PCD 1667 Extension of support for victims of road traffic collisions

Executive Summary:   

As stated in his Police and Crime Plan for London 2022-25, the Mayor is committed to improving the support provided to all victims of crime. This includes those bereaved and seriously injured victims of road traffic collisions in London.  MOPAC and Transport for London(TfL) have worked together to develop and commission specialist support services for victims of road traffic collisions in London. TfL directly commissioned a 12-month pilot project, the initial value of which was up to £250,000. MOPAC contributed £100,000 of this (PCD 1376).  This Decision seeks approval to transfer a further one-off contribution of up to £100,000 to TfL for the extension of the pilot for another 12-month period in order to continue gathering evidence for how best to support these victims. It also seeks approval to update the existing Service Level Agreement (SLA) with TfL, to ensure MOPAC is involved in the management and continued development of the project, as well as supporting achieving successful outcomes and monitoring progress against the Mayor’s PCP priorities.   

Recommendation:  

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to:   

1. Approve MOPAC’s contribution and subsequent transfer of £100,000 to TfL to extend the pilot project to support victims of road traffic collisions in London.  

2. Approve updating the Service Level Agreement (SLA) with TfL accordingly to collaboratively manage the pilot.  

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

1. Introduction and background  

1. MOPAC has statutory responsibility to provide support for victims of crime and is funded by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to commission a wide range of services that do so. However, victims of road traffic collisions remain largely out of scope for receiving this support as collisions are often accidents rather than identified crimes.    

2. This creates a gap in support and MOPAC and TfL have jointly identified the need to improve the current support arrangements in London for those individuals who have been affected by road traffic collisions, particularly those victims who have suffered serious or life changing injuries.    

3. This is in line with the pledge in the current Police and Crime Plan, for TfL, MOPAC and the MPS, in consultation with the Victims’ Commissioner for London, to work together to enhance specialist support for bereaved and seriously injured victims of road traffic collisions in London. 

4. Issues for consideration  

5. The TfL Road Safety Data Dashboard shows that there is a positive downward trend in the volume of people killed or injured through road traffic collisions1:  

2. The Service launched in November 2023, since when there have been 78 referrals. Referrals from the Metropolitan Police Service have been steadily increasing over time and are now at target monthly levels: 

3. TfL and MOPAC are proposing to extend the pilot to continue learning and exploring the most appropriate ways of addressing the gap in support to victims of non-criminal road traffic incidents and MOPAC is prepared to contribute funds totalling £100,000 for this purpose. 

4. TfL will continue to manage the pilot with support from MOPAC. The pilot provides a short-term solution to the gap in specialist support for these victims and provide an opportunity to develop understanding of what is the best approach for providing support to these victims over the long term. 

5. This decision therefore seeks approval for MOPAC to contribute and subsequently transfer a further £100,000 to TfL to extend the pilot project to support victims of road traffic collisions in London.  

6. It also seeks approval to update the existing Service Level Agreement (SLA) with TfL to collaboratively manage the pilot (see Annex A). 

7. As part of MOPAC’s role in supporting TfL to manage this contract, staff from MOPAC’s Victims Team are running commissioning information sessions to upskill TfL colleagues. 

3. Financial Comments  

1. TfL undertook a pilot project which launched in November 2023 to support victims of road traffic collisions at a total cost of £250,000, and MOPAC made a contribution of £100,000 towards this cost. MOPAC and TfL have agreed to extend the pilot for a further twelve months, with MOPAC again contributing £100,000 to the cost.  

2. The £100,000 cost will be split across 2024/25 (£50,000) and 2025/26 (£50,000). This will be funded by the Road Traffic Victims Service budget within Commissioning and Partnership Directorate in each financial year. 

4. Legal Comments  

1. In the absence of MOPAC’s Scheme of Delegation not specifically referencing the transfer of funds to other organisations within the Greater London Authority (GLA) family, approval is being sought from the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime.  

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.”  

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.  

5. Commercial Issues  

1. MOPAC will retain oversight of contractual performance under the terms set out in an updated Service Level Agreement. 

6. Public Health Approach  

1. This piece of work has been informed by discussions and feedback with TfL and the Metropolitan Police Service, in line with the commitment in the Police and Crime Plan.   

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. 

2. TfL, as a GLA body, is subject to the same requirement and, as the procuring body for this service, the responsibility to produce an Equalities Impact Assessment lies with them. 

3. There currently is a lack of extensive demographic data around the cohort of victims of Road Traffic Collisions, so it is not known whether any disproportionality exists. As part of the SLA, Brake will capture demographic data so that TfL and MOPAC can be alert to any disproportionality and act to mitigate it.  

9. Background/supporting papers