MD2192 Social Integration Programmes 2017 – 18

1. 1. This decision seeks approval for a maximum expenditure of £420,000 in 2017/18 for new programmes that will promote social integration in London, which will be managed by officers in the Communities and Social Policy Unit. These programmes have been developed through a comprehensive analysis of relevant evidence, national and international policy thinking, and extensive community and stakeholder engagement. They represent some of the areas where the Mayor and the GLA’s work on social integration can have the biggest impact, and are designed to complement existing work underway across London that is led by other statutory and non-statutory partners. Specific public facing titles for these programmes will be agreed as they move into development.

1. 2. A breakdown of expenditure is summarised in the table below.

Social Integration Innovation Fund

1. 3. The Social Integration Innovation Fund will support innovative projects that help diverse families to build relationships and support each other through the provision of small grants. Studies find that having a child is a crucial transition moment in life, during which people are more open to mixing with others from different backgrounds, and yet this opportunity is too often missed. Changing this is vital for better social integration in London.

1. 4. The Fund would be launched in February 2018. Bids would be encouraged from parents, local community groups, early years providers and others who want to promote greater social integration with parents and families. The Fund will support between five and ten innovations in the first year, and will, subject to approval, continue for a further two years in 2018/19 and 2019/20. Further decision forms will be bought forward as necessary to approve spend in future years.

1. 5. The Fund will support work that enables parents and families from diverse backgrounds to come together in informal settings, such as ante/post-natal networks, parent support groups, or playgroups. The Communities and Social Policy team will work closely with Education and Youth, and Health, to ensure the Fund complements the Early Years Hubs and the Health Early Years Programme. The Fund will be evaluated by an external evaluator.

Workforce Integration Network (WIN)

1. 6. This initiative will improve access to employment and workforce integration for young black men. In London, the employment rate for young black men is just 71 per cent, compared with 85 per cent for young white men.[1] For this to change, employers need to be more aware of the problem and what they can do about it. This programme will shine a spotlight on the issue, commission external research to fill data gaps, and build a network of peer ambassadors among young black Londoners already employed in key sectors.

1. 7. Work in 2017/18 will include research to improve the quality of the data on sector-specific black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) employment rates, and to draw together good practice case studies on workforce integration for under-represented groups. There will also be two events launching a network of peer ambassadors, alongside some initial employer engagement.

1. 8. This research will inform further engagement in 2018/19 with employers and businesses from key growth sectors with low inclusion of young black men and other BAME groups, and expansion of an ambassadors’ programme. This activity will be subject to approval via a decision form in 2018/19.

London’s Social Integration Design Lab and Data Standard

1. 9. The GLA holds a strategic position as London’s regional authority which it can make use of to coordinate London-wide approaches to social integration. In particular, there is a real need for better London-wide data on social integration to feed into better measurement, and an opportunity to make better use of public service delivery across the city to support social mixing and active citizenship.

• 10. This programme will begin new work with London boroughs to design a common approach to social integration that can be embedded in London’s statutory agencies and their partners. It would have three strands of work:
• Operational partnerships with boroughs to collect data on social integration;
• A Design Lab to embed common principles of social integration into the design of local public services; and
• Cross-GLA work to ensure that social integration is part of every aspect of the Mayor’s work.

1. 11. In 2017/18 no expenditure will be incurred, but officers will begin working closely with London Councils and boroughs to establish an operational partnership for data collection and the team will begin developing the specification for the Design Lab, which will be funded and delivered in 2018/19, and subject to separate MD approval. The estimated cost over two years is £60,000.

ESOL Plus

1. 12. Lack of English language is a key barrier to social integration. English language training is also an opportunity for social integration. In 2017/18 officers will pilot new ways of delivering English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) that focus on social integration outcomes and will ensure that Londoners can share a common language by increasing the availability, accessibility and suitability of English language classes.

• 13. In 2017/18 the following activities will be funded as pilots:
• Working with and incentivising more organisations to offer ESOL, diversifying supply and involving schools, businesses and community groups in delivery. £15,000 will fund a ‘proof of concept’ ESOL pilot with one high-profile employer in a key sector employing high numbers of migrants with low-level English skills, to use as a business case and share the learning with other employers in that sector.
• Addressing gaps for particular groups as identified by GLA research - including learners with low literacy, caring responsibilities, and disabilities - that create barriers to accessing ESOL provision. A budget of £85,000 will fund pilots that meet identified gaps in ESOL provision and promote social integration outcomes. This funding will pilot and evaluate opportunities with existing providers, organisations or community groups establishing a model that better meets the needs of those with poor literacy or little experience of formal education, and testing intergenerational ESOL.
• Testing new models of voluntary support to boost access to informal provision and gain wider community benefits. This could include engaging Teach First ambassadors as English language mentors and working with Team London to develop intergenerational ESOL provision.

