MD2848 Engaging Londoners in Recovery Programme 2021-2023

1.1 The London Recovery Board is chaired jointly by the Mayor of London and the Chair of London Councils. The board brings together leaders from across London to oversee London’s recovery from COVID-19.

1.2 On 15 September 2020, the London Recovery Board signed off a missions-based approach to the Recovery Programme and committed to in-depth public and community engagement. This engagement will offer community groups in London the opportunity to participate in decision-making and delivery of the programme. It aims to build trust, address inequality and encourage full participation in London’s recovery.

1.3 Phase 1 of the programme, Community-Led Recovery, approved by the Mayor under cover of MD2721, was launched in January 2021. It focused on creating immediate routes to engagement with communities most impacted by the pandemic; and equipping small, grassroots organisations with grant funding and resources to take part in London’s recovery. By January 2022, phase 1 will have delivered:

• new partnerships with 35 small, community-led organisations, to shape London’s Recovery Programme, linked to the nine missions

• the launch of a Reflective Learning Network to share insights and learn from best practice in community-led recovery efforts

• the launch of an online Community Insights Hub to host project outputs

• co-production of a resource for community organisations and mission teams to support identification of learning outcomes from grant projects focused on recovery and beyond; this resource will be called Connecting Community Insights to Policy

• an expert advisory group to support the development of the programme

• an evaluation framework to support measuring the impact of the programme over the longer term.

1.4 The Mayor approved funding for project staffing to support delivery under cover of MD2721. However, recruitment for the intended roles was not possible. This funding totals £63k and will now be repurposed to cover additional support for year-one grantees; engagement communications and dissemination activities; and access-needs support for grantees and participants to enable their full participation and engagement in recovery efforts.

1.5 Phase 2 of the programme will build on the relationships and connections made to small, grassroots community groups in the first phase. It will continue to offer multiple approaches to engaging and involving London’s diverse communities in the recovery from COVID-19. This includes: the development and launch of a pan-London shared learning network that will build on the Reflective Learning Network, which focused on supporting grantees from the first phase of the programme; an online community insights hub that will develop the hub created in the first phase; and a programme that embeds community expertise into GLA policymaking.

1.6 This programme is designed to sit alongside other elements of engagement, including public engagement through Talk London; research led by the GLA’s City Intelligence Unit; and stakeholder engagement led by policy teams leading on specific missions.

1.7 The programme focuses on developing partnerships across London’s local authorities, strategic agencies, civil society, and faith and community organisations, to offer opportunities for communities to be involved in the work of recovery. One of the key aims of these partnerships will be to ensure that the activities of different partners are complementary, avoiding duplication.

1.8 The programme, which focuses on improving systems and process for engagement in recovery, requires us to commission activity over two years. This is to: ensure appropriate time is given to facilitate long-term sustainability; and enable the co-production and co-design of the workstreams. This MD therefore requests approval for two years of funding, and the appropriate break clauses will be included in all contracts to account for any budget changes in future years.

2.1 The Engaging Londoners in Recovery Programme will ensure that communities most deeply affected by COVID-19 have the opportunity to share their lived experience with London’s decision-makers to inform the missions of the London Recovery Board and Taskforce.

2.2 The impact of these programmes will be measured using the framework designed via the evaluation of the first phase of the programme. The programmes will be developed in an iterative way, in partnership with communities and other recovery partners.

2.3 The Engaging Londoners in Recovery Programme seeks to achieve four overarching objectives:

• to identify opportunities to amplify the voices of the communities with the fewest chances to participate in London’s recovery, because of structural exclusion

• to foster a more equitable relationship between London's diverse communities and decision-makers

• to support communities and grassroots organisations to participate fully in London’s recovery, with a specific focus on intersectional experiences and perspectives

• to embed community insight with London’s strategic decision-making bodies, including the GLA and London Councils, informing their understanding of the aspirations and needs of London’s communities.

2.4 These objectives will be achieved through the delivery of two broad work streams: Improving Engagement Practice, and Connecting Communities London, both described in more detail below.

