PCD 1267 Adult Women’s Diversion Pilot: 10 Week Extension

PCD 1267    Adult Women’s Diversion Pilot: 10 Week Extension

This Decision seeks approval to extend MOPAC’s grant funding of the Adult Women’s Diversion Pilot for continued service delivery for a 8-week period covering 1st October 2022 to the 30th November 2022.  This would enable the programme to continue to deliver until the new Co-Commissioned Pan-London Service commences (PCD 1156). This would ensure the Diversion Pilot’s total integration into the new service, preventing a break in the gender-specific, trauma-informed, needs-based and tailored services on diversion. 

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to:   

• Agree the extension of the current Adult Women’s Diversion Pilot for 8 weeks and approve MOPAC funding of up to £35,766 via a grant modification.  

• Delegate responsibility for the finalisation of grant agreements to the Chief Financial Officer. 

Introduction and background  

1.1 The Police and Crime Plan commits MOPAC ‘to work to divert low-risk women from formal criminal justice processes through police-led triage.’ This is being taken forward by the Adult Women’s Diversion Pilot, which became operational in September 2019.  

1.2 The pilot is aimed at diverting women that have committed a low-level offence away from entering the Criminal Justice System. Where appropriate, these women are issued with a Police Conditional Caution, requiring them to engage with local gender-specific support services.   

1.3 MOPAC commissioned Advance Advocacy and Non-Violence Community Education (hereafter referred to as Advance Partnership) to provide this service, which seeks to address the underlying causes of the woman’s offending behaviour, through a holistic package of rehabilitative support, tailored to the individual needs of the woman. The pilot also offers the police and the Crown Prosecution Service, a robust alternative pathway as opposed to prosecution of these women through the courts.  

1.4 In accordance with the Grant Agreement and subsequent Grant Modifications (reference MOPAC ID: 691-01) (PCD 1156), the current Diversion Pilot ended on the 30 September 2022.  

2. Issues for consideration 

Justification for Pilot Extension & Funding 

2.1 Extension of this grant will ensure that there is no gap in provision. The new Co-Commissioned Women’s Service which integrates Diversion goes live on 1 December 2022. The extension of this grant funding will: 

• Enable continued police referrals and uninterrupted service delivery to women. A well-planned and executed transitional handover, is currently taking place, following announcement that Advance is the successful Bidder for the North Lot (capturing BCU Central North where the pilot operates). Women in Prison has been the successful Bidder for the South London Lot (which captures the BCU South, where the pilot operates). 

• Continue and renew police officer training to boost the number of women referred to the pilot and the positive cultural shift in police officer support of Conditional Cautions as being rehabilitative to women - without this, there was a risk of a police knowledge gap returning, negatively impacting on future diversion referrals. 

• Those women that were categorised as In-Flight cases (i.e. part-way through their support package), continue to receive full and appropriate support from Advance. 

• Reduce potential reputational damage to MOPAC, due to perception that diversion is seen as less important than the other elements of the newly commissioned London Women’s service; and 

• Prevented data collection being adversely affected by suspension, ensuring accurate reflection of demand, need and outcomes throughout the 8-week period. 

3. Financial Comments  

3.1 This Decision requests extension of the Adult Women’s Diversion Pilot for 8 weeks, starting from 1 October to the 30 November 2022. 

3.2 Funding will be at a maximum cost of £35,766. This will be from the 2022/2023 Whole System Approach to Female Offending section of the Commissioning & Partnership Directorate’s CJS budget.   

3.3 Decision Paper CEOD 53 agreed to allocate funding of up to £350,000 to the pilot for two years. (1 June 2019 to 31 May 2021). Subsequent Decisions (PCD 849 and PCD 1156) and modification to the Grant Agreement (ID 691) approved additional funding to Advance to continue the pilot and its service provision to 30 September 2022.  This equates to a combined allocation from July 2019 to 30 September 2022 of £608,550. 

3.3 The £35,766 uplift covering the 8-week period from 1 October to 30 November will mean a combined total of £644,316.  The table below sets out anticipated expenditure details: 

4. Legal Comments  

4.1    Paragraph 4.8 of the MOPAC Scheme of Consent and Delegation provides that the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime (DMPC) has authority to approve offers made for grant funding. 

4.2 The delegation of responsibility for the finalisation of planning and contractual/grant arrangements, including relevant terms and the signing of agreements, to the Chief Operating Officer is in accordance with the general power of delegation in paragraph 1.7 of the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation. 

4.3   The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 at sections 17(1) (a)to (c) places MOPAC under a duty to exercise its functions with due regard to the likely effect of the exercise of those functions on, and the need to do all it can to prevent, crime and disorder (including anti-social and other behaviour adversely affecting the local environment), reoffending in its area, and the misuse of drugs, alcohol and other substances in its area. The proposed arrangements are consistent with MOPAC’s duties in the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. 

4.4 Officers must ensure the Financial Regulations and Contract Regulations are complied with. 

5. Commercial Comments 

5.1 The cost extension will be processed via a grant modification letter which will set out the need for the Advance Partnership to commit to the additional grant allocation and reporting commitment.  

5.2 MOPAC makes no commitment to provide additional funding to the Advance Partnership until the grant modification letter has been executed by both Parties.  

6. Public Health Approach  

6.1 The Adult Women’s Diversion Pilot will be integrated into the newly co-commissioned London Women’s Service.  It adopts both a Whole Systems and a Public Health Approach to women at risk of offending and those in contact with the Criminal Justice System. This holistic approach and continuity of care across the Criminal Justice System and health interventions provides integration, which support women in their attempt to stabilise their lives, find pathways out of crime, and reduce the risk of harm posed by them to the public, known adults and children. The service also seeks to reduce intergenerational offending. Many of the service users have complex needs, are vulnerable, have experienced victimisation and abuse.  The support services to which they will have access, is based on their specific need(s) and will provide wrap-around support to address these issues and promote long term rehabilitation and well-being.  

7. GDPR and Data Privacy  

7.1 The Met Police are updating its Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) to identify and minimise risks to data subjects.  Once service providers are appointed for the new service, discussions will take place as to content and joint signing.   

7.2 Consideration is currently taking place as whether the Adult Women’s Diversion Pilot DPIA will be consolidated into DPIA being produced for the new Women’s Service. 

7.3 A DIPA for evaluation purposes has been drafted and is awaiting joint signing once successful Bidder(s) are known. 

7.4 All providers funded by MOPAC are required to comply with the GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018. 

8. Equality Comments  

8.1 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. 

8.2 The Adult Women’s Diversion services actively promote the welfare and address the specific needs of women in touch with the criminal justice system in a dedicated gender specific environment and via specialist women-only provision. This also allows for a focus on specific needs around physical and mental health needs, pregnancy and parenthood and the needs of foreign national and young adult women. BAME women are particularly over-represented in the Criminal Justice System and the services are specifically tailored to engage these groups and adapted to meet their needs. The services are also open to transgender women depending on the needs of each case. 

9 Background/supporting papers 

N/A