PCD 1297 Tender VAWG Prevention Toolkit support FY 22/23 – 24/25;

PCD 1297    Tender VAWG Prevention Toolkit support FY 22/23 – 24/25; 

As part of the current Mayor’s VAWG communications campaign, Have A Word, the Mayor has committed to providing access to an online toolkit promoting healthy relationships in schools. Following the successful Whole Schools Approach pilot in 4 Croydon schools, MOPAC has asked Tender Education and Arts to develop a VAWG Prevention online toolkit for secondary school teachers, to be published on the Have a Word webpage. To support the effective roll out of the VAWG Prevention Toolkit for teachers, MOPAC proposes to award grant funding to Tender Education and Arts.  

The maximum value of the grant is £920,089 and it would run from October 2022 to March 2025. The payment of funding for Year 2 (July 2023 – March 2024) and Year 3 (April 2024 – March 2025) will be subject to a satisfactory evaluation to be completed by July 2023, which is the end of the academic year.  

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to:   

1. approve the award of a grant, worth a maximum of £920,089 from October 2022 to 31 March 2025, to Tender Education and Arts to provide support to teachers and school staff relating to their online VAWG Prevention Toolkit;  

2. delegate responsibility for agreeing the specific terms for the grant to the MOPAC Director of Commissioning and Partnerships, in consultation with the MOPAC Chief Financial Officer; and 

3. approve the transfer of £790,613 to reserves to provide funding for the project in FY 23/24 and FY 24/25. 

1. Introduction and background  

1. From 2017 until 2020 MOPAC funded Tender to deliver a Whole Schools Approach to prevent VAWG and Serious Youth Violence pilot in 4 schools in LB Croydon. Tender delivered all planned activity except for the final wrap-up sessions in the participating schools, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The grant funding included an independent evaluation of the pilot, which was completed in 2020. Tender subsequently developed their RE:SET model toolkit, using the evaluation findings, to support schools who were participating in the Whole Schools Approach to promote healthy relationships. 

2. The Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) funded Tender Education and Arts to deliver the Whole Community Approach healthy relationship programme in schools across 15 London boroughs between 2019 and 2022. Tender continued their development of their RE:SET model and website during this time, including using independent funding to pilot the RE:SET model in 5 schools across England (3 of these schools were in London). In February 2022, Tender and Ashiana were awarded funding from the VRU Girls and Young Women programme to deliver a teacher training programme, which will end in June 2023. The VRU Inclusive and Nurturing Schools Programme have also funded Tender and Nurture UK to deliver the RE:SET programme to 70 schools across 7 boroughs from September 2022 to March 2025. 

3. The Mayor’s VAWG communications campaign, Have a Word, which challenges misogyny, was launched in March 2022. As part of this campaign, the Mayor has a commitment to providing access to a toolkit for schools to support the promotion of healthy relationships. MOPAC asked Tender Education and Arts if they could develop this online toolkit, based on their experience of delivering the Whole Schools Approach pilot and the development of the RE:SET toolkit. Tender developed the VAWG Prevention toolkit, which was based on their existing online resource for teachers. This development has taken place between July to September 2022, and Tender has not been funded for this work. The VAWG Prevention Toolkit for teachers is due to be published on the Mayor’s Have a Word campaign webpages in autumn 2022. 

4. To support the rollout of the VAWG Prevention Toolkit, Tender were asked to submit a funding proposal setting out support they could provide to teachers and school leaders to use the toolkit. The total amount of funding required is £920,089 across three financial years. The proposed funding period is October 2022 to 31 March 2025, with payment of funding for Year 2 and Year 3 being dependent upon completion of a successful evaluation of Year 1 delivery, to be undertaken by July 2023, the end of the academic year.  

2. Issues for consideration  

1. The VAWG Prevention Toolkit and the related support for teachers are the intellectual property of Tender Education and Arts. Tender developed the VAWG Prevention Toolkit at the request of MOPAC as an unfunded piece of work. 

2. The Mayor is very supportive of this work and has asked to visit a secondary school on 14 October 2022 to announce the launch of the VAWG Prevention Toolkit. 

3. The VAWG team have considered what support could be made available to support the effective roll out of the VAWG Prevention Toolkit for teachers. Tender has provided a funding proposal which sets out the support which could be provided to teachers using the online VAWG Prevention Toolkit.  

• Year 1 (FY22/23) delivery focuses on secondary schools and would include 32 x online Toolkit introductory sessions (1 per borough) allocated on a first-come first-served basis. These sessions would be delivered by newly recruited Service Delivery Lead for Secondary Schools. Following the introductory session, the Service Delivery Lead would provide ongoing support to teachers. Year 1 also has a mobilisation period which includes recruitment of a Primary School Delivery Lead and training of Tender facilitators to deliver SEN-specific sessions and sessions for school governors, to deliver these elements from Year 2 onwards. 

