Key information
Reference code: PCD 1263
Date signed:
Date published:
Decision by: Sophie Linden, Deputy Mayor, Policing and Crime
PCD 1263 VRU 3 Year Funding Alteration
PCD 1263 VRU 3 Year Funding Alteration
This Decision requests the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime allocates funding across several programmes within the Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) over a three year period. This also requests the allocation of Mayoral Council Tax Precept, Reserves & budget smoothing reserves to certain programmes to plan for the reduction in Home Office funding to the Violence Reduction Unit in 2023-2024 and 2024-2025. This is so that the VRU can continue the level of intervention and support offered to children, young people & communities across London despite this predicted reduction in Home Office funding.
The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime to:
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Approve the individual project funding requests stated in Table 1 and Appendix 1 which total to £43,673,238.
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Delegate decision making on awarding successful tenders & contracts to the Director of the VRU.
PART I - NON-CONFIDENTIAL FACTS AND ADVICE TO THE DMPC
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Introduction and background
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The VRU has spent time ensuring that the reduction in Home Office funding in 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 does not mean that there will be a reduction in services and programmes for vulnerable children, young people, families & communities.
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This has meant diligent reallocation of certain programmes to Mayoral funding streams.
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Where possible, the VRU has ensured 3-year funding can support longer term programmes into violence reduction. The Perceptions of Violence Research commissioned by the VRU analysed violence at a neighborhood level across London and found that the short-term nature of initiative funding is seen as potentially harmful. Projects often end before significant trust has been built with the communities and young people – meaning communities are less likely to engage with future schemes and services.
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See Table 1 for detail on funding and recommendations against VRU programmes (with more details on programmes themselves not discussed in previous decisions PCD 1147 & 1149 can be found in in Section 2).
Table 1.
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Issues for consideration
The VRU have increased its staffing spend to the Home Office from 10% to 15%. This is after analysis of approaches by other VRUs in terms of recouping staffing costs from the Home Office. This has then impacted on budgets for evalution and programmes form within the Home Office budget. However. This means that projects can now be funded from Mayoral Core & Precept funding. This then allows for longer programmes as the Mayor offers permanent funding and the Home Office offers only in-year spending for three years. Furthermore, this frees Mayoral Funding for allocation to projects.
Longer term programmes have been empirically proven to enhance support to communities, as shorter term programmes can damage trust in communities and have limited impact. This was outlined in previous Decisions PCD 1147 and 1149 as the basis for the VRU allocating multi-year funding. Furthermore, the VRU’s monitoring and impact framework aligns crime and child protection data against programme outcomes to measure impact and the longer term programmes have more potential to show impact aligned to longer term metrics such as crime or child protection data from borough or community-level.
Further information on programmes and projects not already outlined in previous decisions PCD 1147 & 1149:
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Community based mental health support for parents and carers supports the emotional well-being of parents/carers and families through a range of therapies and support networks. We aim to develop strong, local, and collaborative partnerships with the voluntary sector. This programme is required to be delivered as a centre based localised community support where parents/carers and families work, live and feel supported. The Community-Based Mental Health and Emotional Well-Being Support pilot seeks to channel that energy and effort into community-led solutions, delivering:
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Support to parents/carers and those with significant caring responsibilities with Low to medium mental health and emotional wellbeing needs
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Developing engagement strategies to support parents to access services that are available to them
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Understanding the impact of community- based delivery
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Exploring the gap analysis and expanding the evidence base – understanding why some groups have difficulty accessing support and identifying solutions. Sharing findings following evaluation of the community/sector.
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Additional and intensified support to key boroughs
The MPS analysis of the record teenage homicide figures in 2021 highlighted three boroughs that presented a higher risk. These were Haringey, Greenwich, and Croydon. Newham was further identified by VRU assessment of teenage homicides over the past three years. The funding is for locally designed interventions in the borough with a focus on areas where there are high and sustained levels of violence. The aim of the funding is to provide additional support to those effected and impacted by violence, through a robust partnership approach, including collaboration between statutory partners, local communities, young people, stakeholders and key local institutions. This funding is to help support and enhance additional partnership work and could include areas such as supporting and increasing detached youth outreach, through organisations coming together, development of community champions, providing training to communities and young people on the impact of violence, as well as supporting strong and sustainable local networks of community members so that they are well placed to respond to local emerging needs and help advance and test new initiatives to tackle serious youth violence.
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Financial Comments
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This paper is seeking approval to award funds totalling £43.67M over the 3 year period 2022/23 – 2024/25. A detailed breakdown of projects, their costs and their funding source is provided at Appendix 1.
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The proposals include use of £1.9M Budget Smoothing Reserve across 2023/24 and 2024/25. This funding is part of the £6.65M funding the VRU requested in the 2022/23 Q1 Budget Monitoring Report to be carried forward from 2022/23 into future years, to continue funding of specific projects and to offset the reduction of Home Office grant funding. The £6.67M carry forward is subject to DMPC approval.
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Legal Comments
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The Mayor's Office for Policing Crime is a contracting authority as defined in the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 ("the Regulations"). All awards of public contracts for goods and/or services valued at £181,302 or above will be procured in accordance with the Regulations.
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Paragraph 4.13 of the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent provides that the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime (DMPC) has delegated authority to approve all requests to go out to tender for contracts of £500,000 or above.
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Paragraph 4.13 of the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent provides that the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime (DMPC) has delegated authority to approve all contract exemptions for £100,000 or above.
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Commercial Issues
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Route to market for each programme differs. There are examples of funding going straight to boroughs. The VRU supports the boroughs to then procure local organisations to deliver the programmatic activity in line with the grant.
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Social Switch 2, Hospital Based Youth Work, Rise Up Youth Leadership & any evaluations will undergo a competitive tender process
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DIVERT, IRIS, Community based mental health support will be extensions of current contracts or grants with direct award to those delivering contracts already
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All other programmes award grant funding directly to local London boroughs, many of which with an expectation to award grants local organisations delivering initiatives to reduce violence.
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Public Health Approach
This piece of work has been informed by discussions and feedback from the Violence Reduction Unit wider staff team.
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GDPR and Data Privacy
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MOPAC will adhere to the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018 and ensure that any organisations who are commissioned to do work with or on behalf of MOPAC are fully compliant with the policy and understand their GDPR responsibilities.
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Equality Comments
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MOPAC is required to comply with the public sector equality duty set out in section 149(1) of the Equality Act 2010. This requires MOPAC to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations by reference to people with protected characteristics. The protected characteristics are: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.
Appendix 1: Project Detailed Funding
Signed decision document
PCD 1263 VRU 3 Year Funding Alteration