PCD 1407 Your Choice -Transitional funding offer

PCD 1407 Your Choice -Transitional funding offer

Since April 2022, the current iteration of the Your Choice programme has been delivering high intensity CBT therapeutic interventions to young people aged 11-17 who have been assessed to be at risk of/vulnerable to violence and exploitation. Funded by the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF), the programme is being evaluated as a randomised control trial (RCT), a gold standard evaluation that will enable the VRU to strengthen our evidence base on trauma-informed, therapeutic interventions, achieving positive outcomes for children and young people (CYP). The pilot phase of the RCT has now concluded, however, due to delays in delivery and consequently, evaluation timelines, the subsequent efficacy phase has not yet commenced. This means the programme is effectively suspended, with trained clinical teams unable to continue delivering services to CYP due to uncertainty of progression to efficacy and further funding. This transition phase will continue until programme evaluators have submitted their report to YEF and a decision on progression to efficacy has been made.  

This current situation poses risks to the programme due to (a) trained practitioners standing down; (b) loss of clinical leads who brings CBT expertise to the programme; and (c) suspension of therapeutic service delivery to CYP. Cumulatively, these risks will also impact the ongoing RCT. To mitigate the risks, the VRU have proposed to match-fund £1,000,000 to provide essential, bridging support during this transition phase and to ensure that CYP are not left without critical support.  

This proposal is to allocate £1,000,000 to allow the continuity of service provision across all local authority Your Choice teams (treatment and control groups) through a direct grant opportunity, allowing practitioners to continue their training and young people to continue accessing therapeutic service provision during the transition phase between pilot and efficacy.   

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to approve: 

1. The total allocation of up to £1,000,000 from VRU 2022/23 carry forwards, offering direct grants of equal value to 31 Local Authorities (barring Enfield who have opted out of the programme at end of pilot phase) and London Councils to provide transitional funding support for the Your Choice programme to enable continuity of service provision between pilot and efficacy phases of the RCT.  

2. Approve the variation of the existing grant agreements between the VRU and (a) London Councils; and (b) individual local authorities, to give effect to this new transitional funding support offer. 

1. Introduction and background 

Your Choice Programme 

1. The Home Office tranche of Your Choice funding came to an end in March 2022. At project end, 419 young people had engaged with Your Choice, on a journey towards developing tools to positively change patterns of thinking and behaviour. 245 supervisions had been delivered by the programme’s Clinical Leads with 31 monitoring sessions. 

2. Since April 2022, the VRU has been administering Your Choice through funding from the Youth Endowment Fund- the programme is now being evaluated as a RCT across 32 London boroughs. The overall target for the programme is reaching 2000-3000 CYP. The programme was in the pilot phase of evaluation up-to December 2022. From August 2023, the programme will move to efficacy, subject to evaluation of progression criteria and borough progress. We are currently waiting for confirmation on whether the programme will move to efficacy.  

3. During the pilot phase, the following progress has been made: 

• At least one SPOC in each LA 

• 52 train the trainers 

• 240 Your Choice Coaches (Trained Practitioners) 

• Engagement with 419 young people across London 

• RCT Pilot to December 2022: 

• Continuous co-production 

• 32 LAs delivering Your Choice and the London Young People Study 

• Randomised Control Study protocol published, and trialled 

• 356 young people signed up to Study 

• Wealth of resources uploaded onto YouTube and websites 

• Continuous cycle of training sessions 

• Preparation for full Efficacy Study 

The Your Choice model was co designed by Dr Karla Goodman, LIIA (London innovation and improvement Alliance) and representatives across London LA. At its core is the principles of: 

• empowering children and young people 

• Taking a public health approach to youth safety 

• Breaking the cycle of violence and harm 

• A model that works alongside a well-established systemic children’s services approach. 

Led by Dr Goodman, the model invests in: 

• Staff working with children and young people through training in psychologically informed Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) tools and techniques 

• Working directly with children aged 11-17 at risk of contextual harm 

• Building trusted relationships to support change through intensive intervention. 

2. Issues for Consideration 

1. The transition from pilot to efficacy is consequent upon the evaluation team submitting a report to YEF that indicates that the progression criteria have been met to satisfaction. If this should not be the case, there is a potential termination of the programme at the end of the pilot phase. However, currently this has been adjudged to be a low-risk scenario by the programme steering group, on review of progress till date.  

2. In the event of the above, the VRU transition funding phase will also lead to programme closure, and we will have to work with local authorities, clinical leads, and London Councils to manage phased transition of young people to other services in borough.  

3. In the very likely event of the programme progressing to full efficacy, the VRU transition funding will support in continuity, sustaining momentum and sessions delivered as well as young people recruited during the transition phase can bolster the evidence base for the full RCT study.  

3. Financial Comments     

1. This report is seeking approval to allocate up to £1,000,000 to provide transitional funding support for the Your Choice programme across 31 local authority direct grants (barring Enfield) and London Councils to enable continuity of service provision between pilot and efficacy phases of the RCT. The funding will be of equal value across all 31 local authorities and London Councils. This will be funded from VRU Carry forward reserve approved at quarter 1 2022/23. 

4. Legal Comments  

1. There are no legal considerations for this Decision  

5. Commercial Issues  

1. The VRU have identified the following risks if we do not provide funding to the participating LA’s: 

• trained practitioners standing down;  

• loss of clinical leads who brings CBT expertise to the programme; and 

• suspension of therapeutic service delivery to CYP.  

2. In order to mitigate these risks £1,000,000 will be allocated across all participating boroughs to provide essential, bridging support during this transition phase and to ensure that CYP are not left without critical support. 

3. Currently all participating LA’s have been funded to deliver the high intensity CBT therapeutic interventions. The funding amount depends on which Tiers the LA’s fall under with the tiering system based on the LA crime rates and revised targets and outcomes mutually agreed by boroughs.  

4. In order to ensure that LA’s are comfortable with the delivery requirements as part of the variation we will work with them to re-tier and as a result allocate the right amount of funding to each borough. The total allocated across all participating boroughs will not exceed £1,000,000. This provides a fair and open process for all LA’s. 

6. Public Health Approach  

1. The spend plan takes a public health approach to tackling violence, which means looking at violence not as isolated incidents or solely a police enforcement problem. Instead, this approach looks at violence as a preventable consequence of a range of factors, such as adverse early-life experiences, or harmful social or community experiences and influences. 

2. Evaluation of good practice to answer the question ‘what works and for whom?’ which must also happen before policy and programmes can be effectively scaled up and sustained to contribute to population level outcomes (a core requirement for public health programmes). 

7. GDPR and Data Privacy  

1. 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. 

2. All contracts will include clear provisions relating to compliance in this area, and in relation to the processing of personal data. These terms have been drafted following consultation with MOPAC’s GDPR Project Manager. 

8. Equality Comments 

1.  Under s.149 of the Equality Act 2010 (the Equality Act), as a public authority the Deputy Mayor/MOPAC must have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation, and any conduct that is prohibited by or under this Act; and to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. Protected characteristics under the Equality Act are age, disability, gender re-assignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, and marriage or civil partnership status (the duty in respect of this last characteristic is to eliminate unlawful discrimination only). 

2. An understanding of the communities most affected by violence and the importance of cultural competency and local context, as well as the proven ability to build strong trusting relationships with communities, will be a key requirement in the tender process for the evaluation of this work.  

9. Background/supporting papers 

   None.