DD2536 Recovery Fund Cross-Cutting Activity Programme Co-ordination

1.1. This decision covers retrospectively the costs of three posts to support Recovery Fund Cross-Cutting Activity Programme Co-ordination in 2020/21.

1.2. London’s recovery is led by the London Recovery Board, chaired jointly by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and the Chair of London Councils. It brings together leaders from across London’s government, business and civil society, as well as the health and education sectors, trade unions and the police, to oversee the long-term recovery effort. Its aims are to: reverse the pattern of rising unemployment and lost economic growth caused by the economic scarring of COVID-19; support our communities, including those most impacted by the virus; help young people to flourish with access to support and opportunities; narrow social, economic and health inequalities; and accelerate delivery of a cleaner, greener London. The Board has committed to taking a missions-based approach to the Recovery Programme. Under cover of MD2666 - Repurposing the 2020-21 GLA: Mayor’s Budget, the Mayor accordingly approved £6.6m of savings being earmarked for a Recovery Fund, providing flexibility to meet immediate pressures as they arise through the remainder of 2020-21; approval is sought here to draw £117,200 down from this to support Recovery Fund Cross-Cutting Activity Programme Co-ordination.

1.3. A post was created to meet the need for additional capacity in Government Relations to support the London Recovery programme. The Government Relations Team was previously supported by four Principal Government Relations Officers (grade 10) focussing on the delivery of public affairs for the Mayor and the GLA. However, there was no capacity in the structure of Government Relations to deliver the necessary work in support of the London Recovery programme and a new post had to be created to allow the team to provide this support. The post is a full-time 2-year fixed-term post grade 10 Principal Government Relations Officer, reporting to the Head of Government and EU Relations. The post-holder is paid at a grade 11 level for 2 years from the start of this post as they are on a protected salary at grade 11. Costs this year arising from this will be met from the Recovery funds (agreed as part of MD2666 and to be approved via this decision); from 1st April 2021 costs will be met from the Recovery Support budget set through the 2021-22 budget setting process.

1.4. Following the postponement of the 2020 elections and the agreement of a revised statutory timetable, CO170 approved the extension of the fixed-term Head of Media: Elections post until June 2021 to support the delivery of the Media workstream requirement on behalf of the Greater London Returning Officer (GLRO) for the 2021 Mayor of London and London Assembly elections. It was acknowledged that in the months prior to resuming sole focus on the elections, the post-holder would have some capacity to support the GLA in other areas as needed, particularly to reinforce the organisation’s capacity in responding to the Covid-19 pandemic. Between May and December 2020, then, the post-holder was offered as an additional resource to support the Strategic Coordination Group (SCG) in managing the multi-agency pan-London response to the pandemic. The original recruitment process demonstrated that it is very difficult to find a candidate with the right level of specialist knowledge and experience to deliver this workstream and so continuity in this role was important to mitigate high levels of risk, particularly in the current climate. It was recognised in CO170 that this post will work at varying percentages across External Affairs, Strategic Coordination Group (SCG) and Elections throughout the 12 months and was to be considered as part of the COVID 19 re-purposing of budget process.

1.5. Recovering from the pandemic cannot be done by any one organisation: it requires a pan-London approach. The programme leadership of the Recovery programme has been led within the GLA by the AD City Intelligence Unit, drawing support from colleagues across the Unit and the wider GLA. As the plans for Recovery have developed, it has become clear that while recovery work will spread across GLA teams and beyond with our London Councils partners, it does require a small number of dedicated posts to lead the delivery of the programme on behalf of the Mayor and the Chair of London Councils. Thus, four posts have been created and approved by CO270 to facilitate the co-ordination of London’s Recovery programme across the GLA and London Councils, working in partnership with our stakeholders, Board members and other organisations and agencies, and costs have been incurred on one of these posts – the Senior Manager – Social Recovery – so far in 2020-21. The cost of this post for 2020/21 will be approximately £7,200 at grade 12 (including on costs). It is to be funded from the 2020-21 Recovery support programme budget requested in this DD.

2.1. The desired overall outcomes identified by London’s Recovery Board chaired by the Mayor and detailed in MD2666 are to:

• reverse the pattern of rising unemployment and lost economic growth caused by the economic scarring of Covid-19;

• support our communities, including those most impacted by the virus;

• keep young people safe and provide further opportunities;

• narrow social, economic and health inequalities; and

• deliver a cleaner, greener London.

2.2. The allocation of resources to the Recovery Fund and the creation of these posts to support Recovery Fund Cross-Cutting Activity Programme Co-ordination will further the above outcomes.

3.1. The GLA must have due regard to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation as well as to the need 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. All recruitment will be aligned with GLA HR policies on fair and open recruitment, and due consideration given to how the recruitment process can support and further the Strategy and Communications diversity and inclusion action plan.

4.1. The work undertaken by the roles has been for the Recovery Programme, focussed on the nine Recovery Missions as set out by the Recovery Board: primarily through communications support to the Recovery Board and programme as well as Government Relations support. This DD also covers funding for this financial year for the Social Recovery Programme lead, the post-holder of which is responsible for coordinating the development of policy, strategy and programmes across all social missions to improve outcomes for Londoners and particularly those most disadvantaged by the impacts of Covid 19.

4.2. GLA officers involved in the drafting or clearance of this form do not have any conflicts of interest to declare.

5.1 Executive Director’s retrospective approval is sought to draw down up to £117,200 from the £6.6m Recovery fund approved under cover of MD2666. This would be for Recovery Fund Cross-Cutting Activity Programme Co-ordination to fund 2020-21 staffing costs as detailed in this decision and broken down as follows:

- Head of Media Recovery Support, Grade 13, from May 2020 until 31st December 2020 – £72,000 for 8 months of 2020-21.

- Principal Government Relations Officer, Grade 10, from September 2020 until 31st August 2022. The post holder will be paid at a grade 11 level for 2 years from the start of this post as they are on a protected salary at grade 11 – £38,000 for 7 months of 2020-21.

- Senior Manager – Social Recovery, Grade 12, from 1st March 2021 until 31st March 2021 - £7,200 for one month of 2020-21.

5.2 The staffing costs of up to £117,200 will be from the Recovery Fund Cross-Cutting Activity Programme Co-ordination element of the Recovery fund £6.6m approved under MD2666. These are staffing costs for 2020-21. Future Recovery support staffing costs are to be funded from the Recovery Support budget agreed as part of 2021-22 budget setting.

6.1. The foregoing sections of this report indicate that:

a) the decisions requested of the 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, conducive 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; and

b) in formulating the proposals in respect of which a decision is sought officers have complied with the Authority’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, the Mayor 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, sex, 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 of this report.

6.3 Should the Director be minded to make the decision sought officers must ensure that all applicable HR protocols and procedures are followed.

Head of Media Recovery Support:

Principal Government Relations Officer:

Senior Manager - Social Recovery: