DD2576 Hong Kong Welcome and Integration Programme – Phase Two

1.1. This decision seeks approval to spend £551,000 related to the Hong Kong British Nationals (Overseas) (BN(O)) Programme, as delegated to the Executive Director through MD2831.

1.2. Following China’s imposition of the National Security Law on the people of Hong Kong in July 2020, the UK government introduced a new immigration route for Hong Kong BN(O) status holders, providing the opportunity for them and their family members to live, work and study in the UK. The government’s impact assessment in October 2020 estimated that between 123,000 and 153,000 BN(O) status holders, and their dependants, could take up the route in its first year, with between 258,000 and 322,000 over five years. While it is impossible to predict where in the UK arrivals will choose to settle, analysis based on existing diaspora, alongside the additional pull factors of the capital, suggests that up to a third of arrivals could choose to live in London. So far, in the three quarters up to September 2021, there have been 88,000 applications for the visa.

1.3. To support new arrivals to settle in the UK, the government has launched a £43m Integration Programme to improve access to housing, work and educational support; and ensure arrivals from Hong Kong are able to integrate and contribute to their communities. This includes £5m to establish 12 ‘welcome hubs’ across every region in England, and one each in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, to coordinate support and give practical advice and assistance to new arrivals from Hong Kong to support their access to services and social integration. A sum of £917,000 has been apportioned to the GLA to administer through the London Strategic Migration Partnership for this purpose, as authorised through MD2831.

1.4. Phase One of this programme was approved under MD2831 which focused on establishing capacity in London to support the welcome of new arrivals, including the recruitment of two full-time equivalent posts; research and engagement work; and the development of online resources for arrivals from Hong Kong as part of the Migrant Londoners Hub. Further approvals were sought, through a Delegated Authority Record, of £9,500 to fund a Peer Outreach Worker to support the set-up of the programme, and £1,000 to contribute to training delivered by the International Organization for Migration to support local authority officials to understand the cultural and ethnic identity of people from Hong Kong and their migration journey. There is a further £44,500 remaining on the programme for which we will seek further decision in due course, in order that we can respond to emergent needs as the programme progresses.

1.5. Following the successful implementation of Phase One of the Hong Kong Welcome and Integration programme, we are now seeking approval for Phase Two which will build on the learning and capacity building work undertaken. The design of this second phase been informed by the insights gained through a comprehensive research and engagement exercise that identified priorities for this programme to meet the need of arrivals from Hong Kong. The focus of this phase will therefore be on: supporting the mental health and wellbeing of new arrivals; enabling access to immigration and social welfare advice; and improving coordination of local services to better meet the needs of new arrivals.

1.6. This decision further seeks approval to receive £60,000 income and expenditure of the same as part of the London Strategic Migration Partnership to support the resettlement of people from Afghanistan through the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Programme (ARAP). The GLA also has a longstanding strategic coordination role in refugee and asylum issues in the capital through the work of the London Strategic Migration Partnership (LSMP) (approved under MD2798). This new funding has been designed to meet urgent resettlement needs as a result of the evacuation of people from Afghanistan in 2021 and the ongoing humanitarian crisis.

Delivery method

2.1. Phase Two of the Hong Kong Welcome and Integration programme will focus on programmes that support new arrivals from Hong Kong; enable them to access their rights and entitlements in the city, receive appropriate support from frontline services and feel welcome in their new communities. This will include the following:

• Mental health: Service-facing training for statutory and voluntary providers in London so they can meet the mental health needs of arrivals from Hong Kong in a trauma-informed and culturally sensitive way. The development and translation of mental health and wellbeing resources is tailored to the specific needs of people from Hong Kong. This project aims to reduce barriers in talking about mental health and accessing services, increasing education and awareness around perceptions of mental health; and increasing education, awareness and cultural competence from professionals engaging with new arrivals from Hong Kong.
• Local coordination: Establishment of the Local Hong Kong Welcome Fund to build capacity within local authorities to support the welcome and integration of new arrivals from Hong Kong. The funding will enable local authorities to deliver work that engages and supports local Hong Kong civil society; improves local understanding of the Hong Kong diaspora; celebrates Hong Kong identity; enables arrivals from Hong Kong to access council and other mainstream services; and facilitates local welcome and integration activities. Priority will be given to boroughs with the highest numbers of new arrivals from Hong Kong based on the best available data, as well as boroughs that include areas of significant cultural importance to people from Hong Kong.
• Civil society: Additional funding for the small grants programme agreed under MD2831 to ensure it can meet the scale of demand.
• Advice: Commission support to organisations providing social welfare and immigration advice to Hongkongers, in order to develop their expertise and capacity in supporting arrivals from Hong Kong, and in building and promoting effective signposting between specialist and mainstream advice services.
• Audit: Commission an independent audit of the Hong Kong Welcome programme in order to fulfil the GLA’s obligations under the grant agreement with Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC).
• Promotion: Paid advertisement and other promotional activity to ensure that arrivals from Hong Kong can access the information and services developed through this programme, including the Migrant Londoners Hub.

