match fund two grade 8 GLA Enterprise Coordinator’s salary at a yearly cost of £53k inclusive of on-costs.
The GLA funding for these posts will be matched by externally funding from the Careers & Enterprise Company, as approved by MD1559.
The availability of the funds requested is confirmed and the appropriate budget transfers to GG.0270.002.005 – Micro grants & Support for Sector £100k and GG.0270.002.006 – Skills & CSR £50k will be made. The associated cost will also be charged to these WBS codes.
It should be noted that any changes to this proposal, including budgetary implications will be subject to the Authority’s decision-making process.
Power to Undertake the Requested Decision
6.1 Under section 30 of the Greater London Authority Act 1999 (the ‘Act’) the GLA, after appropriate consultation, is entitled to do anything that will further the promotion, within Greater London, of economic development and wealth creation, social development and the improvement of the environment.
6.2 Furthermore, section 34 of the Act allows the GLA, to do anything which is calculated to facilitate, or is conducive or incidental to, the exercise of any functions of the GLA. In this case, the officers have requested the approval of the allocation of £150,000 from the Communities and Intelligence Directorate’s minor programmes budget to the Team London programme budget. The allocated budget will be used for grants to charities in order to increase their volunteer base and to create two GLA posts relating to volunteering in Greater London. To this end, the proposed allocation and attendant projects may be viewed as being calculated to facilitate and conducive and incidental to social development and wealth creation in Greater London.
Small Grants Programme
Enterprise Advisers
Appendix 1 – Enterprise Adviser Funding Agreement Careers and Enterprise Company
Signed decision document
DD2038 Approval of £150K from Director's Minor Programme Budget
Supporting documents
Appendix 1 DD2038 Enterprise Adviser Funding Agreement