Social Integration Innovation Fund

1. 1. The Innovation Fund will fund innovations that support parents and carers to form diverse relationships in key transitions (e.g. having children, children starting school), extend and diversify networks of families, help deepen relationships in contexts where diverse families are already mixing, and see families coming together around common purposes (e.g. advocating to improve the local park, developing a parent-led activity group for families). Innovations could be entirely new ideas, involve applying an existing initiative to a new context, or taking work from other locations and applying it to the distinct context of London.

• 2. Expected outcomes from this work:
• A series of innovations which support the social integration of families and their wider communities are developed and embedded in London;
• Evidence from these innovations is collated so that a wider network of providers and organisations can learn from the best evidence-based approaches to social integration;
• The establishment of social integration initiatives in family services and support networks across London that lead to:
  
  • More diverse and mixed social networks for families;
  • Improved social mobility and wellbeing outcomes for children;
  • Less parental isolation;
  • More connected communities.

• Outputs from the programme in 2017/18 will include up to five workshops, ten local projects and an evaluation report documenting learnings from the programme.

Workforce Integration Network

• 3. Expected outcomes from this work in 2017/18 are:
• Greater awareness among employers of the barriers facing specific groups of Londoners (young black men in particular) and the benefits to them employing a diverse workforce.
• Better understanding within the GLA of the challenges and opportunities for workforce integration of under-represented groups.
• Improved employment participation and integration outcomes for under-represented groups.
• Outputs from this work in 2017/18 will include two events and a research report.

London’s Social Integration Design Lab and Data Standard

• 4. This is a programme of work with London boroughs to design a common approach to social integration that can be embedded in London’s statutory agencies and their partners. There will be no expenditure on this workstream in 2017/18. Activity in 2017/18 would involve officer led activity to convene London Borough Councils at officer level to develop:
• A shared definition of social integration, raising awareness of what the Mayor’s vision for London is.
• An audit of existing data collection on social integration: for example, understanding which councils already use a residents’ survey or hold service data that could contribute to social integration measures.
• A common data collection approach for shared social integration measures.

1. 5. This work will provide the foundation the launch of the London Social Integration Design Lab in 2018 which will support interested councils with their own social integration projects, and engage them in a year-long programme of embedding social integration principles into local services.

• 6. Expected outcomes from this work are:
• Better quality data on social integration.
• Improved consistency of data collection across London boroughs.
• Boroughs and other statutory partners are engaged in the Mayor’s social integration work and their work is championed.
• More local services are designed to improve social integration.
• Consistency in the approach to embedding social integration within the GLA.

ESOL Plus

1. 7. This work will pilot new ways of delivering English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) that focus on social integration outcomes and will ensure that Londoners can share a common language by increasing the availability, accessibility and suitability of English language training.

• 8. Expected outcomes from work in 2017/18
• Increased numbers of employers offering ESOL to staff.
• Increased participation in providing informal ESOL from organisations and community groups, including schools, and teaching communities.
• Increased community-led activity offering informal English language support.
• Improved English language proficiency for Londoners.

1. 1. Under Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, as a public authority, the Mayor of London must have ‘due regard’ of the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation as well as to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between people who have a protected characteristic and those who do not.

1. 2. Equality, integration and inclusion are the drivers behind this programme. Tackling disadvantage and discrimination is a central part of these programmes on social integration. The programmes on workforce integration and ESOL are specifically designed to overcome the additional barriers that some groups face to social integration (in this case race, and English language proficiency).

1. 3. The Social Integration Innovation Fund will make the inclusion of disadvantaged and excluded groups a key criteria for awarding funding to a project.

Risk register

Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities

1. 1. Social Integration is one of the Mayor’s top priorities and this programme of work forms a large part of social integration programme spending in 2017/18.

1. 2. Work proposed within this Decision relates to other areas of GLA work, including the Early Years Hubs, the Skills Strategy, Team London and Sports programmes, and the Good Work Standard and officers will work together to align these programmes.

Consultations

1. 3. An extensive phase of community and stakeholder engagement informed the development of this programme of work, and the Social Integration Innovation Fund will also be further developed in consultation with families and parents.

1. 1. The expenditure of up to £420,000 will be funded from the Social Integration Programme budget for 2017-18 held within the Communities and Social Policy Unit.

The foregoing sections of this report indicate that:

6.1. The decisions requested of the Mayor (in accordance with the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code) 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 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, 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 Officers have indicated in section 2 that the significant proportion of the proposed expenditure in relation to the four social integration programmes will amount to the provision of grant funding not payment for works, supplies or services. Officers must ensure that:

6.3.1 the funding is distributed fairly, transparently, in accordance with the GLA’s equalities duty and in manner which affords value for money in accordance with the Contracts and Funding Code; and

6.3.2 appropriate funding agreements are put in place between and executed by the GLA and the recipient of the funding before any commitment to fund is made.

6.4 All other services or supplies required must be procured by Transport for London Procurement (who will determine the detail of the procurement strategy to be adopted) in accordance with the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code. Officers must liaise with Transport for London Procurement in this regard and ensure that appropriate contracts are put in place between and executed by the GLA and the successful bidders before the commencement of any such services or provision of supplies.