MD2313 Community Engagement Team Budget and Projects

The GLA Community Engagement team works with GLA colleagues, and across London’s communities, to strengthen the links between City Hall and London’s diverse communities. The team’s role helps to:

• Deepen the Mayor’s connection with London’s communities through direct engagement.
• Respond quickly to current issues affecting Londoners and develop appropriate engagement opportunities for the Mayor, Deputy Mayor Matthew Ryder and the GLA.
• Advise internal colleagues on their engagement with London’s communities to help shape City Hall’s policy and programmes.
• Use a creative range of methods to engage in dialogue with London’s communities on an ongoing basis.
• Work with external partners to create and test new ways for London’s communities to have a voice in civic life.
• Strengthen partnerships with civil society to support community-led action, with an emphasis on working with smaller voluntary and community organisations.

This MD is linked to ADD2234 which approves expenditure of £50,000 from the Communities and Intelligence minor programmes budget for 2018/19 on additional resource for community engagement on Serious Youth Violence in London between June and December 2018.

It is also linked to MD2238 which lays out a commitment for the Events and Community Engagement team to work together to review the impact of the community focused events which are produced by the Mayor of London.

The budget for the community engagement team’s work for 2018/19 is £305,000. This funding will be used to directly deliver programme activity and will be used for a combination of contracts, services and a small number of grants.

Support the Mayor and Deputy Mayor to engage with London’s communities and demonstrate their leadership on key issues for the community on both strategic themes and current events.

2.2 Develop and deliver new approaches to engaging Londoners in collaboration with other GLA teams.

2.3 Work with the GLA intelligence team, civil society and community groups to develop and share new data and insight into London’s communities.

2.4 Strengthen and supports London’s Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise sector.

2.5 Work Programme:

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.

The Community Engagement team works closely with the Equality and Fairness, and Intelligence, teams to identify opportunities to address inequalities across London’s communities to inform their engagement. The team’s programme seeks to develop stronger relationships with disadvantaged and excluded communities in London so that GLA policy and projects that are better informed by their lived experiences. The team also works with London’s civil society organisations to strengthen London’s diverse voluntary and community sector. The overall impact is intended to reduce inequalities in the groups that access and work with the GLA.

a) key risks and issues

b) links to Mayoral strategies and priorities

4.1 The work of the Community Engagement team is relevant to all Mayoral strategies and this workplan will support other GLA teams to engage London’s communities in their policies and programmes.

4.2 The programme of work is closely linked to the Mayor’s recently launched strategy for social integration, ‘All of Us’, which sets out plans to commemorate the 70^th anniversary of Windrush, develop a civil society plan, develop data partnerships with community organisations; and engage with communities on the impact of serious youth violence.

4.3 It is also linked to the Mayor’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion strategy, ‘Inclusive London’ which lays out the following strategic community engagement objectives:

• To develop stronger relationships with disadvantaged and excluded communities in London so that we can develop policy and projects that are better informed by the lived experience of Londoners.

• To work with London’s civil society organisations to strengthen London’s diverse voluntary and community sector. We will provide London’s communities with more opportunities to engage with us, in more ambitious, innovative ways. We will make sure the capital’s diverse groups are connected to City Hall so they can help to shape our policies and activities – and we can reflect their needs. We will also support high quality consultation on the Mayor’s work. We will involve excluded and marginalised groups and encourage civic leadership in these communities.

4.4 We will also promote social integration by funding groups that do not usually engage with us. In addition, we will raise the profile of London’s diversity through events and celebrations, gather diversity data and insights to inform policy. Finally, we will publish an annual review of communities in London to show how they are changing, and what issues they’re facing.

4.5 Through our new Civil Society Strategy, we will work with voluntary and community sector support organisations to promote resilience in London’s civil society. We will consider how to help Londoners do their bit and encourage volunteering and giving. We will also measure and track the impact of our work.

c) impact assessments and consultations.

4.6 The Community Engagement team has commissioned several pieces of work to inform its plan for 2018/19, including research on civil society in London from independent consultancy, TSIP, engagement with London’s youth organisations working on serious youth violence and external engagement through the Way Ahead Partnership.

The expenditure of up to £305,000 will be funded from the Community Engagement Programme budget for 2018-19 held within the Communities and Social Policy Unit.

The foregoing sections of this report indicate that:

6.1.1 The decisions requested of the Mayor concern the exercise of the GLA’s general powers, falling within the statutory powers of the GLA to do such things as may be considered to be facilitative of or conducive or incidental to the discharge of the GLA’s principal purposes; and

6.1.2 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; and
• Consult with appropriate bodies.

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 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.

Section 9 of the GLA Contracts and Funding Code requires the GLA to seek a call-off from a suitable framework where possible or, if not, to undertake a formal tender process to procure such services in relation to all contracts for goods or services with a value above £10,000 before the commencement of the required supplies/services.

The report indicates that part of the funding will amount to the provision of grant funding and not payment for services. Officers must ensure that the funding is distributed fairly, transparently, in accordance with the GLA’s Equality Duty, State Aid rules and in manner which affords value for money in accordance with the Contracts and Funding Code.

Officers must ensure that an appropriate funding agreement is put in place between and executed by the GLA and the successful recipient before any commitment to fund is made.

In respect of any new posts, officers should liaise with HR to ensure compliance with Part E of the Contracts and Funding Code.

Once this MD has been approved the team will develop a detailed delivery plan for each of the programmes for the year.