Pan-London Female Offender Co-Commissioned service 2021/22

The current London female offender service is funded through London Crime Prevention Fund (LCPF) Co-Commissioning and consists of two distinct projects; Advance Women’s Centres and the South London Alliance Whole System Approach to Female Offending. The current grant agreements for these services expire on 31st March 2021 and approval to extend these services and continue the funding until 31st March 2022 was confirmed in PCD 850.

As part of the new model for probation service delivery, being implemented from 26th June 2021, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) have allocated funding nationally for dedicated female offender services. In London there has been agreement to co-commission extensions of the current female offender services using a combination of this MoJ funding and the continuation of the MOPAC funding. This co-commissioning arrangement was agreed in principal in a Memorandum of Understanding signed between MOPAC and MoJ in September 2020.

Under this arrangement MoJ will transfer their funding for one year to MOPAC, so that the current female offender service can be expanded to cover the whole of London for one year from June 2021 to June 2022. The grant agreements in place for the current MOPAC service will be extended and varied to support this expansion. During the second half of 2021 MOPAC and MoJ will work together to explore further female offender co-commissioning options from June 2022 onwards.

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to:

1. Approve the co-commissioning of female offender services for a year from 26 June 2021 using a grant variation.

2. Approve the extension of MOPAC grant agreements for female offender services for a period of 15 months from April 2021 to June 2022 in support of partnership work with funding from the Ministry of Justice;

3. Approve the acceptance £1,263,861 of funding from the Ministry of Justice as part of this co-commissioned approach;

1. Introduction and background

1.1 The Police and Crime Plan contain commitments to “push for additional investment from partners to expand access to specialist women’s centres so that female offenders across London have access to gender-appropriate provision designed to tackle reoffending”.

1.2 The current female offender service in London covers a total of 21 boroughs and is delivered by two providers which are part of the LCPF Co-commissioning Funded Projects:

• Advance Women’s Centres – The Minerva WrapAround service operates across 15 boroughs in the North, East and West regions of London, delivering in partnership with 8 voluntary sector organisations. It provides access to women centres, hubs and one to one and group support that addresses needs relating to mental health, substance misuse, physical health and well-being, domestic abuse, parenting skills, employability, financial management, accessing appropriate accommodation and tenancy sustainment. During 2019/20 key outputs achieved were: 523 women engaged in 121 support; 2,196 accessed women centre provision; 243 groupwork sessions delivered; 18 training sessions delivered to the judiciary. 94% women felt safer from violence and abuse; 92% increase in health/wellbeing; 82% increase improvement in financial management and 79% enhanced parenting skills.

• Whole System Approach to Female Offending – The South London Alliance service operates across 6 London boroughs through a Women’s Centre and Women’s hubs. This service supports up to 275 women offenders per year with 1-2-1 keyworkers. During 2019/20 key outputs achieved were: 377 women accessing services; 126 engaged with 121 support with keyworkers; 432 accessed the women’s centre provisions and services; 21 peer mentors were trained; 71% of women felt safer from domestic violence/abuse; 61% enhanced parenting skills; 58% improvement in health and wellbeing and 53% in improved financial management.

1.3 Agreement to extend the funding and the grant agreements for these services until 31st March 2022 was approved in PCD 850.

2. Issues for consideration

2.1 As part of the new model for probation delivery, being implemented nationally from June 2021, new services are being commissioned by MoJ to meet a variety of offender needs while they are subject to probation. Amongst the services being commissioned nationally under the National Probation Service Dynamic Framework are dedicated female offender services for each region. Since July 2020 MOPAC has been working with MoJ to agree an approach to co-commission services as part of the new probation model, focusing on the shared priority of female offender services in London. Agreement to fully explore this approach was confirmed by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between MOPAC and MoJ in September 2020.

2.2 Building on the agreement in the MoU, it is now proposed to extend and vary the grant agreements for the current MOPAC LCPF funded services, so that they can be extended across London from 26th June 2021. This will be co-funded by the allocated MOPAC budget and one year of MoJ funding, which will be transferred to MOPAC as the lead commissioner. The revised grant agreements will run from 26th June 2021 to 25th June 2022 and will include a continuation of all the important aspects of the current MOPAC service, in addition to essential elements from the MoJ specification. This co-commissioning arrangement will replace the Dynamic Framework process for female offenders in London for the above period.

2.1. To enable this arrangement £1,263,861 of funding from the Ministry of Justice will be transferred to MOPAC.

2.2. MOPAC’s funding commitment for female offender services in 2021/22 remains at £1,653,131, even though these proposed grant agreements will run until 25th June 2022.

