DD2548 Phase 2 funding for Kitchen Social to support local authorities

1.1. This DD seeks approval of the award of an additional £47,812 grant funding to the Mayor’s Fund for London (the Mayor’s Fund) as a contribution towards its costs of supporting London’s local authorities to successfully deliver the national Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Programme in 2021. The funding will also enable the Mayor’s Fund to collate learning from across London in order to inform future delivery, advocacy and policy design. The support will be provided through the Mayor’s Fund’s Kitchen Social initiative.

1.2. This funding will support phase 2 of a two-phased support programme for local authorities to deliver HAF. The first phase was funded through the London Recovery Programme and totalled £49,000, approved under cover of ADD2497.

1.3. In November 2020, the government announced a funding package to help alleviate child food poverty in the UK in response to sustained pressure from a range of campaigners including the footballer Marcus Rashford. One element of that package was a £220m extension of the HAF programme to cover the whole nation, making provision available in all local authority areas over the 2021 Easter, Summer and Christmas holidays. Under the programme, local authorities are receiving grant funding to coordinate free holiday provision for eligible children (that is, those receiving benefits-related free school meals). This is a role many had not played before 2021. As a result, there is a risk of varied quality of provision across London.

1.4. The GLA funded the Mayor’s Fund to provide training, materials and quality assurance in advance of local authorities receiving this funding and commissioning provision (phase 1). This additional 2021/22 funding (phase 2) will begin in July 2021 and run until December 2021. It will enable the Mayor’s Fund to continue supporting local authorities to deliver high-quality HAF programmes throughout 2021, building on ongoing and already-completed work.

1.5. By providing strategic support to local authorities across London, this programme aims to improve the quality of HAF delivery. It will also collate learning from across London with the aims of better understanding the implications of current policy design; helping shape advocacy efforts around the future of HAF funding; and increasing the knowledge and capacity of London’s local authorities and partners in this space for future years.

1.6. By virtue of its position as the largest provider of holiday food and activities for children in London, Kitchen Social - a holiday food and activity programme consisting of a network of community organisations across 24 boroughs and run by the Mayor’s Fund – is uniquely well-placed to support London’s local authorities.

2.1. The expenditure authorised by this decision will be incurred by way of the award of grant funding to the Mayor’s Fund to commission research and collate learning that will inform the design and delivery of holiday food and activities provision in future years and use the Kitchen Social initiative to continue to support London’s local authorities to deliver the DfE’s HAF Programme in 2021.

2.2. Phase 2 of the programme will build on the work undertaken to date. The funding will provide the Mayor’s Fund with much needed capacity to achieve three main programme objectives:

• support local authorities to continue delivering the HAF Programme in London throughout 2021

• create a body of research and learning about HAF delivery during 2021, aimed at: helping local authorities, partners and others develop better provision in future years; and understanding the merits of such provision

• establish a clear set of recommendations to support advocacy, including making recommendations of the action needed by central government, aimed at improving programme design and extending government HAF funding post-2021 (which is currently not secured).

2.3. The funding will enable the Mayor’s Fund to deliver a range of activities and associated outcomes to facilitate achievement of these goals:

3.1. Under Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, as a public authority, the GLA must have ‘due regard’ of the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED), that is the need to: 

• eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation 

• advance equality of opportunity

• foster relations between people who have a protected characteristic and those who do not. 

3.2. The Survey of Londoners in 2018-19 revealed that 1.5m adults and 400,000 children in London were experiencing food insecurity before Covid-19. Single parents, disabled Londoners and Black Londoners were found to be more likely to experience low or very low food security. Local authority and voluntary and community sector reporting through the response to the COVID-19 pandemic showed that this need has increased significantly.

3.3. Obesity prevalence is twice as high for children living in the most deprived areas in London compared to those living in the least deprived areas.

3.4. The HAF Programme is a targeted intervention to reduce inequalities experienced by London’s children and young people from low-income households during the school holidays. Working in partnership with the Mayor’s Fund for London will help local authorities to reduce the risk of poor-quality food being delivered to London’s most disadvantaged children.

Key risks and issues

4.1. The Food team will manage the grant agreement with the Mayor’s Fund to ensure outcomes and outputs are delivered on time and within budget. A member of the Food team will also join the research steering group. The key risks and issues are outlined below:

Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities

4.2. This programme will contribute towards the Mayor’s London Food Strategy (chapter 1) which aims to ‘help all Londoners eat well at home and tackle rising levels of household food insecurity’. It will contribute towards two key missions in the London Recovery Programme: Healthy Food, Healthy Weight and a Robust Safety Net.

4.3. As stated in the Mayor’s manifesto ‘Inequalities between young Londoners, that affect their chances in life and the opportunities that come their way, are being made worse by the pandemic.’ This programme will help to ‘improve the health of all Londoners and close the inequality gap’.

Conflicts of interest

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

5.1. Approval is sought for expenditure of £47,812 in grant funding to the Mayor’s Fund for London to continue to support London’s local authorities to deliver the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme in 2021-22.

5.2. The expenditure will be funded from the 2021-22 Communities and Social Policy Team’s Programme budget (specifically the Low-income & Food budget)

5.3. This programme falls under the ‘A Robust Safety Net’ recovery mission.

6.1. The foregoing sections of this report indicate that 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 social and economic development and wealth creation in Greater London, and 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

• consult with appropriate bodies.

6.2. In taking the decisions requested, 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, 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 decisions sought, officers must ensure that an appropriate funding agreement is are entered into and executed by the GLA and the Mayor’s Fund before any commitment is made to the award of funding.