DD2479 Grant funding to Alzheimer’s Society - Dementia Friendly London

The Greater London Authority (GLA) Health Team has developed a programme of work to lead and implement the Mayor’s ten-year London Health Inequalities Strategy (HIS) 2018-28 (October 2018) with relevant partners and stakeholders, and to support the Mayor’s leadership role as chair of the London Health Board. The vision and aims of this programme are:

• healthy children - every London child has a healthy start in life;
• healthy minds - all Londoners share in a city with the best mental health in the world;
• healthy places - all Londoners benefit from an environment and economy that promotes good mental and physical health;
• healthy communities- all of London’s diverse communities are healthy and thriving;
• healthy living - the healthy choice is the easy choice for all Londoners; and
• supporting the Mayor’s leadership role for health.

Dementia Friendly London is a key part of the Healthy Communities chapter of the HIS and aims to support people affected by dementia, including family members and carers, to live well with dementia. Many of the approaches that support people with dementia to live well also benefit a wide range of other Londoners including those with a physical or cognitive impairment.

Dementia is one of the biggest health and social care challenges facing London today. There are over 72,000 people with dementia living in London and this number is set to more than triple within the next 40 years. In addition to a ‘postcode lottery’ of support on offer, people with dementia have told the GLA that leaving the house can be daunting in the capital. Stripping people of their independence is not only unfair but also leads to social isolation.

The Mayor and other key partners, including the NHS, London boroughs, businesses, Transport for London (TfL) and the Metropolitan Police, are supporting Alzheimer’s Society to change this. Together in May 2018 the Mayor and Alzheimer’s Society launched Dementia Friendly London, a shared ambition to make London the first dementia-friendly capital city in the world. The ambition of the Mayor and other key partners is that every Londoner affected by dementia will be able to enjoy the best possible life, no matter who they are or where they live. This includes ensuring people with dementia can travel to places with ease, that they can live somewhere that meets their needs and empowering them to make a positive contribution to their communities and actively participate in all that London has to offer. The Mayor has appointed his Chief Officer, Mary Harpley, as his Dementia Champion for the Greater London Authority (GLA) group.

COVID-19 has had significant impacts on people with dementia in both care homes and community settings. The pandemic will also have short and longer term impacts on the progression of dementia as an illness and the ways in which people with dementia can be supported during this challenging time. The pandemic has also seen opportunities arise for innovation in virtual support and an influx of volunteering.

This grant will enable the GLA to include dementia support in the London response to the pandemic and to support coordinated efforts across the GLA group and key partners. To date, this work has been supported, initially by an unpaid secondee to the GLA, employed by the Alzheimer’s Society (0.2 FTE from February - September 2018 and 0.4 FTE from October 2018 to December 2019). The secondment was agreed between GLA HR and Alzheimer’s Society. From January to March 2020 the programme has been funded by a grant agreement of £10,000 from the Greater London Authority to cover the cost of the secondee and non-pay costs including events, communications and engagement. This was approved in MD2439.

The Purpose: for London to be a dementia-friendly city so that there are more chances for all Londoners to take part in community life.

Ambition: helping all those living with dementia in London to be empowered and supported to live well. For London to be a dementia-friendly city by 2022.

The objective of the grant funding is to enable Alzheimer’s Society to:

• provide Dementia Friendly London with the necessary expertise to engage effectively with people affected by dementia; and
• enable Alzheimer’s Society to provide a programme of support to Dementia Friendly London in order to convene key partners and deliver a programme of governance, engagement and communications to deliver against the aims of Dementia Friendly London.

The table in below gives a breakdown of the deliverables.

Reducing health inequalities underpins most of the GLA Health team’s work, including Dementia Friendly London. Health inequalities are differences in health that are unnecessary and avoidable, as well as unjust and unfair. They often exist between groups of people with protected characteristics, and those who experience poverty and socioeconomic deprivation. Dementia Friendly London supports the Mayor to deliver the commitments made in the Healthy Communities chapter of the HIS.