3. Financial Comments

3.1. This decision requests approval to accept £1,263,861 of Ministry of Justice (MoJ) grant for the female offender services in London.

3.2. In addition, DMPC approval is sought to change the 12 month’s project timeline approved under PCD 850 and extend the current female offender service for 15 months from April 2021 to June 2022. This is to support the expansion of existing female offender provision across all of London from June 2021.

3.3. MOPAC 2021-22 funding for female offender services is confirmed within PCD 850 as shown below.

3.4. The extended service will run for 15 months as a multi-year project with a combined funding allocation of £2,916,992 (i.e. MOPAC budget plus MoJ grant). Of this total funding, a proportion will be held as earmarked reserve funds to support the co-commissioning commitments between April and June 2022.

3.5. It is noted the MoJ 12 month’s grant award is strictly for co-commissioning a Pan-London service from 26 June 2021 as set out under a memorandum of understanding.

3.6. This funding straddles two financial years; Finance will support CJS Commissioners to ensure the total £2.9m funding is committed in the relevant budget cycle and in accordance with MoJ grant conditions.

4. Legal Comments

4.1 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.” This is a broad power and the extension of the pilot is aimed at deterring further offending, improving rehabilitation and enhancing crime detection all of which would enable the efficiency and effectiveness of the police service. In addition, under Schedule 3, paragraph 7, 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.



4.2 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), reoffending in its area, and the misuse of drugs, alcohol and other substances in its area. The proposed arrangements are consistent with MOPAC’s duties in the Crime and Disorder Act 1998.



4.3 MOPAC must in exercising its functions have regard to the police and crime plan issued by MOPAC.



4.4 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 business cases for revenue or capital expenditure of £500,000 or above. The release of funding in accordance with the proposals set out in this decision form is accordingly to be approved by the DMPC.

4.5 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 offers made for grant funding.



4.6 Officers must ensure that the arrangements comply with the Financial Regulations and the Contracts Regulations.

4.7 The Mayor's Office for Policing Crime is a contracting authority as defined in the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 ("the Regulations"). All awards of public contracts for goods and/or services valued at £181,302 or above will be procured in accordance with the Regulations.

5. Commercial Comments

5.1. As approved in PCD 850, the current grant agreements for the MOPAC funded services will be extended. Work has been done to predict the expected increase in demand for the pan-London service from June 2021 and also the increase in referrals that will come from full integration with the new probation model. These projections have confirmed that the expected demand for the service will be within the capacity of the co-commissioned service.

5.2. A final decision on the split of funding between the two providers, South London Alliance Whole System Approach to Female Offending and Advance Women’s Centres, will be made once final agreement on the split between the provider’s boroughs has been made.

5.3. Any future procurement will take into account and comply with the GLA Group’s Responsible Procurement (RP) Policy.

5.4. Monitoring risks and value for money will be in accordance to the MOPAC contract regulation 2018.

6. Public Health Approach

6.1 The female offender service has the support of the Violence Reduction Unit as it seeks reduce the risk of reoffending posed by women in touch with the criminal justice system and reduce the risk of harm posed by them to the public, known adults and children. Many of the service users also have complex needs and have experienced victimisation and abuse and the services provide wrap-around support to address these issues and promote long term rehabitation and well-being. This includes an emphasis on reducing the risk of service users being victims of domestic or gender-based violence or suicide and self-harm. This service will also benefit any children of service users through reducing the risks of exposure to adverse childhood experiences.

7. GDPR and Data Privacy

7.1. The extension of the female offender services will not alter the data protection measures in place for each service.

7.2. A Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) has been produced to identify and minimise risks to data subjects. This document will be updated to reflect the extension.



7.3. All providers funded by MOPAC are required to comply with the GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018.



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 Police and Crime Plan 2017-2021 contains within it a focus on: ‘Reducing inequalities in communities’ At the heart of our mission is a focus on setting an agreed standard and addressing the disparities we see across the city, making sure that a basic quality of service is there for everyone in London.

8.3. The female offender services actively promote the welfare and address the specific needs of women in touch with the criminal justice system in a dedicated environment and via specialist provision. This also allows for a focus on specific needs around physical and mental health needs, pregnancy and parenthood and the needs of foreign national and young adult women. BAME women are particularly over-represented in the criminal justice system and the services are specifically tailored to engage these groups and adapted to meet their needs. The services are also open to transgender women after an individual assessment of the needs of each case.

9. Background/supporting papers

• Appendix 1 PCD 850 London Crime Prevention Fund 2021/22 Commissioning Decisions