PCD 1300 - Additional 2022/23 Ministry of Justice Funding for services to victims of crime

PCD 1300 - Additional 2022/23 Ministry of Justice Funding for services to victims of crime

MOPAC receives funding from the Ministry of Justice for victim and witness support services that MOPAC commissions in London. In July 2022 the Ministry of Justice issued two grant agreements confirming MOPAC’s multi-year funding allocation for 2022-25 (see PCD 1235).  

In August 2022, the Ministry of Justice confirmed MOPAC will receive additional ‘Core’ grant funding for victim support services in 2022-23 and additional ‘general’ grant funding for the Male Rape Support Service Fund (MRSSF) in 2022-23, both of which require to be spent by the end of FY 2022/23. Two addendums to the grant agreements were subsequently issued to MOPAC in September 2022 for this additional funding. This decision seeks approval to accept the additional grant funding for 2022/23, sign the Ministry of Justice grant agreements, and manage the onward distribution of the funding to victim services.  

The total additional Core grant funding confirmed for 2022-23 is £904,473.84, bringing the total Core funding for 2022/23 to £11,321,735.28.  The total additional general grant funding for the MRSSF in 2022-23 is £1,672, bringing the total General grant funding for 2022/23 to £10,618,073.60. 

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to:   

1. Accept the additional £904,473.84 Core grant funding from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) for victim services for financial year 2022/23. 

2. Approve the carry forward of £600,662 existing 2022/23 approved budget into 2023/24 to enable the specified existing services (Child Sex Abuse Hub, Hate Crime Victims Service and London Victims & Witness Service) to continue to receive the enhanced service as agreed with the MoJ. 

3. Approve the uplift of £303,811.84 to bolster and enhance the existing specified services (Suzy Lamplugh Trust: London Stalking Support Service, and Southall Black Sisters: London Holistic Advocacy Wrap Around Service) in 2022/23 as agreed with the MoJ.  

4. Accept the additional £1,672 General grant funding from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) for the Male Rape Support Services Fund for financial year 2022/23. 

5. Delegate authority to the MOPAC Chief Financial Officer to sign the necessary grant agreements and monitoring returns to accept this funding from the MoJ. 

6. Delegate authority to the MOPAC Chief Finance Officer to sign the applicable variations to existing contracts/grant agreements to disburse this funding. 

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

1. Introduction and background 

1. Since 2014, responsibility for regional commissioning of victim services has been devolved to Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs). The funding to enable this comes from the Ministry of Justice's Victims Fund and Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Fund.  

2. This funding has traditionally been used to pay for core victims services including: the London Victim and Witness Service; Children’s and Young People’s Service; and Rape Crisis Centres. In addition, the Ministry of Justice has provided additional funding in recent years, including the recent DA/SV funding pots launched in Spring 2022 (see PCD1190 and PCD 1235). The grant awards stemming from this additional funding have been incorporated into ringfenced elements of the MOPAC funding allocation from the Ministry of Justice, as set out in paragraph 1.4 below.  

3. In September 2022, the Ministry of Justice issued two grant addendums with additional ‘Core’ grant funding for 2022/23 and additional ‘General’ grant funding for the Male Rape Support Service Fund (MRSSF) for 2022/23. 

4. In 2021/22, MOPAC’s funding allocation from the Ministry of Justice was £16,765,943. The following is an updated breakdown of MOPAC’s confirmed multi-year allocation for 2022/23, 2023/24, and 2024/25: 

2. Issues for consideration  

1. MOPAC is required to sign two grant agreement addendums to accept this additional funding which set out the conditions by which this funding is to be spent and the reporting requirements. The grants do not require match funding from MOPAC. MOPAC will incorporate these requirements in the grant and contractual agreements for services that are funded from this source. 

2. The reporting requirements for this funding include the submission of mid-year and end of year performance returns as well signing a statement confirming compliance with the terms and conditions of the funding. 

3. MOPAC is proposing to allocate the additional MoJ ‘Core’ funding grant to the following existing projects by reprofiling or uplifting the existing grants/contracts:  

4. For the additional MoJ general funding grant for the Male Rape Support Service Funding, an award will be made to: 

5. The allocations set out in paragraphs 2.3 and 2.4 above have been agreed with the Ministry of Justice. In some instances this requires some reprofiling of spend which is outlined in the financial comments section below. Where reprofiling is involved, MOPAC is required to ensure the funding remains ringfenced for the services specified as this relates to funding provided from the Ministry of Justice for the commissioning of support services for victims of crime.   

3. Financial Comments   

4. This decision requests authority to accept the additional MoJ Core grant funding for 2022/23, totalling £904,473.84. 

5. This decision also requests authority to accept the additional MoJ General grant funding for 2022/23, totalling £1,672.00 

3. This brings the total in grant funding from the MoJ across three financial years 2022/23 to 2024/25 to £59,323,831.96 for the provision of victim services in London. The annual allocations and ring-fenced amounts are set out in table 1.4 above.  

4. The additional MOJ core grant funding will replace £600,662.00 of core budget in 2022/23, subject to DMPC approval funds will be carried forward into 2023/24 to fund projects as detailed in the table below: 

5. The additional MOJ core grant funding will provide an uplift totalling £303,811.84 in financial year 2022/23, to bolster and enhance the specified services detailed in the table below: 

6. The additional MoJ General grant funding will provide supplementary of £1,672.00 in financial year 2022/23 to Survivors UK. 

7. The total grant award will be recognised as part of Commissioning and Partnerships budget planning to support service development over the specified timeline confirmed by MoJ.  

8. It is noted the grant awards require no match funding from MOPAC. 

4. Legal Comments 

1. MOPAC’s general powers are set out in the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 (the 2011 Act). Section 3(6) of the 2011 Act provides that MOPAC must “secure the maintenance of the metropolitan police service and secure that the metropolitan police service is efficient and effective.” Under Schedule 3, paragraph 7 (1) MOPAC has wide incidental powers to “do anything which is calculated to facilitate, or is conducive or incidental to, the exercise of the functions of the Office.” Paragraph 7(2) (a) provides that this includes entering into contracts and other agreements.  

2. Section 143 (1) (b) of the Anti-Social, Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014 provides for MOPAC to provide or commission services “intended by the local policing body to victims or witnesses of or other persons affected by, offences and anti-social behaviour.” Section 143 (3) specifically allows MOPAC to make grants in connection with such arrangements and any grant may be made subject to any conditions that MOPAC thinks appropriate. 

3. There are further relevant powers set out in the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 at sections 17(1) (a) to (c) which place 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. 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 all offers of grant funding.   

5. Paragraph 4.6 of the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent provides the DMPC authority to delegate those functions which are reserved for the DMPC.  

6. These recommendations are in line with the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent. 

5. Commercial Issues  

1. All grants and contracts which utilise this funding will incorporate the relevant terms from the grant agreement between MOPAC and the Ministry of Justice to ensure compliance. 

2. Any variations to existing grants and contracts, will be made in line with MOPAC’s Contract Regulations and PCR2015 procurement regulations. 

3. There are no procurement issues with this decision, as where contracts and grant agreements are in pace, the value of these is not being increased by more than 50% of the current value, and is in line with the terms and conditions of the contract variation or grant agreement amendments. 

6. Public Health Approach 

1. The VRU will be consulted on services commissioned using this funding to ensure alignment with VRU activity and wider public health approach to tackling violence in London.  

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.   

8. Equality Comments 

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. 

9. Background/supporting papers 

PCD 1235 

PCD 1190  

PCD 1066 

PCD 904 

PCD 878