Extension for two Young Londoners Fund Programmes

In January 2020, the Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) funded five projects from the second round of the Young Londoners Fund (YLF) which focus on children and young people who are at risk of crime and exploitation. Two of these, Dream, Believe, Succeed led by Edmonton Community Partnership and New Town Culture by the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham have, despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, engaged over 1,300 vulnerable young Londoners in their programmes. These projects were funded for only 2 years, whereas the rest were funded for 3 years. We would like to align delivery of all our YLF funded projects to offer the same longevity of opportunity and support across London.

This decision requests DMPC approval for the allocation of a further £396,114 to fund a 1-year extension for the two YLF projects:

• ‘Dream, Believe, Succeed’ by Edmonton Community Partnership (total of £115,496, profiled as £28,874 in FY 2021/22 and £86,622 in FY 2022/23)

• ‘New Town Culture’ by the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham (total of £280,618, profiled as £70,154.50 in FY 2021/22 and £210,463.50 in FY 2022/23)

This brings the total grant funding for these two projects to £1,251,780.

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to:

Approve a grant extension for the following two YLF grants:

• Dream, Believe, Succeed for an additional 1 year until 31 Dec 2022. This includes additional funding of £115,496 (profiled as £28,874 in FY 2021/22 and £86,622 in FY 2022/23). Funded utilising Mayoral core funding for both 2021/2022 and 2022/2023 allocation.

• New Town Culture for an additional 1 year until 31 Dec 2022. This includes additional funding of £280,618 (profiled as £70,154.50 in FY 2021/22 and £210,463.50 in FY 2022/23). Funded utilising Mayoral core funding for both 2021/2022 and 2022/2023 allocation.

1. Introduction and background

1.1. In January 2020, the Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) funded five projects from the second round of the Young Londoners Fund (YLF) which focus on children and young people who are at risk of crime and exploitation. Of these five projects, three have a 3-year delivery timeframe and two have a 2-year delivery timeframe. The two shorter projects have, despite the Covid-19 disruption, engaged over 1,300 vulnerable young Londoners in their programmes. If they had an additional year of delivery, they would work with an additional 1,300 children and young people. We would therefore like to align delivery across all our YLF funded projects, ensuring they can all deliver for three years to offer the same longevity of opportunity and support across London.

Dream, Believe, Succeed:

1.2. A collective approach between Edmonton Community Partnership (an alliance of 19 schools), three community sector organisations and local young people, Dream, Believe, Succeed provides prevention and intervention programmes to children and young people aged 10 - 16 who are at risk, or in the early stages, of involvement in crime. The programme originally aimed to reach 1,700 young people in an early intervention programme of performing arts and creative expression. Despite the pandemic the project has made extraordinary progress, reaching 1,100 children and young people and providing 150 of the most high-risk children with personal and family mentoring.

1.3. The project was awarded £208,640 in January 2020 and since then, 1,100 children and young people have taken part in their programmes. If a 1-year extension is granted, the project plans to work with an additional 1,100 children and young people, the majority of whom have been identified as living in poverty and displaying signs of mental ill health. The project will add a dedicated programme for primary-aged girls and a post-16 vocational training course for young people.

New Town Culture:

1.4. New Town Culture, run by the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, operates a programme of targeted creative work with young people at risk of offending and exclusion through a referral system integrated with Children’s Care and Support Services. Young people are referred by social care staff across safeguarding services including Youth Offending Services, Adolescent and Exploitation teams, Corporate Parenting, Leaving Care, Disability Planning, Virtual School and Early Help. The programme includes group workshops led by gaming designers, artists, musicians, dancers, fashion designers, and other creatives. It also runs year-long groups for whole foster families, one-to-one creative mentoring at moments of transition or exclusion from school, a young people’s creative forum and paid training and work experience for young people.

1.5. The project was awarded £647,026 in January 2020 and since then, 190 children and young people have taken part in the programme and 60 staff from the Children’s Care and Youth Offending Service have been trained. If a 1-year extension is granted, the project plans to work with an additional 200 children and young people in 2022 and develop three new drop-in projects building on contextual safeguarding work. These ‘Safe Havens’ in cultural venues will be close to schools in crime hotspots.

