MD2885 New Deal for Young People Recovery Mission – Phase 2

1.1. This MD sets out the GLA’s proposed expenditure that will contribute to the London Recovery Board’s mission that by 2024, all young people in need will be entitled to a personal mentor and all young Londoners will have access to quality local youth activities.

1.2. London’s recovery is led by the London Recovery Board, chaired jointly by the Mayor of London, and the Chair of London Councils. It brings together leaders from across London’s government, business and civil society spheres, as well as the health and education sectors, trade unions and the police, to oversee the long-term recovery effort.

1.3. The London Recovery Board has committed to taking a missions-based approach to the Recovery Programme. It has agreed nine missions of which the NDYP mission is one. This mission aims to support young people in need, particularly those facing the greatest barriers to realising their potential; and including those who are at risk of getting caught up in crime. By providing positive life opportunities this mission helps divert young people away from violence and tackle the causes of violence from a young age. This mission aims to align funding and resources to provide place-based access to youth provision across London and to support personalised mentoring and other tailored interventions for young people, including aiding social skills such as confidence and mental health support, alongside educational support and developing employment skills.

1.4. The proposed expenditure in this MD consists of phase two projects as part of the NDYP Recovery Mission. Phase one expenditure was approved via MD2800. Proposed phase two expenditure helps meet the mission’s aim to provide disadvantaged young people with quality mentoring that will help improve their life chances, and to do so in a way that builds long term capacity within local communities.

1.5. A further MD will be submitted to approve phase three expenditure in the NDYP Recovery Mission which will focus on the GLA’s contribution to a collaborative fund, alongside other funders, to help increase strategic and sustainable investment in youth activities that reaches young Londoners most in need.

1.6. Approval is sought for:

• expenditure of up to £3.7m (£1,233,000 in 2021-22; £1,233,000 in 2022-23; and £1,234,000 in 2023-24) on a programme to expand mentoring provision for young people with the greatest need; this includes development of a Confidence Framework tool to embed quality mentoring, and grant funding to exemplar mentoring organisations to deliver mentoring and to help develop, support and promote the framework within the sector
• expenditure of up to £600,000 (reprofiled as £100,000 in 2021-22; £250,000 in 2022-23; and £250,000 in 2023-24; see paragraph 5.4) on a programme to increase high-quality and inclusive mentoring opportunities in growth sectors such as STEAM
• expenditure of up to £900,000 (reprofiled as £100,000 in 2021-22; £450,000 in 2022-23; and £350,000 in 2023-24; see paragraph 5.4) to deliver the HeadStart Action programme, a personal and social development programme for young people who are at risk of becoming NEET
• receipt of £100,000 funding from City Bridge Trust and expenditure of £100,000 in 2022-23 to provide match-funding for the YLF Local Networks
• the payment by MOPAC of a £172,793 grant in 2021-22 to the Authority, pursuant to section 121 of the Greater London Authority Act 1999, and the receipt of that grant by the Authority
• expenditure of up to £172,793 grant funding in 2021-22 to uplift selected YLF projects to increase the capacity of these projects to support additional young people in areas of London suffering violence.

1.7. This MD sets out proposals for the following activities:

Expansion of mentoring provision and supporting best practice

1.8. There are already good quality mentoring and youth activities taking place across London. These take many forms and are often being delivered by grassroots organisations with a deep insight into the challenges faced by young people in their local communities.

1.9. The NDYP mission aims to highlight the best practice work already being provided and to sustainably build on and amplify what is being delivered well, whilst filling gaps in provision and providing better infrastructure and support to the youth sector.

1.10. A key component of this approach will be working alongside the organisations identified as delivering best-practice youth work and mentoring, and developing a capacity-building delivery model that supports the sector to deliver quality mentoring to young Londoners and supports organisations to identify strengths and build on their areas for development within their mentoring practice.

1.11. This contributes to the mission outcome to increase youth-sector capacity to deliver quality mentoring and personalised support; and its aim to build long-term capacity within local communities.

1.12. Consultations with voluntary and community-sector organisations have emphasised the value they place on sharing practice and learning from their peers. This can help them ensure and enhance the quality of the activities that they are providing for young people.

1.13. An organisation or partnership/consortium will be commissioned or grant-funded up to £200,000 to develop a Mentoring Confidence Framework with the sector; coordinate modular training linked to the Mentoring Confidence Framework principles; and manage an ongoing community of practice of youth organisations where the sector can share tools and evidence of what works. The Mentoring Confidence Framework will be an agile tool that helps organisations build on their best practice for mentoring and personalised support. Building on the evidence base of what works well, it will outline key principles (a ‘mentoring quality statement’) identified as being essential for effective mentoring programmes. Organisations can use the framework to evaluate their own models and practice and identify strengths and areas for development.

