Key information
Executive summary
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
Expenditure for 2018-2019 of up to £913,000 for the Team London Work Programme for 2018-19, funded as follows:
- £798,000 from Team London’s budget
- £75,000 from the Director of Communities and Intelligence’s Minor Programme budget
- up to £40,000 external funding (see directly below)
Within the above spending envelope:
- a delegation to the Assistant Director of Team London to receive and spend up to £40,000 of external funding (without the need for a further decision form), as a contribution towards expenses related to the Team London 2018-19 Major Events and Visitor Welcome work strands – noting this is subject to confirmation of funding
- a delegation to the Executive Director for Communities and Intelligence to approve detailed expenditure plans, via a director decision form, in respect of a potential pilot project within the reward and recognition work strand
Part 1: Non-confidential facts and advice
Team London is the Mayor of London’s volunteering programme for London. The team 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 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.
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.
Team London has a database of 126,970 volunteers, works with 2,436 charities, and has engaged with over 36,500 young people and over 2,100 schools.
The Team London programme helps deliver 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 take action to improve London. The team is building strong partnerships between the public, private and third sectors, enabling Londoners to have access to the skills needed both personally and within the economy and contributing to the corporate social responsibility and philanthropy objectives of London’s businesses.
This MD seeks approval for total expenditure in 2018-19 of up to £913,000 at a net cost to the GLA of £873,000.
The programme funding will contribute to the following:
The context, outcomes and allocation of funding is detailed in the table below:
Under Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, as a public authority, the GLA must have ‘due regard’ of the need to:
• eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation; and
• advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between people who have a protected characteristic and those who do not.
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.
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.
We have commissioned research to look at the barriers and challenges involved in getting Londoners to participate in volunteering. This is to support our work on Reward and Recognition and ensure that we structure our volunteering and social action programmes in a way that is as appealing and accessible as possible.
The programme will specifically target young people with protected characteristics including race and sexual orientation. A key goal of this programme is to advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it. In particular it will target young Londoners from more diverse and deprived backgrounds who might experience significant barriers to participating in social action and volunteering, look at how to overcome these barriers and motivate and reward young people in ways that support them to grow.
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.
Team London has targeted itself with growing the numbers of volunteers aged 59+ in the capital, and with enabling young people from diverse and deprived background to become involved in volunteering and social action.
The Team London programme will provide flexibility to those who have specific needs such as a disability or special educational needs, by ensuring that any content and delivery is adapted to meet different needs and where required, support equipment will be made available. Physical access to learning will be considered and arrangements will be made where required.
Key risks and issues
Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities
The Team London 2018-19 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, supporting the aims and objectives of the Social Integration Strategy
- 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, building on the recommendations in the Skills Strategy
- Supporting #LondonIsOpen; welcoming tourists, enhancing major events
- Empower all Londoners to access the education and skills needed to participate in society and progress in education and in work including careers, education and increased employer encounters.
Impact Assessments and consultations
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.
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.
Approval is being sought for expenditure of up to £913,000 on the Team London Work Programme for 2018-19, and receipt of £40,000 in external income to support the programme.
The net cost to the GLA is £873,000. Of this amount, £798,000 will be funded from Team London’s Budget for 2018-19, and the balance (specifically against the Website and Awareness Programme), will be funded from the Director of Communities and Intelligence’s Minor Programme budget for 2018-19.
The foregoing sections of this report indicate that:
(a) the decisions requested of the Mayor 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.
In taking the decisions requested, the Mayor must have due regards 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) 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 regarding to section 3 (above) of this report.
Officers must ensure that they are content that the GLA can comply with any conditions to which the external funding is subject and in any event no reliance should be placed upon such funding until there is a legally binding commitment from the external stakeholders to provide the same.
To the extent that the GLA intends to award grant funding to third parties in respect of projects that align with the programmes detailed above, officers should ensure any funding is distributed fairly, transparently, in accordance with the GLA’s equalities and in manner which affords value for money in accordance with the Contracts and Funding Code.
Officers must also ensure that an appropriate funding agreement is put in place between and executed by the GLA and recipient(s) before any commitment to fund is made.
Any supplies and/or services 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 ensure that appropriate contract documentation is put in place and executed by the proposed service provider(s) and the GLA before the commencement of the required suppliers/services.
Signed decision document
MD2295 Team London Work Programme 2018-2019