2.5 Improving Engagement Practice expenditure of £410,000 (across two years) will deliver the following outputs:

• engage boroughs, community groups and Londoners in a shared-learning network that will host a series of up to 15 reflective learning sessions, knowledge exchanges and training programmes; and commission a partner to develop and deliver shared-learning network (circa £105k will be dedicated to supporting the design and delivery of the network annually). The learning network will focus on the nine mission areas and aim to strengthen the partnerships that are critical to delivery of the missions’ plans, creating space for cross-sector collaboration and ensuring that insight from engagement work influences delivery plans.

• create and maintain the Community Insights Hub, co-curated with community groups, including training and development of toolkits and practical resources to support engagement; this will host qualitative data online (including images, film, creative writing and audio) generated by London's communities in an interactive and accessible way, giving a platform to lived experiences and demonstrating the power of community insights in decision-making (circa £80k will be dedicated to supporting the creation of this pan-London resource annually). The Insights Hub will make the insight gained from community engagement more accessible, strengthening how Londoners’ experiences help shape the recovery missions.

• ongoing support and capacity-building for the expert advisory group, which will continue to provide support, advice and expertise to the Engaging Londoners in Recovery Programme

• deliver up to three large events to share learning and outputs from the Engaging Londoners in Recovery Programme with communities, policymakers and local authorities

• minor adjustments to staffing resource to support delivery of the overall programme

• commission research focused on identifying existing online interactive ‘collections’ databases/archives which relate to Londoners experiences of COVID-19

• communications and marketing activity for the Engaging Londoners in Recovery Programme and programme evaluation

• access support/community payments for community organisations facing barriers to participation and engagement to participate in the Recovery Programme.

2.6 This will achieve the following outcomes:

• ensure that learning from community voices, experience and expertise influences and shapes the London Recovery Programme and missions

• ensure that policy and decision-makers continue to recognise and value the experience and expertise that communities can bring to the Recovery Programme

• build connections and support collaborative working on engagement across London

• ensure that communities can participate in recovery efforts and that barriers to engagement are removed, for example, access, translations.

2.7 Connecting Communities London investment of £402,000 (across two years), will deliver the following outputs:

· the creation of a programme that will embed community expertise and insights into policymaking to support the recovery mission engagement, connecting a cohort of peer researchers, evaluators, facilitators and outreach workers with policymakers and those with the power to act

· the provision of peer-research and engagement training and support for community leaders and experts

· the award of funding as a contribution to the costs of up to 10 engagement commissions to support recovery missions

· the commission of the third and fourth rounds of the Civic Futures leadership programme (previously approved under AD2484 and MD2680); circa £70k in 2021-22, and £130k in 2022-23, will be invested to the programme

· the creation of a civic futures alumni network that supports greater collaboration between civil society and local government.

2.8 This investment will achieve the following outcomes:

• the creation of a best-practice model for commissioning community-led research and collaboration that the GLA can adapt and implement

• the further embedding of a community voice in City Hall and the Recovery Programme

• increasing the research, analysis and communication skills of community experts, and providing them with a better working knowledge of the GLA and the Mayor’s work, as well as the wider Recovery Programme

• increasing the use of expert community knowledge in City Hall and in other policy environments.

2.9 In order to support flexible working arrangements for two officers within the team, programme budget will be used to increase two posts from 1.0 FTE to 1.2 FTE. This includes a 0.2 FTE increase for one G7 post on a permanent basis, and a 0.2 FTE increase to one G8 post covering a period of 11 months.

2.10 To achieve impact through this work we need to enter multi-year, long-term arrangements across 2021-22 and 2022-23. We are expecting to enter into multi-year contracts with delivery partners, which will include appropriate break clauses.

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 relations between people who have a protected characteristic and those who do not.

3.2 The programme has been, and will be further, developed and designed to ensure that communities across London who have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, including as a result of having protected characteristics, have opportunities to participate in London’s Recovery Programme. 

3.3 The programme has a particular emphasis on those who would not usually be reached through mass engagement because they face barriers such as limited access to support, racism, digital exclusion, language, insecure immigration status and mistrust of public institutions. It aims to gain deeper insight into the lived experiences of communities across London that are often hidden or excluded from policymaking in the capital through engagement with smaller community and faith organisations.