• Years 2 and 3, FY 23/24 and 24/25, would be full delivery years and would include:  

• Online sessions for teachers from primary and secondary schools; 

• SEN-specific online support sessions for teachers; and 

• Introductory Toolkit online sessions for governors. 

4. An evaluation of the support to teachers will be arranged as part of the mobilisation of the programme. The evaluation will consider the effectiveness of the delivery of support, and will be completed in July 2023, the end of the academic year. If the delivery model is determined to be effective, then funding will be provided for Year 2 and Year 3 of delivery. 

3. Financial Comments  

1. This decision is seeking approval to award grant funding to Tender Education and Arts to provide support to teachers using the VAWG Prevention Toolkit for 3 years.  The total grant award of up to £920,089 will be broken down as follows: £129,476 FY 22/23; £387,932 FY 23/24; £402,681 FY 24/25.  

2. There is £5,000,000 per annum ring-fenced within MOPAC’s core budget for tackling VAWG of which £1,800,000 is currently unallocated in 2022/23. It is proposed that the programme will be funded from the unallocated amount, of which £129,476 will be spent in 2022/23 and £790,613 will be carried forward into future years to provide funding for this project. To do so, £790,613 will be transferred to an earmarked reserve in 2022/23 and ringfenced for this purpose. This approach will ensure that there is funding available to support the delivery of other, additional VAWG programmes in FY 23/24 and FY 24/25. 

4. Legal Comments  

1. MOPAC’s general powers are set out in the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 (the 2011 Act). Section 3(6) of the 2011 Act provides that MOPAC must “secure the maintenance of the Metropolitan Police Service and secure that the Metropolitan Police Service is efficient and effective.” Under Schedule 3, paragraph 7 (1) MOPAC has wide incidental powers to “do anything which is calculated to facilitate, or is conducive or incidental to, the exercise of the functions of the Office.” Paragraph 7(2) (a) provides that this includes entering into contracts and other agreements.  

2. Section 143 (1) (b) of the Anti-Social, Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014 provides for MOPAC to provide or commission services “intended by the local policing body to victims or witnesses of or other persons affected by, offences and anti-social behaviour.” Section 143 (3) specifically allows MOPAC to make grants in connection with such arrangements and any grant may be made subject to any conditions that MOPAC thinks appropriate.   

3. There are further relevant powers set out in the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 at sections 17(1) (a) to (c) which place MOPAC under a duty to exercise its functions with due regard to the likely effect of the exercise of those functions on, and the need to do all it can to prevent, crime and disorder (including anti-social and other behaviour adversely affecting the local environment). 

4. Paragraph 4.8 of the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent provides that the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime (DMPC) has delegated authority to approve all offers of grant funding. 

5. The delegation of responsibility for the finalisation of planning and grant arrangements, including relevant terms and the signing of agreements, to the Chief Finance Officer is in accordance with the general power of delegation in paragraph 1.7 of the MOPAC Scheme of Consent and Delegation.  

6. Officers must ensure the Financial Regulations and Contract Regulations are complied with.  

  Commercial Issues  

2. The grant agreement made in relation to this funding will be made in line with MOPAC’s Contract and Grants Regulations. 

3. MOPAC makes no commitment to provide funding to the organisation listed in this decision until the Grant Agreement has been signed by both Parties. This will detail the performance, monitoring, reporting and payment schedules, along with the conditions for determining whether funding will be continued for Year 2 (July 2023 – March 2024) and Year 3 (April 2024 – March 2025) following the completion of an evaluation of Year 1 activity.  

6. Public Health Approach 

1. To ensure alignment with VRU activity and wider public health approach, the VRU has been consulted throughout the development of the VAWG Prevention Toolkit and have been consulted regarding the funding proposal to support the roll out of the toolkit. 

7. GDPR and Data Privacy  

1. MOPAC will adhere to the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018 and ensure that any organisations who are commissioned to do work with or on behalf of MOPAC are fully compliant with the policy and understand their GDPR responsibilities.   

8. Equality Comments  

1. MOPAC is required to comply with the public sector equality duty set out in section 149(1) of the Equality Act 2010. This requires MOPAC to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations by reference to people with protected characteristics. The protected characteristics are: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. 

2. Tackling VAWG is an equalities issue. The proposed funding for this project will provide support for teachers in relation to VAWG prevention and healthy relationships advice to promote the fair treatment of women and girls from all backgrounds, who are disproportionately vulnerable to and affected by crime. 

9. Background/supporting papers 

1. None