Impacts and deliverables

2.2. This programme will deliver Phase Two of the Hong Kong Integration Programme and will align with the ambitions set out in the Mayor’s Social Integration Strategy All of Us and in the Recovery Mission to provide a robust safety net. Specifically, this programme aims to:

• ensure that arrivals from Hong Kong can access culturally specific trauma-informed mental health support
• ensure frontline services are trained and able to access professional support in order to engage with people from Hong Kong in a culturally specific and trauma-informed way
• establish local capacity and expertise to deliver for arrivals from Hong Kong
• improve access to social welfare and immigration advice services for arrivals from Hong Kong
• align with wider funding to support broader civil-society infrastructure for migrant, refugee and asylum-seeking Londoners, as well as East Asian and South East Asian communities
• ensure arrivals through the Hong Kong BN(O) route can access relevant support services, feel welcome in London and thrive in their new communities

Afghan Relocation Assistance Programme

Context and purpose

2.3. To support the resettlement of people from Afghanistan, the Home Office has introduced a new funding stream to our existing grant to deliver the London Strategic Migration Partnership. This has been introduced to support the launch and implementation of the ARAP. The GLA’s role will include acting as an ambassador for the scheme, working collaboratively to secure support for the programme, and resolving concerns and address barriers to participation.

Delivery method

2.4. Recruitment of a new full time equivalent (FTE) post within the Social Integration Team to lead the work and any associated costs for the delivery of this work, subject to normal GLA approval processes. This role will be fixed term until August 2022 in order to align with the timelines of the grant agreement with the Home Office, the grant will also cover costs incurred as part of the emergency response to the Afghan evacuation as part of the London Strategic Migration Partnership’s role.

Impact and deliverables

2.5. The role will operate within the wider team, supporting officials already leading on work to support refugees and people seeking asylum in London, activities will include:

• acting as an ambassador for the ARAP scheme
• working collaboratively to secure support for the scheme in London
• resolving concerns and questions from London boroughs about their participation in the scheme
• sharing best practice and lessons learned amongst London boroughs
  

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, that is the need to:

• eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation;
• advance equality of opportunity
• foster good relations between people who have a protected characteristic and those who do not.

3.2. Equality, integration and inclusion are the drivers behind this programme. The work to improve access to services, and ensure they are designed and delivered in a culturally sensitive and trauma-informed way, and the methodology building in co-production and engagement, will reduce barriers and discrimination facing new arrivals from Hong Kong.

3.3. Reducing barriers for arrivals from Hong Kong to access services, and to feel welcome and belong in their communities, helps them to secure their rights and entitlements and become socially integrated into London life. This programme creates more possibilities for arrivals from Hong Kong to flourish within their communities by ensuring that their basic rights are secured.

3.4. Any commissioning processes will ask potential partners to demonstrate how their projects are inclusive of a diverse group; and actively work to eliminate discrimination on the basis of the nine characteristics protected in the Equality Act 2010. In order to ensure the highest standards of equality, diversity and inclusion are upheld, the GLA will use outreach and engagement approaches to target activities at particular groups that are less able to engage, or face greater barriers to engagement to enable them to participate, while ensuring that activities are open and accessible to all Londoners.

3.5. The guidance and resources are produced in accordance with best practice for accessible communications. The production of videos and printed materials in Cantonese/Traditional Chinese will support arrivals from Hong Kong with limited English, and improve access to this information for digitally excluded groups and users with low reading comprehension. Grant programmes will provide direct outreach to vulnerable and excluded groups.

4.1. Key risks and issues

Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities

4.2 This programme delivers on the Mayor’s commitments set out in his Social Integration Strategy All of Us to promote equality, participation and relationships that enable a more socially integrated city.

4.3 Phase One of the Hong Kong Welcome and Integration programme funded a consultancy project that undertook detailed research and engagement with arrivals from Hong Kong, statutory services and voluntary and community sector partners in order to make recommendations on how to prioritise the interventions that would have the greatest impact on Hong Kong people’s lives. This included focus groups, surveys and roundtables.

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. The team who will be administering these projects include secondees and trustees of a number of relevant organisations, appropriate mitigations will be put in place throughout all tendering and grant programmes to remove relevant officials from a decision-making role regarding funding where any conflict does arise. This applies to GLA officers and also those funded to deliver work on our behalf. All commissioned services will be procured competitively in accordance with the Contracts and Funding Code.

5.1 Approval is being sought for expenditure of £551,000 towards the Hong Kong Integration Programme within financial year 2022-23 as detailed in the table within paragraph 2.2. This is mainly to support mental health improvements and grant funding to local authorities for new arrivals from Hong Kong.

5.2 The expenditure will be funded from the grant funding income (previously approved as MD2831) from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC). MD 2831 approved the receipt of £917,000 and delegated authority to the Executive Director of Communities and Skills for expenditure of up to £606,000, which will fund the expenditure requested in this approval.

5.3 Approval is also being sought for receipt and expenditure of up to £60,000 worth of external income from the Home Office to support the resettlement of new arrivals from Afghanistan. The expenditure of £60,000 over two financial years (2022-23 and 2023-24) is detailed in the table within paragraph 2.3.

6.1. The foregoing sections of this report indicate that the decisions requested of the executive director fall within the statutory powers of the Authority to promote and/or to do anything which is facilitative of or conducive or incidental to social development within Greater London and in formulating the proposals in respect of which a decision is sought officers have complied with the Authority’s related statutory duties to:

(a) pay due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people;

(b) 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

(c) 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 between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (race, disability, gender, age, sex, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity and gender reassignment) 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 (section 149 of the Equality Act 2010). To this end, the Mayor should have particular regard to section 3 (above) of this report.

6.3. To the extent that any of the requested budget be used for grant funding, the officers are reminded to ensure that they comply with section 12 of the Authority’s Contracts and Funding Code (the “Code”). Furthermore, the officers must ensure that an appropriate funding agreement be put in place between the Authority and any recipient before any part of the funding be paid.

6.4 Similarly, where the requested budget is to be used to procure services, supplies or works, the officers are reminded to comply with the Code and to ensure that a written contract be put in place between the Authority and the service provider/supplier prior to the commencement of any activity under the contract.