1.14. The GLA will provide grant funding of up to £3.5m to around 10 organisations to invest in their own quality mentoring programmes, which will reach young people most in need. Through the grant-award process organisations will need to display how they meet evidenced principles of good mentoring – for example, how they effectively match mentors to mentees and how they integrate youth voice into their work. These organisations will also act as a team of capacity builders from across London. They will co-produce, promote and drive the Mentoring Confidence Framework and a capacity support programme, which will provide a portfolio of specialised support for the sector to help other organisations to build on their mentoring practice.

1.15. The use of the Mentoring Confidence Framework is a common thread running through the programmes set out in this decision, linking them together as they all make use of it.

STEAM mentoring programme

1.16. As part of the NDYP mission, this programme will support STEAM employers to sustainably increase the quantity, quality and accessibility of mentoring in London. This is so that more young Londoners who are in need and from backgrounds under-represented in STEAM can benefit from mentorship with a STEAM professional.

1.17. The programme will provide advice, training and network-building that gives STEAM employers the confidence, knowledge and infrastructure to enable their employees to become effective mentors.

1.18. Grant funding of up to £500,000 will be provided to between five to 10 community mentoring providers. This will enable them to work with STEAM employers by providing mentor training, matching with mentees and delivering STEAM mentoring programmes.

1.19. An organisation or partnership/consortium will be grant-funded up to £100,000 to design, deliver and evaluate a new ‘Mentor Design Lab’ programme. This will support the grant-funded community mentoring organisations and STEAM employers who want to develop or introduce mentoring programmes, embedding use of the Mentoring Confidence Framework and subject to alignment with the organisation who is leading its development. They will convene London mentoring providers and facilitate partnership building between them and STEAM employers and share good practice in STEAM mentoring.

1.20. This programme builds on the relationships with STEAM organisations developed through programmes such as the Mayor’s London Scientist.

HeadStart Action

1.21. HeadStart Action is a personal and social development programme for young people who are at risk of becoming NEET in boroughs with the highest levels of youth unemployment.

1.22. HeadStart Action supports young people through mentoring to create their own community projects and social action in order to engage and inspire young people, develop life skills and provide the employer experience and connections they need to get ahead in the world of work.

1.23. Since 2018, grassroots organisation have been awarded grant funding to deliver the programme locally. They have supported 845 young people to feel more prepared for further education and employment and enabled 366 young people to secure a paid job or work experience opportunity or equivalent.

1.24. Grant funding of up to £550,000 will be provided to around ten organisations to provide local social action opportunities and increased mentoring support. Grant funding of up to £300,000 will be provided to no more than two network delivery leads. These leads will support the 10 grantees by providing employability training and work experience opportunities for all young people taking part in HeadStart Action, as well as capacity building support and embedding the Mentoring Confidence Framework.

1.25. Up to £50,000 will be spent on undertaking an external evaluation of the programme. A competitive exercise in accordance with the GLA Contracts and Funding Code will be completed in order to procure an organisation to provide this service.

Receipt and expenditure of £100,000 from City Bridge Trust to provide match-funding for the YLF Local Networks

1.26. MD2265 approved the allocation of £800,000 from the YLF budget to the Impact for Youth Programme to provide capacity-building support to local youth organisations (YLF Local Networks) to generate and deliver grassroots projects funded by the YLF. MD2265 also gave approval for receipt of additional funding from other funders of youth activities should it be forthcoming.

1.27. In 2019, MD2510 approved receipt and expenditure of £300,000 from City Bridge Trust (2018-19 to 2021-22) to match-fund the YLF Local Networks that are jointly funded by the GLA (as approved in MD2265) as part of the YLF Impact for Youth Programme.

1.28. The YLF Local Networks are 12 local organisations that deliver capacity and capability support to over 300 youth organisations delivering YLF projects. This helps ensure the youth organisations are co-ordinated locally, are sustainable beyond the GLA funding period and they know where and how to apply for funding.

1.29. The current grants with the YLF Local Networks end in December 2021. The £100,000 to be received from the City Bridge Trust will be used to extend grants to the current networks until December 2022, which reflects the end dates of over 100 YLF projects. This period can be used to explore how the YLF networks can best support the wider NDYP mission.

1.30. This extension will enable the networks to support youth organisations at a local level to contribute to the NDYP recovery mission, for example, the development and implementation of the Mentoring Confidence Framework, sharing good practice and capacity building around high quality mentoring, and communicating the local offer to help young people access activities.

