Uplift to Young Londoners Fund projects – summer violence

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

Young Londoners Fund 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. MOPAC has worked with the GLA to identify options to further uplift diversionary projects in areas of London suffering violence; enabling even more young people to benefit from positive diversionary activities throughout the summer and into the autumn. This decision seeks approval for £175,000 funding from MOPAC’s general unallocated reserve to be used to uplift selected YLF projects.

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to:

1. Approve the release of £175,000 from unallocated reserves to allow an uplift to selected YLF projects, to increase the capacity of these projects to support additional young people until the end of December 2021.
2. Delegate authority for agreeing the specific terms relating to individual grants to the MOPAC Chief Financial Officer.

1. Introduction and background

1.1. The Mayor’s top priority is to keep Londoners safe, and as a response to the recent teenage homicides he has convened a multi-agency partnership focusing on summer violence. As part of the Mayor’s ongoing work to address serious youth violence, City Hall has updated and re-launched its Our London Map which pinpoints activities for young people across London including those funded by the Mayor’s Young Londoners Fund (YLF). This map enables young people and those that support young people to be able to more easily identify activities and positive experiences over the summer.

1.2. The summer violence partnership group has identified the need to provide more positive activities for more young people in London, especially during times when vulnerability may increase, such as summer holidays; summer schools for the purposes of transitioning schools or school years; the hours after school; weekends, and the upcoming October half term. These activities would be especially beneficial in the those wards identified by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) which have a high number of violent offences in the last year.

1.3. In order to deliver additional boost activities, a process has been developed with the GLA’s team co-ordinating the YLF to assess and identify existing YLF funded projects in those geographic areas identified by the MPS and other partners as being linked to higher levels of serious youth violence with capacity to deliver boost activity and where there is evidence of demand. These projects will be invited to outline what additional activity could be delivered with an uplift.

2. Issues for consideration

2.1 The Young Londoners Fund helps children and young people to stay safe and reach their potential by providing additional positive activities in their local community. Along with core activities, projects provide safe spaces where young people can work on life skills of self improvement, resilience, positive mental health, and create opportunities to speak with skilled youth workers who can signpost them towards other services.

2.2 The Mayor has already invested £45m into the Young Londoners Fund to create positive opportunities for 110,000 disadvantaged young Londoners. Of those young people engaged to date in YLF activities 78% are at risk of involvement in crime and 9% are involved. This demonstrates that the activities are working with those that most need of support. This summer, the Mayor’s current level of investment will provide activities for around 5,000 young people. Much of this investment is targeted in the wards at higher risk of violence, and with higher levels of poverty and deprivation.

2.3 The delivery period for work funded by this uplift may vary depending on the nature of the project. For example, some projects may be able to support an increased number of young people but over an existing delivery schedule; while others may wish to extend the duration of their work over additional sessions into autumn. Delivery under uplifted funding is intended to take place by the end of December 2021.

3. Financial Comments

3.1. This programme requests a one-off funding from MOPAC’s general (unallocated) reserves in 2021/22 financial year, to support YLF activities delivered through the GLA.

3.2. The maximum budget required for this work is £175,000, with projects starting from August 2021 and potentially running until the end of December 2021, depending on the specific nature of each project.

3.3. This funding is one off funding in 2021/22. Any funds that are unused by March 2022 will be returned to MOPAC’s unallocated reserve.

3.4. Payments will be monitored and made in line with arrangements as set out in a grant agreement, following evidence provided of satisfactory performance.

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.” 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.

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. 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. The MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent provides the DMPC authority to delegate those functions which are reserved for the DMPC.

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

4.5. Officers should ensure that the funding agreements are put in place with and executed by MOPAC and each of the providers before any commitment to fund is made.

4.6. Officers confirm that sufficient assurance has been carried out to this decision to determine that the DMPC has legal authority to agree the recommendations on funding and the extension of grants/ contracts.

5. Commercial Issues

5.1 We are providing funding to the GLA, who will vary their existing Grant Agreements in order to provide the funding to organisations delivering the work

5.2 OR

5.3 In agreement with the GLA, MOPAC will directly grant the uplifted funding to the organisations who currently have Grant Agreements in place with the GLA.

5.4 This decision requests to distribute funding via one of two routes.

5.5 If the route at 5.1 is followed, funding will go from MOPAC to the GLA to distribute via grant variations to the existing grant agreements they hold with the relevant YLF projects.

5.6 The alternative route, outlined at 5.3, is for new grant agreements to be created for MOPAC to fund the YLF projects directly for the boost funding and activities.

5.1. MOPAC makes no commitment to fund the identified YLF projects until grant variation letters or agreements have been signed by both parties. These will detail the performance and payment schedules.

6. Public Health Approach

6.1 A public health approach to tackling violence means looking at violence not as isolated incidents or solely a police enforcement problem. Instead, this approach looks at violence as a preventable consequence of a range of factors, such as adverse early-life experiences, or harmful social or community experiences and influences. A public health approach acknowledges that violence can be prevented through identifying those at risk from it and providing targeted intervention to break a cycle which might otherwise continue.

6.2 The YLF projects align with the delivery model for the VRU, which takes a contextual approach to intervention and reducing violence; in which partners need to look at solutions which support vulnerable young people, their peers and the spaces they inhabit. These projects aim to help young people to realise the value of their life; move away from harmful choices which could lead to violence; and avoid adverse experiences which harm their potential as they grow.

6.3 The proposal to uplift funding to YLF projects has been informed by discussions involving the Violence Reduction Unit, the Greater London Authority, and the Metropolitan Police Service.

7. GDPR and Data Privacy

7.1. 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

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. In London over two million children and young people aged 0-19 face an unequal start in life and the population is growing. London has the highest rate of child poverty in England (after housing costs are taken into account) and rates are expected to increase in coming years. Poorer children are more likely to underachieve at school, be unemployed and have lower incomes. Poverty is significantly worse in Black-Caribbean, Bangladeshi and Pakistani families, and more than 50 per cent of families with a disabled child live at the margins of poverty.

8.3. Young Londoners have lost tens of millions of pounds in funding for youth services since 2011. Informal, non-statutory services have an important preventative role to play. Getting good support to young people in their teenage years is vital – especially to support the most disadvantaged young people. Youth services are vital to young people who have been left behind or marginalised. This enables them to reach their potential and play a valuable role in helping them avoid being pulled into crime. MOPAC’s data on knife crime demonstrates that BAME young people are over-represented as both victims and perpetrators and are overwhelmingly male with many and complex vulnerabilities.

8.4. As part of the application process, organisations which were granted YLF funding were required to demonstrate consideration of equality issues and ensuring that work delivered was inclusive. This will have been 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.

9. Background/supporting papers

None.