Grant Funding Acceptance – SOC Community Coordinator

This paper seek approval for the acceptance of Home Office grant funding of £330,000 for 2020/21 only to fund the coordinator and various intervention project costs associated with the final year of a three year pilot to address serious and organised crime in Haringey and Enfield. The paper also seeks approval for the delegation for the payment of grants for the intervention projects.

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to:

1. Approve the acceptance of a grant totalling £330,000 from the Home Office to fund Year 3 of a pilot to test the impact of Community Coordinators on Serious and Organised Crime.

2. Approve payment of grants out totalling £230,000 to selected partners. This is on the condition that those projects meet the Home Office funding criteria & are approved by the local SOC CC delivery board.

1. Introduction and background

1.1. This papers seeks the authority to accept grant funding from the Home Office for the third year of a three year pilot on Serious Organised Crime (SOC) Community Coordinator project.

2. Issues for consideration

2.1. The grant will be used to fund the costs of the Community Coordinator for 2020/21 estimated at £100,000, and for the provision of grants to up to a total value of £230,000

2.2. The MPS has a standing delegation to award grants upto a value of £50,000 and report these to MOPAC on a quarterly basis. None of the current proposed grants are above this level but if a intervention project is estimated to be £50,000 or above MPS seek approval to award the grant following confirmation of meeting the HO grant funding criteria and approval of the local SOC Community Coordinator Board.

2.3. The MPS state that the acceptance of the grant “contributes to the MOPAC policing and crime plan by helping to keep children & young people safe. We will do this through investment in initiatives that directly help support and divert our young people away from crime & the impact of organised crime.”

3. Financial Comments

3.1. The proposal is for the acceptance of grant funding of £330,000 for 2020/21.

3.2. There is no confirmed funding after 31 March 2021. The recipients of any grant funding are aware that the funding is only available to the end of this financial year.

4. Legal Comments

4.1. The Home Office grant is being offered under s.169 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1984.

4.2. Under Schedule 3 Paragraph 7 of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 (“2011 Act”) MOPAC may do anything which is calculated to facilitate, or is conducive or incidental to, the exercise of the functions of the Office which includes entering into contracts and other agreements (whether legally binding or not). Making a crime and disorder reduction grant is a legally binding agreement which is justified by the fact that it will secure, or contribute to securing, crime and disorder reduction within the Metropolitan Police District (“MPD”) and this is within the exercise of MOPAC’s functions.

4.3. 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 bids for grant funding.

4.4. Paragraph 4.8 of the MOPAC’s Scheme of Consent and Delegation provides the DMPC with delegated power to approve the strategy for the award of individual and/or the award of all individual grants whether to secure or contribute to securing crime reduction in London or for other purposes

5. GDPR and Data Privacy

5.1. 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.

5.2. The MPS have assured that the Information Assurance and Information Rights units within MPS will be consulted at all stages to ensure the project meets its compliance requirements and that each bidder has been asked how information will be shared between partners in a way that is consistent with local information sharing protocols and compliant with the GDPR. There is an expectation that service user data will be protected in accordance with GDPR & Data Protection Act. Statistical information used to monitor & evaluate the success of each project will be anonymized.

6. Equality Comments

6.1. 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.

6.2. The MPS has assured that local authority consultation has taken place in order to identify organisations known to provide services to support and divert local communities from crime, and that the funding application process has been launched in order to provide every organisation the same opportunity to apply for funding.

6.3. The MPS state that the purpose of the Community Coordinator pilot is to reduce the impact of SOC on communities and protect the most vulnerable members of society from criminal exploitation. The project has worked to deliver a whole system approach to tackling SOC through activities that involve targeted Prevent interventions, community resilience-building and strategic communications that develop capability on the ground.

7. Background/supporting papers

• Appendix 1 MPS Report Serious & Organised Crime, Community Coordinator – Home Office Funding