Section 149(1) of the Equality Act 2010 provides that, in the exercise of their functions, public authorities, of whom the Mayor is one, must have due regard to the need to:

• eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited by or under the Equality Act 2010;
• advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it; and
• foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it.

Relevant protected characteristics are age, disability, gender re-assignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

The Executive Director is required to comply with the duty set out above in making the decision set out in this report.

Inclusive London is the Mayor’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Strategy. Its purpose is to help the GLA group to deliver the Mayor’s ambitions for achieving greater equality and fairness for Londoners. It also enables the GLA group to meet its public sector equality duty under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 and its obligations under section 33 of the GLA Act 1999 as amended. It does this by setting out cross-cutting strategic EDI objectives for the GLA group informed by evidence gathered and cited in the strategy. It also includes an outline of the work that the GLA will undertake to deliver these objectives. One of the protected characteristics is age. Dementia is an illness that is more common in older people. A person's risk of developing dementia rises from one in 14 over the age of 65, to one in six over the age of 80.

Research by Age UK and Alzheimer’s Society has found that older people and people with dementia experience negative attitudes, prejudice and discrimination. Inclusive London promotes fairness and inclusivity and includes commitments to make London a dementia-friendly city and particularly focuses on transport, housing, awareness raising and reducing stigma.

Whilst there are over 4,500 Londoners aged under 65 years with onset dementia, the disease largely affects older people. Age is a protected characteristic under the public sector equality duty. Dementia Friendly London has been aligned to ‘Age Friendly London’, a World Health Organisation programme which the Mayor signed up to in 2018. Work is ongoing to align priorities and plans.

Risks are assessed and managed on a programme basis. Cross-cutting and major risks are reported through the Dementia Friendly London Executive Board on which the GLA Chief Officer sits. At the time of writing, the major risks are as follows:

Dementia Friendly London supports delivery of the commitments in the Mayor’s HIS and Inclusive London, the Mayor’s Equality and Diversity Strategy.

People with dementia can sometimes be ‘vulnerable’, however that should not prevent them from taking part in what London has to offer. Involving people affected by dementia is a core principle of the Dementia Friendly London programme. Alzheimer’s Society has a wealth of experience and a comprehensive range of safe-guarding, risk assessment and data protection policies and procedures in place.

Alzheimer’s Society undertakes a wide range of consultation with people directly affected by dementia, support organisations and a wide range of stakeholders in the development and delivery of the programme.

There are no conflicts of interest to note for any of the officers involved in the drafting or clearance of this decision form.

Approval is being sought for expenditure of £70,000 to provide a grant to the Alzheimer’s Society. The grant will enable the Alzheimer’s Society to advise, develop and support the delivery of the Dementia Friendly London programme.

This expenditure will be funded by the 2020/21 Healthy Communities budget, held within the Health Unit.

The foregoing sections of this report indicate that the decisions requested of the Executive Director concern the exercise of the GLA’s general powers, falling within the GLA’s statutory powers to do such things considered to further or which are facilitative of, conductive or incidental to the promotion of economic development and wealth creation, social development or the promotion of the improvement of the environment, in Greater London.

In implementing the proposals in respect of which a decision is sought, officers should comply 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.

In taking the decisions requested, the Executive Director must have due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, namely the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010, to advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, gender, religion or belief, sexual orientation) and to foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it. To this end, the Executive Director should have particular regard to section 3 (above) of this report.

Section 1 of this report indicates that the sought budget will amount to the provision of grant funding and not payment for services. Officers must ensure that the funding is distributed fairly, transparently, in accordance with the GLA’s equality policy, State Aid rules and in manner which affords value for money in accordance with the GLA Contracts and Funding Code. Officers must ensure that an appropriate funding agreement is put in place and executed by the GLA and Alzheimer’s Society before any commitment to funding is made.

The Dementia Friendly London strategy and action plan will be overseen by a senior leadership group with the GLA represented by the Chief Officer.