PCD 1473 Your Choice

PCD 1473 Your Choice

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. During the pilot phase, the evaluators highlighted certain challenges around accessing and analysing the various data sources required to conduct a full RCT evaluation. This includes gaps/challenges accessing: 

1. Local authority administrative data 

2. Process data 

3. Endline and completion data 

The collection, completion and quality assurance of the data is an important pre-condition of progression to the efficacy stage of the RCT.  

To ensure that challenges observed in the pilot phase are eliminated in the forthcoming efficacy stage of the programme, YEF have proposed an uplift of £55,000 to the London VRU, in order to commission London Councils to develop an application for improving data collection and completion.  This uplift was confirmed via a grant variation letter issued by YEF on 14 June 2023. This proposal is to allocate £55,000 towards development of this application to support the Your Choice programme. 

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to: 

1. Accept the £55,000 uplift of the Youth Endowment fund to support the Your Choice programme  

2. To allocate up to £55,000 of this uplift to develop an application to support data collection for the Your Choice programme  

3.  Approve the variation of the existing grant agreements between the VRU and (a) London Councils/LIIA to give effect to this additional support offer. 

PART I - NON-CONFIDENTIAL FACTS AND ADVICE TO THE DMPC 

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 Pilot Report submitted by the Evaluator's indicated that the Your Choice programme shows 'promise' with positive anecdotal feedback about the benefits of the programme for both young people and practitioners. The scale and robustness of the evaluation provides an opportunity to evidence the power of LA Adolescent Services' relational approach underpinned by clinical supervision. 

2. At the same time, the pilot report has highlighted some challenges including gaps in data collection and low rate of completion. To mitigate these risks, the Youth Endowment Fund have decided to fund the development of an application to support local authority practitioners and young persons in engaging with the data collection. Towards this, The Youth Endowment Fund have agreed an uplift of £55,000 in order to enhance real time admin data collection and to increase engagement and reduce attrition during endline outcome measures.    

3. Financial Comments     

1. This report is seeking approval to allocate up to £55,000 to commission London Councils in the development of the Your Choice data collection application. This will be funded from a confirmed £55,000 uplift from the Youth Endowment Fund to be received in 2023/24. 

4. Legal Comments  

1.  Paragraph 4.8 of the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent provides that the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime (DMPC) has delegated authority to approve business cases for revenue or capital expenditure of £500,000 or above. As well as the strategy for the award. 

2. The approval of: 

1. Any expenditure proposal of an exceptional nature which is significant as defined in paragraph 1.4 of the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent which might otherwise be delegated or consented by this Scheme. 

2. Approve bids for grant funding made and all offers made of grant funding; and/or where appropriate a strategy for grant giving.    

3. The strategy for the award of individual grants and/ or the award of all individual grants whether to secure or contribute to securing crime reduction in London or for other purposes. 

5. Commercial Issues  

1. This decision is seeking approval to accept an additional £55,000 from the Home Office to achieve better evaluation outcomes. The original grant agreement value is £6,499,996 and will increase to £6,554,966. 

2. The Grant Variation Letter provides the preconditions of payment, this has been agreed in collaboration with the Youth Endowment Fund. The VRU will continue to work closely with the Youth Endowment Fund in order to meet the requirements. 

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.