1.6. Investing in programmes for vulnerable school-age children and young people is an essential part of the VRU’s public health approach to address the root causes of violence and crime. Because of the pandemic, it is anticipated that demand for support will remain high for community organisations that work with children and young people and that funding streams will become less predictable. Without an extension, these projects are due to end in December 2021 and may not be able to sustain the same level of support to children and young people in Enfield and Barking and Dagenham.

1.7. With a 1-year extension and an uplift in funding, these organisations will be able to work with an additional 1,300 vulnerable children and young people in Enfield and Barking and Dagenham, further embed their work to prevent offending and reoffending, and fundraise to sustain the programmes beyond 2022.

1.8. The projects are required to complete a Project Oracle Standard 1, requiring them to develop a theory of change and evaluation plan, ensuring they measure the impact of their project against outcomes from the MOPAC Youth Outcomes Framework. The projects are also part of an overarching evaluation of the Young Londoners Fund programme which is being carried out by an external organisation.

2. Issues for consideration

2.1. Like other projects in the last 18 months, the Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted delivery for these two YLF projects. The projects work with school-age children and young people, all of whom were negatively impacted by successive school closures, social distancing restrictions, home learning, the frequent breakdown of class ‘bubbles’, the closure of places to be, etc. The programmes adapted to immediate need and changed delivery within government guidance, often to the detriment of the programmes’ original aims. Should further restrictions be imposed in the future, these programmes have demonstrated resilience and the ability to flexibly respond to challenges. Additional funding will help secure the work these programmes are doing with children and young people, providing an additional safety net during the pandemic and its aftermath.

3. Financial Comments

3.1 Approval of the recommendations will commit the VRU to additional expenditure totalling £396,114 of which £99,029 will be incurred in 2021/22 and £297,085 in 2022/23. Whilst this spend is additional, it is budgeted and affordable in both 2021/22 and 2022/23.

3.2

3.3 As shown in the table below, the revised budget for Dream, Believe, Succeed will amount to £121,603 in year 2021/22 and £86,622 in year 2022/23. For the New Town Culture project the revised 2021/22 budget amounts to £361,317 and £210,463 in 2022/23.

4. Legal Comments

4.1. Section 143 (1) (b) of the Anti-Social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014 provides an express power for MOPAC, as a local policing body, to provide or commission services "intended by the local policing body to help victims or witnesses of, or other persons affected by, offences and antisocial 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 deems appropriate.

4.2. 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:

o Approve bids for grant funding made and all offers made of grant funding; and/or where appropriate a strategy for grant giving.

o The strategy for the award of individual grants and/ or the award of all individual grants whether to secure or contribute to securing crime reduction in London or for other purposes.

5. Commercial Issues

5.1. The commercial approach will be an extension to the existing grant agreements to sustain delivery for a further 12 months as evidence shows good outcomes and need for the service; as well as to align this opportunity with other VRU funded YLF projects.

5.2. Paragraph 4.13 (5) of the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent provides that the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime (DMPC) has delegated authority to approve all unforeseen variations and extensions to contracts with an original value of £500,000 or above, when the variation or extension is greater than 10% of the original value and/or is for a period of more than 12 months.

5.3. Whilst there are two grant variations (Edmonton Community Partnership and London Borough of Barking and Dagenham), this is in line with the above detailed in 5.1, as well as contract exemption options available to us according to the MOPAC Contract Regulations section 3.1 in conjunction with section 8.22 - (see section 4) and in the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation (see Annex 1).

5.4. In line with PCR 2015 - Reg 72; making a modification to the current contract; no further modification is made to the overall nature of the contract and the increase in value does not exceed 50% of the value of the original award.

6. Public Health Approach

6.1. London’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) is taking a public health approach to violence reduction that is contextual; looking at the context and influences that impact on individuals at significant points in their life.

6.2. Two key areas which are being focussed on as part of this approach are linked to the VRU overarching objectives, and they include:

o Children and Young People – reducing Adverse Childhood Experiences and building resilience

o Families and Home – Support & enable families to nurture and protect young people

7. GDPR and Data Privacy

7.1. As this is an extension to an existing project, there are no changes to GDPR implications.

8. Equality Comments

8.1. 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.

8.2. The VRU, along with MOPAC, have commissioned EDI consultants to work with the teams to develop training, awareness and recommendations for future work programme and action plan developments to ensure the VRU are developing their equality, diversity and inclusion work practices as much as possible going forward. For both the team and stakeholders, as well as for the Londoners we serve.

9. Background/supporting papers

9.1. None.