3.4 The GLA Community Engagement team will continue to work closely with the Equality & Fairness team and the City Intelligence Unit, to ensure the activities agreed upon take account of the most up-to-date evidence regarding the impact of COVID-19 on equalities groups. Due consideration will be taken in relation to the communities involved in the programme to ensure it is inclusive, and addresses intersections between characteristics where there may be adverse impacts on individuals or groups.

3.5 The programme will be reflective of the communities it is aiming to reach and engage – that is, those who have been disproportionally impacted by the pandemic. We will aim to embed community expertise into the design, delivery and evaluation of the programme, for example, partnering with community-led organisations to deliver training and capacity for participants of the programme, ensuring funding/other decision panels include community representation and embedding community expertise within the expert advisory panel.

Risk register

Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities

4.1 The Engaging Londoners in Recovery Programme is focused on ‘Involving and Collaborating with London’s Diverse Communities’, one of six cross-cutting principles for the wider Recovery Programme. The programme is also strongly connected to the Building Strong Communities mission, and supports engagement across all nine missions of the London Recovery Programme.

4.2 The Engaging Londoners in Recovery Programme will meet two of the Recovery Programme’s key priorities: narrowing social inequalities and supporting communities most affected by the pandemic. The programme will support the facilitation of meaningful opportunities for Londoners of all backgrounds to participate in, be involved in and influence the recovery process.

4.3 Two Mayoral strategies – the Mayor’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, and his Social Integration Strategy called All of Us – set out the Mayor’s expectations for creating equal opportunities for Londoners to participate in shaping the future of the capital, by tackling inequalities in voice and power.

Links to Mayoral manifesto

4.4 This programme links strongly to a number of commitments in the Mayor’s manifesto:

• creating a fairer city with a mission to tackle deprivation, inequality and discrimination, celebrating our rich diversity and rooting out health inequality

• ensuring that equality is at the heart of the London Recovery Programme

• development of a community microgrants programme and funding activities that help Londoners influence their local communities – particularly those who experience structural inequalities that can leave them frozen out of local decision-making – ensuring the vast array of London’s voices can be heard

• finding the best routes to reach as many Londoners as possible, drawing on the expertise of community and representative groups – particularly London's deaf and disabled people’s organisations, and groups representing older Londoners.

4.5 Work proposed within this Mayoral decision form relates to the London Recovery Programme’s public commitment to involve London’s diverse communities in the capital’s recovery.

Consultations and impact assessments

4.6 Building on engagement undertaken to inform the first phase of the programme, the Community Engagement team has led the following additional engagement, which has informed and influenced the design of the activity proposed outlined in this Mayoral decision form:

• engagement with mission teams and leads to inform support needs

• feedback from the GLA-convened Engagement Collaborative Group

• presenting to the Regional Impact Network regarding the London Community Story project

• London Community Story sprint exercise and feedback on programme from event

• feedback from the information sessions for Community Led Recovery Programme

• mid-project delivery project monitoring calls with the 2020-21 London Community Story and Community-Led Action grantees

• insights from reflective learning and training for Community-Led Recovery grantees

• input from the Expert Advisory Group for the Community-Led Recovery Programme.

4.7 There are no conflicts of interest to declare from those involved in the drafting or clearance of this decision.

5.1 Approval is sought for expenditure of £812,000 on the Engaging Londoners in Recovery Programme, spanning two financial years as detailed in the table below.

5.2 The expenditure of £812,000 will be funded from the Communities and Social Policy team’s programme budget (£406,000 in 2021-22 and £406,000 in 2022-23).

5.3 Funding for future financial years will be subject to the annual budget-setting process and is not guaranteed.

5.4 This programme sits within the ‘Engaging Londoners foundation’ block.

6.1 The foregoing sections of this report indicate that certain of 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 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

• 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 and foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (race, disability, sex, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity, and gender reassignment) 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 of this report.

6.3 Should the Mayor be minded to make the decisions sought, officers must ensure that, to the extent that proposed expenditure:

• concerns the award of grant funding, such funding is awarded on a fair and transparent basis in accordance with the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code and appropriate funding agreements are entered into and executed by the GLA and counterparties before commencement of the same

• concerns the purchase of works, services or supplies, those works, services or supplies must be procured by Transport for London Procurement in accordance with the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code and appropriate contracts are entered into and executed by the GLA and counterparties before commencement of the same.