MOPAC uplift to YLF  

1.31. The Mayor and the Metropolitan Police Commissioner have set out a significant multi-agency plan to tackle violence in London. In addition to robust enforcement and convening partners to co-ordinate effective activity, a comprehensive package of measures was created to support communities by funding hundreds of positive activities and opportunities for young Londoners in the capital during Summer 2021.

1.32. The Mayor’s YLF helps children and young people fulfil their potential, including those who are at risk of getting caught up in crime. The YLF supports a range of education, sport, cultural and other activities for children and young people. YLF projects already engage significant numbers of young Londoners at risk of or involved in crime. They deliver in many of the communities that are most affected by violence.

1.33. MOPAC has worked with the GLA to identify options to further uplift diversionary projects in areas of London suffering violence. This enables even more young people to benefit from positive diversionary activities throughout the summer and into the autumn of 2021.

1.34. The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime decision PCD1022 approved the release of up to £175,000 from unallocated MOPAC reserves to allow an uplift of selected YLF projects to support additional young people. It is proposed MOPAC provide the funds to GLA as a grant under section 121 of the GLA Act 1999.

1.35. Grant variations will be made to YLF projects that have submitted approved expressions of interest to deliver additional activities in the seven boroughs identified by MOPAC as target areas.

1.36. This MD is seeking consent of the Mayor to approve and receive this grant from a functional body towards meeting expenditure in accordance with section 121 of the GLA Act 1999 for the undertaking of awarding selected YLF projects an uplift to their funding to support young people.

Past approvals

1.37. The table below sets out past approvals for activity related to proposals in this MD. These approvals are historic and do not overlap with approvals in this decision document. The table shows related prior activity.

2.1. Data on the number of young people supported by each programme area will be available once grant-funding applications have been reviewed and awarded.

2.2. The expansion of exemplar mentoring and support to develop and share good practice aims to amplify activities that are being delivered well; and that increase the capacity of the youth sector to deliver quality mentoring and personalised support.

2.3. The STEAM mentoring programme aims to sustainably increase the quantity, quality and accessibility of STEAM mentoring in London.

2.4. HeadStart Action aims to inspire young people and support them into good work opportunities through mentoring, creation of community projects and social action.

2.5. The receipt and expenditure of £100,000 grant funding from City Bridge Trust will provide sustainability and capacity building support to over 100 YLF Round 2 projects

2.6. The MOPAC uplift to selected YLF projects aims to help more young people in the areas of London most affected by violence benefit from diversionary activities.

3.1. Under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 (the Equality Act), as a public authority the Mayor must have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation, and any conduct that is prohibited by or under the Equality Act; and to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.

3.2. Activity and programmes under the Mayor’s NDYP will provide support to children and young people most in need. This includes young people with protected characteristics, young people who are more vulnerable and young people most affected by the impact of COVID-19. Examples of groups that the NDYP programmes will be particularly targeting include young people with special educational needs and disabilities, those who are refugees and asylum seekers, young people with a social worker and care leavers, and those who are risk of or who have been excluded from school or college. The NDYP delivery organisations will be asked to evidence in their applications, specific groups of young people they are targeting based on the need in their local area together with information on geographic areas of need.

3.3. The HeadStart Action programme is targeted at young people most at risk of becoming NEET in boroughs with the highest levels of youth unemployment. It supports young people through mentoring to create their own community projects and social action in order to engage and inspire young people, develop life skills, and provide the employer experience and connections they need to get ahead in the world of work.

3.4. As part of the original YLF application process, organisations that have been granted YLF MOPAC uplift funding were required to demonstrate consideration of equality issues and ensure that work delivered was inclusive. This was assessed as part of the process for allocating grants, therefore provides assurance that those receiving uplifted funding have procedures in place to eliminate discrimination and promote equality. Data on the demographics of those attending YLF projects is submitted to the GLA, in order to assist understanding of reach and access.

Key risks

4.1 The key risks are identified in the table below.

Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities

4.2. Activity directly contributes to the NDYP COVID-19 recovery mission that by 2024, all young people in need will be entitled to a personal mentor and all young Londoners will have access to quality local youth activities.

4.3. Delivery of the YLF uplift aligns with the Mayor’s priority to reduce serious youth violence in London; and the work of the Mayor’s VRU to address the root causes of violent crime by improving young people’s resilience, aspiration and ambition, as well as improving preventative solutions to tackling violence and knife crime.

Consultations and impact assessments

4.4. We have engaged with the youth sector and young people to help shape activity and will continue to ensure young people's voices are front-and-centre of recovery. A number of online roundtables with the voluntary and community sector have been held with organisations identified as delivering best practice mentoring in London, as well as a roundtable with young people to hear their thoughts on the biggest challenges and what good mentoring looks like. These engagement activities are key to ensuring the programme of work is co-produced with the sector and best supports organisations working with young people most in need.

