Key information
Decision type: Assistant Director
Reference code: ADD336
Date signed:
Decision by: Amanda Coyle, Interim Assistant Director, Health and Communities
Executive summary
This decision seeks approval for Peer Outreach activity for a one year period from 2015-16 to support the GLA’s youth led engagement work aimed at increasing the participation of young Londoners in positive activities and employment and enterprise opportunities.
Decision
That the Assistant Director of Health and Communities approves:
• receipt of income of approximately £10,000 from organisations benefiting from peer outreach activity.
• expenditure of up to £50,000, which consists of the income received plus up to £40,000 of GLA funds for the Peer Outreach activity for a one year period from 2015-16 to support the GLA’s youth engagement work.
Part 1: Non-confidential facts and advice
1.1 The GLA’s Peer Outreach Team (young people aged 15 to 24 years) and the Lynk up Crew (Mayoral young advisors aged 7-14 years) deliver a range of projects and activities in partnership with GLA policy teams and functional bodies (including health, culture, LFEPA, and the MPS). The aim is to ensure policy and programme activity is better aligned with the concerns and perspectives of children and young people whilst providing personal skills development opportunities for the young people involved.
1.2 The Peer Outreach Team and the Lynk Up Crew were set up in 2006. They work on ten to fifteen projects at a time engaging approximately 3,000 young people each year.
1.3 The Peer Outreach Team is continuing to develop its sustainability strategy and has started to put in place a process by which it charges organisations for Peer Outreach Worker’s time. This decision includes approval for the receipt of approximately £10,000 of income generated through this approach.
1.4 This income will be generated by charging the organisations who have agreed to pay for the Peer Outreach Workers time in supporting the projects. Peer Outreach Workers will complete timesheets to record the hours that they work on each project which then will be charged at the Peer Outreach Worker’s hourly rate (at London Living Wage) multiplied by the number of hours spent on the project.
2.1 The Peer Outreach Team programme provides twofold benefits. One is to offer young people who are not in education, employment or training valuable work experience and training here at City Hall, especially for those who are not ready for a full apprenticeship. The other is to deliver a range of youth led projects and provide models of good practice in delivery and outcomes.
2.2 Following a period of induction and voluntary activity (of between 4 and 6 weeks), the young people involved are paid an hourly rate (at the London Living Wage) on a sessional basis for their work. The work has won a number of awards and received very positive feedback over the years.
Peer Outreach Team and Lynk Up Crew membership
2.3 An average of thirty young people participate in the Peer Outreach Team at any one time, with a further 20 young people being part of the Lynk Up Crew.
2.4 The Peer Outreach Team operates on a roll on/roll off basis with approximately 12 young people moving on from the team each year and being replaced by new members. The majority of Peer Outreach Team leavers move into education or employment.
2.5 Around ten young people leave the Lynk Up Crew each July, with a new intake of ten more young people in September.
2.6 The GLA report on the number of young people who sustain their education or employment for six months after leaving the Peer Outreach Team or participate in the Lynk Up Crew for more than six months within the GLA’s key performance indicators.
Peer Outreach Team Projects
2.7 The Peer Outreach Team works on a range of projects and activities in partnership with GLA policy teams and functional bodies and other organisations. Planned activity includes:
• Organising quarterly network meetings of the Young Londoners Participation Network, hosted at City Hall and attended by an average of forty participants who work with children and young people. 2015/16 provisional network themes include: London’s youth services, working with vulnerable young people, how to meet young people’s housing needs.
• Managing the Lynk Up Crew and facilitating its monthly meetings. Please see examples of planned Lynk Up Crew activities:
o The Lynk Up Crew will be road-testing new London Curriculum units and providing constructive feedback to inform their development.
o MOPAC are continuing to work with the Lynk Up Crew to develop more effective approaches to young people in schools with respect to preventing gang members and addressing youth violence.
o University of East London will be consulting with the Lynk Up Crew regarding the impact of the Mayoral strategy on violence against women and girls.
o The Lynk Up Crew will be supporting the Peer Outreach Team’s work with the Open University by providing their views on energy consumption and use of natural resources.
o The Lynk Up Crew will be providing feedback to the Healthy Schools team on Healthy Schools implementation, e.g. do Lynk Up Crew members know about Healthy Schools, what is their school doing to meet the standard?
Safety
• Continuing to work closely with MOPAC to inform the work that they do with young people.
• Undertaking youth consultation for the Haringey Youth Offenders Team to obtain feedback from Young Offenders on the service, and identifying social action projects for young offenders to engage with.
• Contributing to the Youth Offending Service’s Pan-London Reparation and Surrey Youth Support Network, offering advice and guidance on youth engagement.
Health
• Organising feedback sessions for the London Health Commission and Public Health England on young people’s access to health services and the big health issues where they live.
• Attending the Healthy Schools Board and assessing Healthy School gold standard applications
Culture
• Supporting cultural events and young performers, social enterprises and Arts Awards programmes.
Supporting vulnerable groups
• Mentoring young people on Redbridge College Pupil Referral Unit’s media course.
• Evaluating the effectiveness of the GLA’s Leadership Club programme for disadvantaged 10 to 14 year olds
• Organising a series of events during the annual leaving care week with Queen Mary’s College.
• Supporting the Royal London Society for the Blind Youth Board and hosting their annual event.
• Facilitating the annual London Young Carers event, led by The Children’s Society and the Carers Society.
• Working with the Whizzkidz disabled children’s charity to improve their youth engagement.
Careers
• Facilitating focus groups to engage young people in European Social Fund programme development and delivery which will support NEETs into education and employment
• Teaming up with the Open University (OU) as part of their ‘Stories of Change: Exploring energy and community in the past, present and future’ project which aims to re-energise the debate around energy. The Peer Outreach Team will conduct and record interviews with specialists in the field of energy, these interviews will appear on the Open University’s Open Learn Website.
• Continuing to provide young Londoner input into Young London Working’s employment programme.
• Disseminating information on ‘London Ambitions’ and career education opportunities through the YLPN and other relevant networks
• Supporting group mentoring sessions with young entrepreneurs and business people.
• Facilitating the GLA’s Annual Education Conference.
3.1 The make-up of the Lynk Up Crew and the Peer Outreach Team reflects London’s diverse population. It includes young people with differing characteristics and backgrounds, including care leavers, teenage parents and young people living in temporary accommodation.
3.2 Opportunities to join the Lynk Up Crew and the Peer Outreach Team are advertised through www.london.gov.uk and via intermediaries who work with young people, such as members of the Young Londoners Participation Network.
3.3 We monitor the characteristics and background of Team members and check that there is also an equality of outcomes.
3.4 Peer Outreach Workers work on a wide range of targeted projects, many focused on supporting vulnerable groups, including the Whizzkidz disabled charity and the Royal London Society for the Blind.
a) Key risks and issues
The table below outlines the main risks associated with the Peer Outreach activity and youth engagement.
b) Links to strategies and Mayoral and corporate priorities
The Education and Youth Team published their updated Delivery Plan in April 2015, showing progress against the outcomes of the Mayor of London’s Response to the Education Inquiry Panel’s Final Report. The work of the Peer Outreach Team is included within the priority to ‘Foster engagement and build resilience among London’s young people’.
The Team’s work also directly supports specific Mayoral and corporate priorities such as that for healthy schools, supporting care leavers, and to reduce youth crime.
The Mayor’s renewed agenda for children and young people (‘Young Londoners – Successful Futures’, 2010) set out the mayor’s wider strategy in this area. This states that ‘the key aspects of the GLA’s children and young people’s work for the Mayor are to give all young Londoners a voice; gain a better understanding of what it is like growing up in London; and know the priority issues for children and young people themselves’. The work of the Peer Outreach Team and the Lynk Up Crew is provided as an example of a means of achieving this.
c) Impact assessments and consultations.
The Peer Outreach Team was evaluated in 2009 (/sites/default/files/peer-outreach-workers-report.pdf). A review of the Peer Outreach Team was conducted in 2014/15. Twenty of the thirty team members participated in a focus group and five projects that were supported by the Peer Outreach workers returned feedback questionnaires. The Peer Outreach Team was involved in the design, delivery and data gathering exercises associated with this review. They learnt how to deliver and participate in Focus Groups where a thematic analysis was undertaken of the transcript data which they led on, they designed and administered questionnaires and wrote written case studies.
During the focus group the Peer Outreach Workers (POWs) consistently commented that they have developed a significant number of skills as a direct result of their participation on the team. These are:
• Organisation
• Communication
• Team working • Leadership
• Networking
• Self Awareness • Professionalism
• Public speaking
• Project management
Feedback from projects was also very positive. The review reported that the impact the POWs had on the young people within the projects they worked on, as well as the impact they had on the development on policy was notable. There was a genuine understanding of the value the POWs brought to the work that could not be fulfilled by adult professionals. ‘Unfailing enthusiasm, passion and knowledge’ was expressed by one respondent. Another organisation commented ‘the Peer Outreach Team is a hugely valuable asset for the GLA to connect with young Londoners on crucial issues and encourage their input on making London a better place’.
5.1 The total gross expenditure on the Peer Outreach Team totals £50,000 and the net cost to the GLA is £40,000. With regards to the balance, as described within the main body of this report, it is being proposed that this is raised via recharging organisations that utilise the Peer Outreach Team. Over the 2015-16 Financial-Year, this is estimated to be in the region of £10,000.
5.2 With regards to the GLA budget provision of £40,000, this will be funded from the budget allocated for Peer Outreach Workers held within the Health & Communities Unit for 2015-16. Any changes to this proposal, including budgetary implications will be subject to further approval via the Authority’s decision-making process. All appropriate budget adjustments will be made.
5.3 The Education & Youth Team within the Health & Communities Unit will be responsible for managing the work associated with the Peer Outreach workers and for ensuring all expenditure complies with the Authority’s Financial Regulations.
6. Legal comments
6.1 Sections 1 to 4 of this report indicate that:
6.1.1 the decisions requested of the director fall within the GLA’s statutory powers to do such things considered to further or which are facilitative of, conducive or incidental to the promotion of economic development, wealth creation and social development in Greater London; and
6.1.2 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 further details on equalities are set out in section 3 above) and to the duty under section 149 of the 2010 Act to have due regard to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation as well as to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not ;
• 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 Where the GLA is intending to charge third party organisations for the Peer Outreach Workers time on a project, then under section 93 of the Local Government Act 2003, the charges levied must not exceed the cost of provision. Officers should also ensure that appropriate documentation is put in place between the GLA and the third party organisation for the provision of the services.
Signed decision document
ADD336 Peer Outreach Team (signed) PDF