DD2658 Pan-London Internet of Things Project

1.1.    The South London Partnership (SLP) is a sub-regional collaboration of five London boroughs: Croydon, Kingston upon Thames, Merton, Richmond upon Thames and Sutton. The SLP champions, and seeks to build on, the strengths of South London as a place for people to live, work and thrive. The SLP were awarded £4m by the Strategic Investment Pool (SIP), as approved by the Mayor under MD2358 to deliver the InnOvate project in 2018.
1.2.    The SIP is a pooled fund of retained business rates across London authorities which is re-invested in projects increasing sustainable economic growth. The InnOvate project created a multi-purpose Internet of Things platform connecting sensors across borough boundaries, addressing challenges in communities and opportunities to help people live better, healthier lives and live independently for longer. The 18 month programme generated 150 Internet of Things (IoT) ideas and trialled 47 IoT use cases. 31 of these use cases became mainstream services, and 21 were shared across more than one borough.
1.3.    Following the programme’s success, the SLP and the London Borough of Sutton (LBS) (as “lead authority”) are proposing to work in partnership with the Greater London Authority (GLA) and the London Office of Technology and Innovation (LOTI) (hosted by London Councils) to pilot a pan-London approach supporting other boroughs with IoT projects.
1.4.    The project will be delivered between August 2023 and February 2024. It is proposed that the GLA provide grant funding to LBS of £120,000 as a contribution to the costs of the project.
 

2.1.    The decision will:
•    create a case study library to share the InnOvate IoT approach on the LOTI website, including details of a successful model of IoT procurement for boroughs and other stakeholders
•    convene a London IoT coalition between boroughs, and other public and private-sector stakeholders committed to the principles of joint working and IoT projects, to ensure that data can be aggregated across London
•    generate a business case for phase two funding that will commission IoT programmes across London to support the meeting of the borough’s objectives
2.2.    The project is expected to:
•    address key challenges faced by residents, businesses and boroughs (for example, cost-of-living crises, the climate emergency, economic growth, support for vulnerable residents, etc)
•    empower officers with baseline data to improve local services
•    promote a unified approach to IoT across boroughs
•    increase collaboration on IoT projects across boroughs
•    facilitate shared procurement routes for boroughs
•    advance London’s status as a global smart city by encouraging the spread of IoT practices across London government.
2.3.    The project will be measured by the following:

3.1.    Public authorities, such as the GLA and boroughs (including LBS), must have ‘due regard’ to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation; and to advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations, between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not, under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010. This involves having due regard to the need to remove or minimise any disadvantage suffered by those who share a relevant protected characteristic that is connected to that characteristic; taking steps to meet the different needs of such people; and encouraging them to participate in public life or in any other activity where their participation is disproportionately low.
3.2.    The relevant protected characteristics under section 149 of the Equality Act are: age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, sex, religion or belief, and sexual orientation. Compliance with the duty may involve treating people with a protected characteristic more favourably than those without one. The project put forward for funding will contribute to the sustainable growth of London’s economy; and will directly or indirectly help create economic development opportunities for a wide variety of Londoners. Several InnOvate use cases are focused on creating better health outcomes and addressing health inequalities.
3.3.    Compliance with the public sector equality duty is necessarily iterative and ongoing. It includes carrying out a process, at a level proportionate to the decision being taken, to identify and actively consider potential detrimental impacts (if any) that may arise for individual protected groups and what mitigations (if any) could be implemented to address them. The public authority that will be delivering the project is required to carry out this process in the planning and implementation of the project.
3.4.    Officers have considered the likely impact of this proposed decision on groups with protected characteristics, and have concluded that there are no adverse impacts, and that impacts are likely to be positive.
 

4.1.    The project is in line with the Mayor’s Economic Development Strategy to ensure growth benefits all Londoners and improves the infrastructure that underpins growth by funding key growth sectors and increasing partnerships through funding and convening.
4.2.    The project delivers part of the work envisioned by the Mayor’s “Smarter London Together Roadmap”, published in 2018; and the report, “London – A global leader in advanced digital technologies”, published in July 2020.
4.3.    Key risks and issues are listed below

4.4.    There are no conflicts of interest to declare for anyone involved in the drafting or clearance of this decision.

5.1.    Approval is requested for grant funding of up to £120,000 to the London Borough of Sutton for the pan-London Internet of Things project.
5.2.    The planned breakdown of expenditure is shown below.

5.3.    The budget for this expenditure will come from the Technology and Innovation budget within the Economic Development Unit’s approved 2023-24 budget.
5.4.    All expenditure will be incurred by the 31 March 2024.
 

    The foregoing sections of this report indicate that the decisions requested of the Executive Director of Good Growth (the Director) concern the exercise of the GLA’s general powers, and fall within the GLA’s statutory power to do such things considered to further or that are facilitative of, or conducive or incidental to, the promotion of economic development and wealth creation within Greater London. In formulating the proposals in respect of which a decision is sought, officers have complied with the GLA’s related statutory duties to:
•    pay due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people;
•    consider how the proposals will promote the improvement of health of persons, health inequalities between persons and to contribute towards the achievement of sustainable development in the United Kingdom; and
•    consult with appropriate bodies.
6.2    In taking the decisions requested of him, the Director must have due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty; namely the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010, and to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (race, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity and gender reassignment) and persons who do not share it (section 149 of the Equality Act 2010).  To this end, the Director should have particular regard to section 3 (above) of this report.
6.3    Officers have indicated that the expenditure proposed amounts to the provision of grant funding as a contribution to related third party project costs and not a payment for services to be provided. They must therefore ensure, that the proposed funding is disbursed in a fair and transparent manner in accordance with the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code and a funding agreement is put in place between and executed by the GLA and the London Borough of Sutton before any commitment to provide the funding is made.
 

7.1.    The project will deliver the following activities within the timeline stated: