Key information
Decision type: Director
Reference code: DD1487
Date signed:
Decision by: David Lunts, Chief Executive Officer, Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation
Executive summary
This paper seeks approval to provide budgetary allocation of £39,288 to St John of God. The allocation will meet payments due to St John of God for the final month (February 2016) of its contract with the GLA dated 1 August 2012, which contract related to the non-UK national project for rough sleepers. The allocation is required as the current budgetary allocation runs only until the end of January 2016. The contract with the provider for the said service expired on 29 February 2016. However, an element of the service provided by this project will, from 1 April 2016, be provided as part of the new London Reconnection Team contract.
These approvals are pursuant to the Mayoral delegation to the director in MD1417.
Decision
The Executive Director approves the allocation of £39,288 from the Rough Sleeping Budget for the payment of St John of God under the GLA’s contract with that organisation dated 1 August 2012 relating to services it provided for the non-UK national project for rough sleepers in the month of February 2016.
Part 1: Non-confidential facts and advice
1.1 Among the Mayor’s key aims in his London Housing Strategy are to ensure that no-one lives on the streets of London and that no-one arriving on the streets sleeps out for a second night. The Mayor is seeking to achieve these aims through a combination of strong strategic leadership and the active involvement of a range of partners, and the funding and commissioning of a range of pan-London rough sleeping services.
1.2 The funding and responsibility for pan-London rough sleeping services were devolved from central government to the Mayor in 2011. These are services, projects and initiatives that are pan-London or multi-borough and cannot or would not be provided at a borough level. They complement and supplement those provided or commissioned by boroughs, which have the primary responsibility, and receive the bulk of government funding, for providing or commissioning services. However, rough sleepers are a highly mobile group, often with no local connection to a London borough or – increasingly - anywhere in the UK, who move across borough boundaries and there are often critical gaps in service provision, especially in outer London. Responding to their needs therefore often requires a pan-London response.
1.3 Between 2011 and 2016, the Mayor has committed almost £87 million to tackling rough sleeping – over £42 million for services, almost £40 million for improving hostels, and £5 million for a permanent home for No Second Night Out (NSNO). In addition, the GLA has administered the world’s first rough sleeping Social Impact Bond, investing up to £5 million between 2012 and 2015.
1.4 The number of people sleeping rough in London has increased significantly since 2011, as has the flow of new people onto the streets. Over 7,500 people were seen rough sleeping by outreach workers during 2014/15, of which 67 per cent were new arrivals onto the streets. Further, we have seen a shift in demographic of the rough sleeping population, with a larger proportion (57 per cent) of those sleeping rough who are non-UK nationals.
1.5 St John of God was initially awarded a one year contract (1 September 2013 to 30 August 2014) for an accommodation-based support service for non-UK nationals, with the option for the GLA to extend the contract for a further 18 months. The 18 month extension was approved in 2013 (DD1065) (for 1 September and 28 February 2015). In 2015, approval was given (MD1417) for a further 12 month extension, to 29 February 2016, and for expenditure of £432,173 to provide the service to the end of January 2016.
1.6 Approval is sought to provide £39,288 to fund the final month of the contract, to 29 February 2016. This additional month is needed to enable appropriate winding down before the project closes at the end of February 2016. Exit plans are in place for clients currently accommodated in the project. The new London Reconnections Service contract, which commences in April 2016, includes an element of short-term accommodation for this cohort.
1.7 Between the start of the programme in 2009 and December 2015, the non-UK nationals project has reconnected over 1,500 people.
2.1. The service will contribute to key performance indicators to ensure:
• 80% of individuals exit rough sleeping as a result of GLA funded services (excluding the SIB).
• 80% of rough sleepers who are not new and are prevented from returning to the streets as a result of GLA funded services.
2.2. Project and outcomes remain identical to those in the contract dated 1 August 2012 and the subsequent variation dated January 2014. That is, the project will provide:
• short term reconnection support and accommodation
• flexible support and accommodation for difficult to reach non-UK national rough sleepers where an enforcement approach is also being made
• longer term support accommodation to non-UK national rough sleepers who have an entitlement to services within the UK.
Access is restricted to rough sleepers over 18 who are CHAIN verified and are non-UK nationals. An element of training and education to support low support needs rough sleepers achieve employment is also an objective.
3.1 Of those seen rough sleeping in 2014/15
• 57 per cent were non-UK nationals
• 45 per cent had a mental health need
• 14 per cent were women
• most of those seen rough sleeping (57%) are in the 26-45 age group
• 12 per cent were under 26 years old
• 9 per cent were over 55
• nine people were under 18 years old.
3.2 As those with the protected characteristics of race and disability are over-represented among rough sleepers, the proposals in this paper are likely to have positive impacts on these groups.
(a) Key risks and issues (a) Key risks and issues
b) Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities
4.1 The objectives of the proposals are in line with the Mayor’s Rough Sleeping Commissioning Framework 2016+, in particular its priority to tackle rough sleeping by non-UK nationals.
4.2 They are also in line with the Mayor’s statutory London Housing Strategy which includes the following priorities: to work with boroughs and other partners to ensure that no one new to the streets sleeps rough for a second night, no one lives on the streets of London and the flow of new rough sleepers onto the streets is minimised.
c) Impact assessments and consultations.
4.3 The Mayor’s Rough Sleeping Commissioning Framework 2011-15 was made available for public consultation. The statutory London Housing Strategy has been subject to full-integrated impact assessment and undergone statutory consultation with the London Assembly and functional bodies and with the public.
5.1 This paper seeks approval for funding of £39,288 to St John of God to extend the provision of the non-UK Nationals service for Rough Sleepers by one additional month (until the end of February 2016).
5.2 Above service has been approved by MD1417 as part of Rough Sleeping budget, however, the amount included in the decision only covered the contract up-to the end of January 2016.
5.3 There are sufficient uncommitted funds in the Rough Sleeping budget for 2015/16 to meet the funding gap mentioned above.
5.4 The rough sleeping commissioning team, within the Programme, Policy and Services unit of the Housing and Land Directorate, will be responsible for monitoring the service’s spend.
6.1 Under section 30 of the Greater London Authority Act 1999 (the ‘Act’) the GLA, after appropriate consultation, is entitled to do anything that will further the promotion, within Greater London, of economic development and wealth creation, social development and the improvement of the environment.
6.2 Furthermore, section 34 of the Act allows the GLA, to do anything which is calculated to facilitate, or is conducive or incidental to, the exercise of any functions of the GLA. In this case, the officers are seeking approval of a budgetary allocation to allow the GLA to make payments to St John of God in relation to the services provided by that organisation in the final month of its contract with the GLA dated 1 August 2012. The contract relates to the GLA’s non-UK nationals project for rough sleepers. To this end, the approval of the budgetary allocation may be viewed as calculated to facilitate social development in Greater London.