PCD 1684 Shared Endeavour Fund Call 5

In Call 5 of the Shared Endeavour Fund, MOPAC are proposing 20 projects for funding after a rigorous moderation process. This will equate to a total spend of £875,000. The decision to spend this sum on Call 5 was previously approved (PCD 1335).  

This Decision is to approve the dispersal of the fund’s budget among the recommended applicants. 

This action will fulfil the Police and Crime Plan (2021-25) pledge to “provide even more grants” to community projects which counter racism, hate, intolerance, extremism, radicalisation and terrorism across London. 

Furthermore, it will fulfil the following commitments in the Mayoral Manifesto: 

• “Through the Shared Endeavour Fund, we will continue to invest in community projects that help tackle hate, counter violent extremism and build understanding, tolerance and community cohesion”. 

• “In particular, we will work to bear down on both antisemitism and Islamophobia, which have tragically flared up following the conflict in the Middle East”. 

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to:   

1. Approve the award of SEF grants totalling £875,000 to 20 civil society organisations for 2024/25 as set out in Part 2, noting that these are subject to due diligence checks before the grants are awarded. 

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

1. Introduction and background  

1. The Mayor of London’s Shared Endeavour Fund (SEF) was established in 2019 and provides grants to grassroots organisations to tackle hate, intolerance, extremism, radicalisation and terrorism. 

2. Call 5 of the SEF opened on Friday 15 March 2024 and closed on Sunday 5 May 2024. Applicants were able to request grants across three tiers of funding levels. Tier 1 projects could bid for between £10,000 and £25,000; Tier 2 projects could bid for between £25,001 and £50,000; Tier 3 could bid for between £50,001 and £100,000 with the stipulation that such projects provide 50% match funding. 

3. The fund received 82 applications from civil society organisations requesting a total of £3,121,243. This is the largest number of applications received for the SEF to date.  

4. A total of £875,000 has been proposed for dispensation across 20 projects.  

5. The decision to recommend 20 applications is the result of a rigorous moderation process which involved a diverse moderation panel made up of MOPAC and external expert partners.  

2. Issues for consideration  

1. Hate Crime and terrorism remain a significant concern for Londoners and a priority for the Mayor.  

2. In 2019, the Mayor of London published the final report from his Countering Violent Extremism Programme. This report set out a commitment to provide a fund to support grassroots community organisations in tackling hate, radicalisation and terrorism. 

3. To date, the fund has supported over 90 grassroots projects with other 140,000 Londoners participating. The results from the project’s independent evaluator have demonstrated that the projects have had a significant impact on building Londoners’ resilience to radicalisation and extremist recruitment, as well as reducing intolerance, hate and extremism.  

4. Now in Call 5, MOPAC are proposing that the fund support’s 20 projects which, collectively, will deliver work across every London Borough and will reach approximately 50,000 Londoners. 

5. This action will fulfil the Mayoral Manifesto and Police and Crime Plan (2021-25) pledge to “provide even more grants” to community projects which counter racism, hate, intolerance, extremism, radicalisation and terrorism across London. 

6. It will also fulfil the following commitments in the 2024 Mayoral Manifesto: “Through the Shared Endeavour Fund, we will continue to invest in community projects that help tackle hate, counter violent extremism and build understanding, tolerance and community cohesion”. “In particular, we will work to bear down on both antisemitism and Islamophobia, which have tragically flared up following the conflict in the Middle East”. 

3. Financial Comments  

1. The total budget requirement for this work totals £875,000 in 2024/25.  The programme will be funded from the agreed Shared Endeavour Fund allocated from the Counter Terrorism and Counter Extremism Hub budget for the 2024/25 financial year (previously agreed in PCD 1335). 

2. In total the recommended portfolio of projects includes approximately £200k of match funding and approximately £90k of in-kind support.  

3. The recommended project portfolio has an estimated reach of 50,000 Londoners. 

4. Legal Comments  

1. Section 3(6) of the Police Reform and Responsibility Act 2011 (‘PRSRA’) provides that MOPAC must secure the maintenance of the Metropolitan Police force and secure that the Metropolitan Police force is efficient and effective. Paragraph 7 of Schedule 3 to the PRSRA provides that MOPAC may do anything which is facilitative of, or conducive or incidental to, the exercise of its functions. Furthermore, MOPAC has powers under section 143 of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 to commissioning services and grants that will contribute to securing crime and disorder reduction in London. The proposed expenditure is consistent with MOPAC’s functions under section 3(6) of the PRSRA and section 143 of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.     

2. 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 made of grant funding and the award of all grants (including approval of strategy prior to award of grants).  

3. Legal advice has not been sought for this Decision. The authority for the DMPC to approve this Decision is clear in the scheme of delegation and this Decision is not considered to be novel in nature nor contentious.  

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. 

5. Public Health Approach 

1. A public health approach is rooted in good multi-agency working and close working with communities, focused on prevention, and informed by the systematic use of evidence.      

2. The programme report, ‘A Shared Endeavour,’ recognised that the first line of defence in tackling racism, hate, intolerance and extremism is London’s diverse communities, but they are often under resourced to stand up and challenge extremism. Continuation of the Shared Endeavour Fund into Call 5 will ensure that community-based, preventative work to tackle hate and extremism will continue throughout the remainder of this Mayoral term and Police and Crime Plan delivery period.  

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. Challenging racism, hate, intolerance and extremist ideologies which champion supremacy and deny the rights of others sits at the very heart of the Shared Endeavour Fund and helps to protect ethnic and religious minorities alongside other protected characteristics. Many projects specifically seek to work with marginalised cohorts, who are often targeted by extremists, whilst also considering the intersectionality of ethnicity, religion, gender and sexuality.  

3. All successful applicants must support MOPAC and the GLA’s equality, diversity and inclusion practices and policies.  

8. Background/supporting papers 

This information can be found in Part 2 of this Decision.