VRU Community Seed Funding

The Community Seed Fund for 2018/19 totalling £1.4m, commissioned 43 organisations to deliver interventions for young people aged between 10-21 years old, with the aim of addressing knife crime in the most affected areas of London. The projects were commissioned over the Summer of 2018, with grants administered by the London Community Foundation (LCF), a voluntary sector capacity building organisation.

The projects are due to conclude this Summer (2019) based on the current funding arrangements. However, as part of planning within the 2019/20 financial year, and because of synergies between the Violence Reduction Unit’s aims and the work of the commissioned projects at a local level, funding of £1.4m has been identified from the VRU budget, to:

• enable the continuation of successful projects to be delivered;
• to build sustainability for those and wider organisations to seek out charitable and other funding sources, and where relevant,
• to bring new projects to the table which demonstrate impact on the wider objectives of the London VRU; focused on all forms of violence.

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to approval of the allocation of £1.4m from the 2019/2020 Violence Reduction Unit budget, to extend the Community Seed Fund for a further 12 months, continuing successful projects, creating scope for new projects where relevant, and supporting the broader objectives of the VRU.

1. Introduction and background

1.1 The Knife Crime Community Seed Fund was created in June 2017, with an initial investment of £250,000 from the MOPAC Knife Crime Strategy budget. The aim of the fund was to provide support to smaller community led organisations who might not have the same access to funds as larger groups due to a lack of capacity to complete complex grant forms or take part in demanding monitoring arrangements.

1.2 It was expected that the seed funds be used to:

• Support communities in London disproportionately affected by knife crime

• Build a better understanding of the impact of grass roots services on accessing and supporting young people affected by knife crime

• Provide relevant diversionary and support services for young people engaged in knife crime in London

• Support small organisations in start-up and development of services

• Develop and grow their contacts to build more sustainable delivery

• Facilitate community engagement approaches.

1.3 During the first round of the Community Seed Fund MOPAC provided funds to support 9 organisations. Over 85 organisations submitted bids and only 11% were successful, giving an indication of the need for such a programme.

1.4 Therefore in 2018 MOPAC made a successful bid to the Young Londoners Fund (YLF), in order to support the expansion of the programme. YLF is the Mayors £45million programme to provide services to young people who are at risk of becoming involved in crime, social exclusion or poor health.

1.5 MOPAC received £1,150,000 from YLF for the Community Seed Fund programme. This fund provided support for a total of 43 organisations to deliver services. The grants were administered by London Community Foundation (LCF), a voluntary sector capacity building organisation that aims to enable small grassroots organisations to grow, by supporting them with crucial funding as well as advice.

1.6 MOPAC commissioned the LCF to:

• assess grant applications to the Community Seed Fund in partnership with relevant stakeholders,

• support the development of the projects,

• implement a light touch monitoring routine,

• and enable the sustainability of the projects past the first year of delivery.

1.7 The successful projects were commissioned over the Summer of 2018 and to date, the Community Seed Fund has supported schemes across 19 boroughs, though there is a focus on the boroughs most affected by knife crime. Funded projects are all targeted on the needs of young people and include interventions such as counselling, school-based education projects, BAME focussed projects and arts diversionary projects for young people aged between 10-21 years old.

1.8 The interim monitoring report produced in February 2019, found that 88% percent of the funded projects were rated ‘green’ in terms of delivery.

2. Future Funding

2.1 The projects are due to conclude over the Summer months based on the current funding arrangements. However, as part of planning within the 2019/20 financial year and in light of emerging policy drivers such as the Public Health approach to violent crime, consideration has been given as to the future of the Community Seed Fund.

2.2 The Public Health approach to violence being delivered by the Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) has at its core a desire to engage with and build the capacity of local community organisations who understand issues related to the prevention and reduction of violent crime within their communities.