4.5. An evaluation was commissioned in March 2021 to assess the impact of the YLF. This will look at the impact of the programmes and the outcomes for young people and the organisations that support them. The evaluation will also include several thematic studies, including one that will focus on how the fund has successfully supported those young people most in need. The final report and dissemination activity is due in summer 2023.

4.6. There are no conflicts of interest to declare for any of the officers involved in the drafting or clearance of this decision form.

5.1. Approval is sought for receipt of £100,000 of external income from City Bridge Trust as a match-funding contribution towards the Young Londoners Fund Local Networks.

5.2. Approval is sought for receipt of £172,793 of external income from MOPAC as a contribution towards the Young Londoners Fund.

5.3. Approval is sought for total expenditure of £5,472,793 for the New Deal for Young People mission over three financial years (2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24) as detailed in the table below.

5.4. Of the £5,472,793 expenditure:

• £3,700,000 (£1,233,000 from 2021-22 budget allocation; £1,233,000 from 2022-23 budget allocation; and £1,234,000 from 2023-24 budget allocation) will be funded from the Core Mission Fund programme budget held within the Education & Youth Unit
• £600,000 (£100,000 in 2021-22; £250,000 in 2022-23; and £250,000 in 2023-24) will be funded by the reprofiled 2021-22 and 2022-23 STEAM Mentoring programme budget allocations held within the Education & Youth Unit
• £900,000 (£100,000 in 2021-22; £450,000 in 2022-23; and £350,000 in 2023-24) will be funded by the reprofiled 2021-22 and 2022-23 Headstart Action programme budget allocations held within the Team London Unit
• £272,793 (£172,793 in 2021-22 and £100,000 in 2022-23) funded by the external income from City Bridge Trust and MOPAC.

5.5. The expenditure detailed within this decision all sits within the New Deal for Young People mission. Funding for future financial years will be subject to the annual budget setting process and is subject to change. Future years spending commitments can be terminated should the funding not be forthcoming.

6.1 The foregoing sections of this report indicate that the decisions requested of the Mayor concern the exercise of the Authority’s general powers, falling within the Authority’s statutory powers to do such things considered to further or that are facilitative of, or conducive or incidental to, the promotion of economic development and wealth creation, social development or the promotion of the improvement of the environment within Greater London and in formulating the proposals in respect of which a decision is sought officers have complied with the Authority’s related statutory duties to:

• pay due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people

• consider how the proposals will promote the improvement of health of persons, health inequalities between persons and to contribute towards the achievement of sustainable development in the United Kingdom

• consult with appropriate bodies.

6.2 In taking the decisions requested, the Mayor must have due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty; namely the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010, and to advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (race, disability, gender, age, sex, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity and gender reassignment) and persons who do not share it and foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it (section 149 of the Equality Act 2010). To this end, the Mayor should have particular regard to section 3 (above) of this report.

6.3 Paragraphs 1.14, 1.18, 1.24, 1.29 and 1.35 above indicate that the contribution of funding will amount to the provision of grant funding and not payment for services. Section 12.3 of the Authority’s Contracts and Funding Code provides that decisions to award grant funding should generally be made on the basis of the outcome of a transparent, competitive application process. To this end, the officers must ensure that any grant funding is awarded following such a process.

6.4 To the extent that the Mentoring Confidence Framework, Mentor Design Lab and evaluation of the programme described in paragraphs 1.13, 1.19 and 1.25 respectively are commissioned, the services required must be procured by Transport for London (TfL) Procurement who will determine the detail of the procurement strategy to be adopted in accordance with the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code. Officers must also ensure that appropriate contract documentation is put in place and executed by the successful bidder(s) and the GLA before the commencement of the services.

6.5 In determining whether a procurement (contract) or grant award (funding agreement) is the most appropriate route for the activities described above, officers should have due regard to the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code and seek advice from TfL Procurement and TfL Legal if required.

6.6 Section 121 of the GLA Act provides that the GLA or a functional body may, with the consent of the Mayor, pay to the GLA or to another functional body grants towards meeting the revenue expenditure incurred or to be incurred by the recipient for the purposes of, or in connection with, the discharge of that body’s functions.

6.7 Approval is sought for the making of a £172,793 revenue grant under section 121 from MOPAC to the GLA to be earmarked for the purposes of providing additional funding to selected YLF projects. The earmarking of grants by the recipient bodies does not involve the organisation giving it making the grant subject to any limitation in respect of the expenditure for which it may be applied.