PCD 1746 EY Contract Variation – Prevention Delivery Plan and DMS Business Case

In order to support the delivery of the Mayor’s Police and Crime Plan and Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy 2022-25, MOPAC commissions a range of services for Londoners. Work is on-going to improve the collection of data from these services, so that MOPAC can make better-informed decisions and have a better understanding of intersectionality and disproportionality across service users. The next step in this work is to scope the requirements and solutions for a Data Management System.  In addition, as outlined in the Mayor’s Tackling VAWG Strategy, the prevention of VAWG before it occurs is a key priority to its long-term eradication. He committed to developing a long-term prevention plan for ending VAWG in London. The first step was to develop and agree a set of principles for VAWG prevention which was delivered in mid-2024. The next phase of work is the development of a short-term delivery plan that will then support the long-term Prevention Plan.  MOPAC is seeking additional resource and capability, with the right technical skills, to deliver these priorities at pace. In August 2023, MOPAC procured consultancy services from Ernst &Young (EY) and the contract was designed to have opportunities for variations to meet with demands. Previous variations were made under Contract Variation Letters (reference: MOPAC 937-01, MOPAC 937-02 and MOPAC 937-03) and committed through decisions papers CEOD 24-2023 and PCD 1587. This decision seeks approval to vary the consultancy services contract with EY to add additional work packages to the contract, to be delivered by April 2025. The total value of this variation is £204,200 (broken down by £84,200 for VAWG Prevention Delivery and up to £120,000 for DMS business case), bringing the total contract value to £802,865.   

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to:   

1. Agree two variations to the EY ESPO Framework Reference 664-21 Consultancy Services contract. 

2. Agree to vary the contract by a value of £84,200 for the delivery of the VAWG prevention workstream. 

3. Agree to vary the contract by a value of £120,000 for the delivery of a Data Management System Business Case. 

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

1. Introduction and background  

1. To support the delivery of the Mayor’s Police and Crime Plan and Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy 2022-25, MOPAC are delivering key pieces of work within the Commissioning and Partnerships Directorate. 

2. In order to support the delivery of commitments made in the Police and Crime Plan, MOPAC commissions a range of services for Londoners. A key priority at MOPAC is to improve our understanding of the impact of these services, in order to help us make more informed funding decisions. As part of this, we are working towards improving the collection of data on who is accessing services, to help us better understand intersectionality and disproportionality. 

3. In addition, the Mayor’s VAWG Strategy outlines how the prevention of VAWG before it occurs is a key priority to its long-term eradication. From December 2023 to March 2024, a set of VAWG Prevention Principles were developed to help inform decisions and actions. There is now a need to develop a pragmatic, short-term, and outcomes focused VAWG Prevention Delivery Plan, with specific interventions that can be implemented by June 2025. 

4. In 2023, MOPAC procured a partner to provide additional capabilities across a number of delivery areas, with a possible total contract value of up to £1,000,000. The successful partner was Ernst and Young (EY) and the contract with EY was designed so that it could be used for other strategic priorities, outside of the priorities outlined in the initial procurement. 

5. A range of options have been considered for delivering the projects. It has been agreed that the most deliverable and cost-effective solution is to vary the contract with EY and use the additional capability to deliver these priorities. 

2. Issues for consideration 

1. MOPAC has a longer-term aim to transition collecting pseudonymised person-level data from commissioned services. Whilst this would have GDPR implications which would need to be appropriately managed, it would transform MOPAC’s ability to analyse information from services and demonstrate their impact. However, it is likely that a Data Management System (DMS) would be required to facilitate this. The first step of this is to produce a business case which will enable MOPAC to develop a full picture of the current state and future requirements, and understand the resources required to implement a solution that can meet its longer-term aim. 

2. A range of options for delivering the business case were scoped and assessed. This included recruiting additional interim staff on a fixed-term basis and running an open procurement process. The options appraisal concluded that the most deliverable and cost-effective option is to vary the existing contract with EY. 

3. EY were previously involved in both projects, putting them in a good position to mobilise quickly and deliver these priorities to timescales. MOPAC worked with an EY/Crest partnership to develop the VAWG Prevention Principles. The requirement to develop a short-term VAWG prevention delivery plan builds on this. EY were involved in the initiation phase of the Data and Management Information Project, and therefore have a good understanding of the problem we are trying to solve and the solution required. 

4. MOPAC does not currently have the technical capabilities and capacity to deliver both of these projects at pace and we are therefore seeking to draw down from the EY consultancy services contract. 

3. Financial Comments 

1. The total budget requirement for the two contract variations is £204,200: £84,200 for the VAWG prevention work and up to £120,000 for the DMS business case. 

2. Funding for the DMS business case was accepted by MOPAC Board as a growth bid for the 2025/26 budget. However, work will commence in January 2025 so the work undertaken in 2024/25 will be underwritten by the Budget Resilience Reserve and then replenished from the 2025/26 budget. 

3. The VAWG prevention work will be funded from the VAWG £5 million budget. 

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.” 

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 4.13 of the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent provides that the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime (DMPC) has delegated authority to approve all unforeseen variations and extensions to contracts with an original value of £500,000 or above, when the variation or extension is greater than 10% of the original value and/or is for a period of more than 12 months. 

5. Commercial Issues  

5.1 This Decision requests approval to agree two contract variations to MOPAC’s existing contract with EY (MOPAC 937) to deliver the work set out above, under the call off terms of the two-year ESPO framework contract 664-21. The variations to the contract will be issued in line with the variation procedure outlined in the original contract and will be accepted by signature of both parties.    

5.2 The existing contract commenced on 11th August 2023 and runs until 11th August 2025 with provision for further extension of up to 12 months taking the total term to a maximum of 36 months.  

5.3 This contract, reference MOPAC 937, had an original contract value of £395,270 and has since been varied on three occasions, bringing the total contract value to £598,665.00 prior to these two new variations proposed.  

6. Public Health Approach  

1. Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) is a public health issue. The World Health Organisation recognises VAWG as a major public health problem and a violation of women’s human rights. All forms of VAWG have significant emotional, physical and financial impacts on adult and child victims-survivors. The social and economic costs of VAWG are disproportionately borne by women. 

2. This decision provides funding to the VAWG Prevention Delivery work, enabling better informed and more cohesive partnership approaches to improving outcomes for victims. This will align with and support the Violence Reduction Unit’s public health approach to tackling the causes of violent crime 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. 

2. In accordance with the Casey Review Report findings that the MPS is institutionally misogynistic, homophobic and racist, MOPAC will adopt an intersectional and culturally sensitive approach to these key pieces of work.  

9. Background/supporting papers 

• Appendix 1 PCD 1429 MOPAC Delivery & Victim Services Recommissioning Support | London City Hall 

• Appendix 2 CEOD 24-2023 Long-term VAWG Prevention Plan  

• Appendix 3 PCD 1587 Community Engagement Review – EY contract variation