Key information
Executive summary
This MD seeks Mayoral approval for £1.35m to be spent on the GLA Team London (Volunteering) 2017-2018 programme of work. Within this amount £1.02m is a cost to the GLA and £330k is to be received from external funding as detailed below.
In addition, £1.5m of external income previously approved under MD2014, MD1612 and income in advance from MD1526 will support the delivery of the programme in 2017-2018.
This equates to a combined programme total of £2.9m.
This funding will enable Team London to further support the Mayor’s ambition towards improving social integration, social mobility and community engagement for Londoners.
Decision
That the Mayor approves the:
1) Team London (Volunteering) programme expenditure for 2017-2018 up to the value of £1.35m as detailed within the main body of this report;
2) Receipt of up to £330,000 in external income and sponsorship to assist in meeting the costs of any enhanced programmes and entry into and execution of related sponsorship/funding agreements raised in this regard.
Part 1: Non-confidential facts and advice
1.1 Team London is the Mayor of London’s volunteering programme for London. The unit also supports the resilience of the voluntary sector. The overarching objectives are to support and promote active citizenship and ensure that the unit contributes to London being a City for All Londoners. All of our initiatives focus on convening the public sector, private sector and civil society for the good of London’s communities, and ensure that life skills are shared and developed through volunteering.
1.2 Team London’s work will focus on using volunteering to contribute towards reducing barriers to social mobility, demonstrating improvements in social integration and effective community engagement.
1.3 To date Team London has a database of 150,000 volunteers, works with 2,000 charities, has engaged with over 400,000 young people and over 2100 schools.
1.4 The Team London programme supports delivering the Mayor’s priorities to work with communities and civil society groups across London to encourage active participation in community and civic life, supporting Londoners of all ages to volunteer and to take action to improve London. The unit will also contribute to supporting the CSR and Philanthropy objectives of London’s businesses, build strong partnerships between the public, private and third sectors and support Londoners to have access to the skills needed both personally and within the economy.
1.5 External income has been sourced to enhance the delivery of programmes in support of Mayoral priorities this is detailed below and segmented into external income already approved, and external income subject to approval in this MD.
1.6 This remaining cost to the GLA is also broken down in the table below including already approved expenditure and expenditure subject to approval in this MD.
The programme funding will contribute to the following:
The context, outcomes and allocation of funding is detailed in the table below:
3.1 Equal Opportunities are enshrined within Team London’s programmes. Team London volunteering projects aim to ensure that all Londoners can access volunteering opportunities and indeed by doing so support other Londoners equally throughout the city.
3.2 Our projects particularly promote equal life chances; reducing barriers to social mobility, demonstrating improvements in social integration and effective community engagement. This will involve working with young people, under-represented and disconnected Londoners to connect them, through volunteering, with education, training and the world of work.
3.3 Our work also embraces London’s diversity by connecting Londoners from a variety of demographical and geographical backgrounds together in support of commons causes. In addition we recognise volunteers from every area in London through our Awards ceremony.
4.1. Key risks and issues
4.1.1 Delays in undertaking any of the activities listed above (due to not having budgets or agreements in place) are likely to lead to an interruption in service provision that may have a negative reputational impact on the Mayor. Mitigation: The timelines and expected costs for all activities have been reviewed. Team London maintains a programme plan and risk register to flag any issues and monitor risks and mitigations.
4.1.2 Over spending on budget within the programmes listed above would likely lead to pressure elsewhere within the wider programme delivery. This in turn could have negative consequences on wider GLA accounting. Mitigation: All managers with budget responsibility have been appropriately trained and keep a detailed record of programme finance which is monitored by the Business Support Officer on a weekly basis and the Assistant Director on a monthly basis. All programme expenditure is mapped across the financial year at the outset.
4.1.3 The Enterprise Adviser programme relies on sourcing match funding at 50% of programme staff salary costs. Failure to source match funding would result in under performance against programme targets and would likely result in the removal of staff posts delivering the programme. Mitigation: Team London is in on-going conversations with the LEAP and the current delivery partner to ensure match funding for the 2017-2018 academic year is in place.
4.1.4 The new model of Headstart will be a variation on current delivery and as such there will be a slightly greater risk to success on the programme as the concept of targeting under-represented and disconnected Londoners with this model is untested. Mitigation: Team London and The Challenge have experience of working with under-represented and disconnected Londoners on other programmes and will ensure this learning is applied in the development of this new model. Many aspects of the existing model which is highly tested will apply and as such we expect, based on experience positive outcomes from this new model.
4.1.5 The Team London Ambassador programme requires planning permission to use the different sites in London for the pods which are pre-fabricated mobile structures with no foundation. They are used as a portable storage facility for resources required such as maps, technology and stationary that volunteers use throughout their shift whilst assisting members of the general public. It is assumed that this will come through as we are using the same sites as last year; Trafalgar Square, Tower of London, Piccadilly Circus, Parliament Square and St James’ Park. We can deploy the programme without the pod if absolutely necessary.
4.1.6 The Team London website is used by a large number of individuals searching for opportunities and organisations listing roles. There is a risk that either an individual or organisation could be found to be in breach of the website terms and conditions which could affect the reputation of the service and have other implications to areas such as safeguarding. Mitigation: Team London has updated the Terms & Conditions for the website to include a zero tolerance policy for any individual or organisation found to be in breach of the Terms and Conditions. In addition there is a designated Team London staff member who assesses all volunteering roles before they are authorised for advertisement on the website. This same staff member completes regular evaluation of existing opportunities listed.
4.1.7 Team London staff members at times deal with personal data and there is a chance that within this work data breaches could occur. Mitigation: Team London staff members are trained in good practice for data protection. A separate risk register for data management is maintained and regularly assessed by a designated staff member.
4.1.8 These programmes are evolved from current work areas and as such resources are in place within the Team London team to manage these programmes.
4.2 Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities
4.2.1 The Team London 2017-18 work programme will contribute towards:
• Working with communities and civil society groups across London to encourage active participation in community and civic life. That means supporting Londoners of all ages to volunteer and to take action to improve our city;
• Encouraging more Londoners to get involved in volunteering for, and connecting with, others in their community;
• Building strong partnerships between the private sector, public and voluntary agencies;
• Pro-business: supporting CSR and philanthropy objectives in London;
• Supporting events that encourage Londoners to get involved in Volunteering;
• Inspiring young people to foster valuable life skills by becoming active citizens in their local area, and bringing communities together in a way that is now more important than ever;
• Supporting #LondonIsOpen; welcoming tourists, enhancing major events.
4.3 Impact Assessments and consultations
4.3.1 We consult relevant groups and stakeholders when undertaking any new programmes e.g. the SkillUP programme researched through the FSI the development requirements of small charities in order to influence workshops and modules offered which would be of most use and relevance to the small charity sector.
4.3.2 There is an established Advisory Board for Team London to ensure we have the voice of all relevant parties shaping the future of the programme to ensure it is relevant, efficient and delivering the best volunteering related outcomes for Londoners.
4.3.3 Both Veterans and 2work will have an external evaluation carried out as part of these ESF funded programmes.
4.3.4 Contained within this budget is the resource to develop a new monitoring and evaluation system to demonstrate in clear detail the impact of the work of Team London.
5.1 Approval is being sought for expenditure of up to £1.35m on the Team London Work Programme for 2017-18, and receipt of up to £330,000 in external income and sponsorship to support and enhance the programme.
5.2 Additional £1.50m of external income and sponsorship was previously approved under MD2014, MD1612 and MD1526.
5.3 The net cost to the GLA is £1.02m and will be funded from Team London’s Budget for 2017-18. Below is breakdown of cost by programmes.
6.1 The foregoing sections of this report indicate that the decisions requested of the Mayor fall within the statutory powers of the GLA to promote and/or to do anything which is facilitative of or conducive or incidental to the promotion of social development in Greater London and in formulating the proposals in respect of which a decision is sought officers have set out above how they 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 of him, 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, 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 The officers are seeking mayoral approval to seek and receive up to £330,000 in income from external sources in order to fund enhancements to Team London’s programme. To this end, the officers are reminded that all income whether funding or sponsorship should be subject to an appropriate, legally binding agreement. The team should familiarise itself with the terms of any agreement that the GLA enters into with third party funders or sponsors and ensure that the GLA meet its obligations under the agreement in order to reduce the risk of any funding or sponsorship being withdrawn.
Signed decision document
MD2124 Team London Work Programme (signed) PDF