2.3 The VRU’s long term aim includes developing an evidence led approach to addressing violence in communities. Part of this includes developing a commissioning approach to guide the development of successful community-based interventions. Learning from the delivery of the first year of Community Seed Fund projects will support this.

2.4 Because of synergies between the VRU’s aims and the work of the commissioned projects at a local level, funding of £1.4m has been identified from the VRU budget to enable an extension by a further year of the seed fund projects.

2.5 The projects come to an end in the Summer, so a rapid decision-making process is required. Full data on the performance of the projects will not be available within the existing time the projects have left to run, though where there is clear underperformance the project will close as planned. It is therefore proposed that the funding will be extended for a further 12 months but with a review and plan for de-commissioning in six months’ time, if any of the projects funded are shown to be having no impact. This also allows for learning on the projects to be disseminated through the London Violence Repository managed by London Councils and through the Young Londoners Fund Networks.

2.6 The intention would be to continue to commission the London Community Foundation (LCF) to undertake the grant management functions including:

• support the continued capacity development of the projects in year two,

• maintain a light touch monitoring routine,

• conduct the six-month project review with the VRU

• and enable the sustainability of the projects past the second year of delivery.

2.7 It should be noted that this decision relates to the 2019/20 financial year only, with an expectation therefore that funding for the projects will be for a 12 month extension only, subject to future decisions regarding the Violence Reduction Unit work programme.

3 Financial Comments

3.1. The Community Seed Funding supports the “Keeping Children and Young People Safe” priority within the Policing and Crime Plan 2017-21, as well as the Knife Crime Strategy 2017 and the Violence Reduction Unit workplan.

3.2. The costs for this project amounts to £1.4m for the 2019/20 financial year only, the funding will be provided for a 12 month extension of existing contracts which are performing well from the Summer of 2019. Where projects are not performing, these will be allowed to close as planned at the end of year one, allowing for new projects to access funding where relevant. This will be funded from the existing Violence Reduction Unit budget.

3.3. All projects will be subject to review six months after renewal, based upon the project 12 month update report and performance at the review point, with de-commissioning of any of the projects funded that are shown to be having no impact.

3.4. There are no match funding arrangements for the projects, which are small amounts of funding to grass roots organisations. Payments to projects will be made in line with the arrangements made in the previous year.

4. Legal Comments

4.1 Paragraph 4.8 of the MOPAC’s Scheme of Consent and Delegation provides the DMPC with delegated power to approve business cases for revenue or capital expenditure of £500,000 and above and the strategy for the award of individual grants and/or the award of all individual grants whether to contribute to securing crime reduction in London or for other purposes.

5. Commercial Issues

5.1 This decision concerns the extension of an existing grant, with a rationale as to why it should be extended in support of delivery of services by small local providers, consistent with the work plan of the Violence Reduction Unit.

5.2 The Violence Reduction Unit will continue to commission the London Community Foundation to oversee the projects, with no requirement to employ additional MOPAC/VRU staff to work on the projects.

6. Public Health Approach

6.1 The programme aligns with the emerging delivery model for the VRU by taking a contextual approach to intervention and reducing violence, establishing solutions which support vulnerable young people and their peers whilst positively impacting on communities.

7. GDPR and Data Privacy

7.1 The project does not use personally identifiable data therefore there are no GDPR issues to be considered.

8. Equality Comments

8.1 Under s149 of the Equality Act 2010 (the Equality Act), as a public authority the Deputy Mayor/MOPAC must have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation, and any conduct that is prohibited by or under this Act; and to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. Protected characteristics under the Equality Act are age, disability, gender re-assignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, and marriage or civil partnership status (the duty in respect of this last characteristic is to eliminate unlawful discrimination only).

8.2 The Violence Reduction Unit work programme is under development and will be accompanied by a published Equality Impact Assessment.

9. Background/supporting papers

Previous decisions

Mayors Decision MD 2265 Young Londoners Fund

The London Knife Crime Strategy 2017 PCD 225

Decision PCD 401