PCD 1671 Harmful Practices Education Champions Grant Award

Executive Summary: 

The Mayor’s tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy 2022-2025 aims to tackle 

VAWG, including harmful practices, through better education. The Mayor has committed to helping  

prevent harmful practices by investing and supporting community-based education solutions for  

harmful practices in London. 

Research has shown that Harmful Practices have serious and long-lasting physical, emotional and psychological effects on those who experience them. The response to harmful practices and the support available for those experiencing them is piecemeal, with limited strategic coordination and integration into wider safeguarding and VAWG services.    

Engaging with affected communities is crucial with the need for the expertise of trusted community groups to carry out this work in London, to test community-based education approaches and inform future commissioning decisions in this area. 

In March 2023, MOPAC launched a competitive grant process targeted at those organisations with the relevant cultural experience and expertise to deliver this pilot project inviting them to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) (See PCD 1613). T 

This decision is seeking approval for MOPAC to award the grant to Barnado’s National Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Centre, the successful bidder from the competitive grant process. The maximum grant value is up to £370,000 with mobilisation and delivery of the pilot taking place from September 2024-25 to March 2026-27, up to 2.5 years from grant award.   

Recommendation:  

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to:   

1. Approve the award of the grant to Barnado’s National FGM Centre of up to £370,000 over financial years 2024-25, 2025-26, 2026-27. 

2. Allocation of the grant across financial years is dependent on start date and length of mobilisation, so approval is required to carry forward budget from 2024/25 as necessary. 

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

1. Introduction and background  

1. The Mayor’s tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy 2022-2025 aims to tackle VAWG through better education, including harmful practices. The Mayor has committed to helping prevent harmful practices by investing and supporting community-based education solutions for harmful practices in London. 

2. The research around harmful practices – including Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), ‘Honour’ Based Violence (HBV), Forced Marriage (FM), and Faith Based Abuse (FBA) – clearly highlights the serious and long-lasting physical, emotional and psychological effects on those who experience them. The context in which harmful practices take place is complex, set against a backdrop of power, control and constructs of gender, where (actual or perceived) family love can mask abuse by multiple perpetrators and ‘normalise’ violent practices.  

3. The response to harmful practices and the support available for those experiencing them is piecemeal, with limited strategic coordination and integration into wider safeguarding and VAWG services. 

4. Specialist Black, Asian and Racialised Minority women’s organisations have been identified as an important factor both for immediate safety and wider empowerment of those affected. However, with too few services available (and those that are, under pressure), responses are often inconsistent and opportunities to support women and girls can and are being missed. 

5. In November 2021, MOPAC convened at roundtable meeting with the Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Advisory Board chaired by the Mayor to discuss FGM and what could be done to tackle this important human rights issue. Attendees included activists and role models who had supported the Mayor’s ‘FGM stops here’ campaign. 

6. Feedback from this roundtable included the need for MOPAC to work with and listen to communities, for them to be empowered to steer conversations and activity to eradicate the practice. Feedback also included the need for education and awareness raising around all harmful practices. 

2. Issues for consideration  

1. In March 2024, DMPC approved the launch of a competitive grant process inviting organisations with the relevant cultural experience and expertise to deliver this pilot project and inviting them to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) – PCD1613 relates.  

2. Education is critical to combatting Harmful Practices and the aim of the project is to raise awareness of the negative impacts via the recruitment and training of education champions. Education champions will work with affected communities to challenge the attitudes and acceptability of all types of Harmful Practices including emerging types of Harmful Practices and behaviours. 

3. The project’s objectives include educating men, women, families, communities, and other stakeholders about Harmful Practices with the aim of eradicating it as well as informing women and girls about their rights to feel empowered about reporting to statutory partners. 

4. The providers who carry out this work will be expected to build and share good practice with MOPAC, and wider audiences where appropriate, to help inform any future commissioning in this space. They will also need to evaluate the success and learning of the project. 

5. MOPAC convened an evaluation panel to assess all bids received, made up of members of its Tackling VAWG Team and an independent expert specialising in the field of criminal justice responses to violence against women and girls. A consortium, led by the charity Barnado’s FGM Centre and comprising of the Sharan Project, Hawa Trust, Manor Gardens for Health and Wellbeing, Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation (IKWRO), Middle Eastern Women and Society Organisation (MEWS), La Fraternité Guinéenne and Keep the Drums, Lose the Knife (KDLK) were the successful bidder.  

6. This Decision is seeking approval to award the grant of up to £370,000 to Barnado’s FGM Centre as the lead organisation in the consortium, the successful bidder to deliver this pilot project.  Please see below for a high-level indicative timeline for the mobilisation and delivery of this: 

*Approximate timeline and may be subject to change  

7. The Casey review found the MPS to be institutionally racist and sexist, and it had failed to protect women and girls from gendered crime and violence. This work is part of the Mayor’s renewed focus on tackling VAWG to improve women’s trust and confidence in the MPS, in particular those from those from minoritised communities.     

Financial Comments  

8. The £370,000 grant will be funded from the 2024/25 VAWG budget.  

9. The split across financial years is dependent on the grant start date and length of mobilisation. The budget will need to be carried forward from 2024/25 to future years. 

3. Legal Comments  

4.1. 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 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. 

4.2. Section 143 (1) (b) of the Anti-Social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014 provides an August 2019 6 express power for MOPAC, as a local policing body, to provide or commission services “intended by the local policing body to help victims or witnesses of, or other persons affected by offences and anti-social behaviour.” 

4.3. 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.   

4.4. 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 bids for grant funding. 

4. Commercial Issues  

5.1. This report seeks approval of a grant award of £370k for prevention of harmful practices to Barnado’s National FGM Centre. 

5.2. 4.8 of the Scheme of Delegation requires the approval of DMPC for all offers made of grant funding. 

5.3. The actions proposed can be taken in compliance with procurement legislation and MOPAC’s Contract Regulations. 

5. Public Health Approach  

1. Funding awards to services are informed by the Mayor’s public health approach to violence reduction and therefore part of MOPAC’s contribution to overall efforts led by the Violence Reduction Unit.  The public health approach to violence prevention is being led by London’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU), which supports the MOPAC work through preventative programmes supporting young people.  

6. 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.   

7. 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. Tackling Harmful Practises is part of the Mayor’s Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy. This project will work towards raising awareness of the negative effects of Harmful Practices experienced by women and girls predominantly. The providers who carry out this work are required to have due regard to the protected characteristics of the people and communities relevant to this piece of work. 

8. Background/supporting papers 

• PCD 1613 – Harmful Practices Education Champions 

• Appendix 2 Contract Award Harmful Practices