PCD 1760 Shared Endeavour Fund Call 6

Executive Summary:  

This Decision sets out the proposed funding and delivery of Call 6 of the Shared Endeavour Fund (SEF) for the financial year 2025/26. 

The delivery of Call 6 of the SEF will fulfil the Mayoral Manifesto (2024) commitment that “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”. 

This Decision seeks approval from the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime (DMPC) to allocate up to £875,000 of the CT & CE Hub budget to deliver Call 6 of the Mayor’s Shared Endeavour Fund. This funding will be used to support projects counter hate intolerance and extremism with individual projects to be confirmed following a competitive application process. 

This Decision also seeks approval to issue a contract to appoint Groundwork London as the Grant Fund Manager (GFM) to the Shared Endeavour Fund following an open and competitive tender process. Groundwork London will be appointed at a competitive cost and scored highly on quality as per the scoring criteria.  

The contract term is for 15 months with a value of £55,117 and an option to award a contract extension for a potential further two calls (Call 7 and 8) ending in May 2028 and a maximum value of £170,376. 

The decision to fund and procure a Grant Fund Manager to the SEF was approved as per Decision CEOD 35 - 2024. This Decision committed up to £60,000 of the Counter Terrorism and Counter Extremism Hub 2025/26 budget to run a full tender process to appoint a Grant Fund Manager to Call 6 of the SEF.  

Groundwork London will be responsible for administering the Shared Endeavour Fund and supporting organisations to deliver projects that counter racism, hate, intolerance, extremism and radicalisation across London.  

Groundwork London will administer the grant of £875,000 for civil society organisations to deliver projects which meet the strategic objectives of the Shared Endeavour Fund. 

They will administer the application process and day to day management of Call 6 of the Shared Endeavour Fund on behalf of MOPAC and work with MOPAC and the Independent Fund Evaluator – The Science of P/CVE to agree eligibility criteria and tiering of grants. Groundwork London will also carry out due diligence checks and act as the first point of contact for funded organisations. 

Call 6 of the SEF is expected to launch in March 2025 and the Grant Fund Manager will disseminate the funding in September 2025 to civil society groups who have been successful in their application to the Shared Endeavour Fund, following an open and competitive process which includes a rigorous moderation process.  

Recommendation:  

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to:   

1. Approve spend of £875,000 of the CT & CE Hub budget on the Shared Endeavour Fund for Call 6 (2025/26). 

2. Approve the award of a contract to appoint Groundwork London as the Grant Fund Manager for the Shared Endeavour Fund at a value of £55,117, with the option for two potential extension options each of 15 months for Calls 7 and 8 and up to £170,376 

3. Approve the transfer of applicable grant funding of £875,000 to Groundwork London, to enable them to manage the Shared Endeavour Fund on MOPAC’s behalf for 2025/26.    

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

1. Introduction and background  

1. The initial engagement and review phase of the Mayor’s Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) programme found that the majority of Londoners expect leadership from the Mayor in countering hate, intolerance, extremism, radicalisation and terrorism. 

2. A key finding of the ‘A Shared Endeavour’ report was that City Hall should deliver a grants programme (which stands aside from existing Government countering extremism strategies) to civil society groups delivering projects which directly counter extremism, offer positive alternatives to vile ideologies and encourage others to stand up to hate and intolerance. 

3. The Mayor’s Shared Endeavour Fund was launched in 2020. Calls 1 and 2 of the Fund supported 50 civil society projects across London and reached over 60,000 beneficiaries. Call 3 supported 21 projects, reaching 26,000 beneficiaries. Call 4 delivered, 24 projects with over 50,000 participants. Call 5 is currently underway with 20 projects expected to work with around 50,000 Londoners 

4. The Shared Endeavour Fund has had a full independent evaluation for each completed call of delivery and found that the fund “built Londoners’ resilience to radicalisation and extremist recruitment alongside reducing the risk of racism, intolerance, hate and extremism in the city”. The Science of PCVE was commissioned to deliver the Call 5 evaluation and there is the potential to extend this contract to Calls 6 & 7. 

5. Call 6 of the Shared Endeavour Fund will launch in March 2025 where civil society organisations will be invited to submit an application to the Fund. 

6. MOPAC in collaboration with the Grant Fund Manager will undertake a competitive process to commission projects across London that tackle hate, intolerance and extremism. Projects will be evaluated by a moderation panel and undergo eligibility checks and due diligence before funding is disseminated. 

7. SEF projects work across the spectrum of harms driven by extremism including racism, supremacy, denial of rights, hate crime, radicalisation and terrorism. Projects have multiple delivery themes including awareness raising, sports-based delivery, strategic communication campaigns and arts & drama-based workshops. Direct beneficiaries include primary, secondary school and college students, community and religious groups, frontline practitioners and youth club users.  

8. The SEF monitoring and evaluation tool has been commended as good practice by the EU and UN.  

2. Issues for consideration  

1. All SEF funding opportunities have been significantly oversubscribed to date. In Calls 4 and 5 the total funding requested was £2,565,515 and £3,121,242.82 respectively. 

2. It is essential that a Grant Fund Manager is in post so Call 6 of the Fund can open for applications in March 2025. 

3. The Fund must launch in March 2025 so that successful applicants to the SEF are informed in good time before the start of the new Academic School Year when projects will start their delivery.  

4. It is therefore vital that a Grant Fund Manager is in place in sufficient time before March 2025 to ensure there is an adequate mobilisation period and ample time to design the fund and supporting documents, launch the fund, allow applicants enough time to apply, moderate applications and undertake due diligence.  

5. An open and competitive procurement exercise was carried out, where MOPAC received two bids for this contract.  

6. The successful bid was submitted by Groundwork London who scored highly on each of the four quality questions.  

7. Tackling hate crime, extremism and terrorism remain a significant concern for Londoners and a priority for the Mayor. 

8. In the year since the terrorist attack in Israel on Oct 7th, 2023, and ensuing humanitarian crisis in Gaza there has been a huge spike in antisemitism and also increases in Islamophobia. Religious hate crimes nationally have soared to record levels.  

9. There has also recently been extraordinary disorder around the country, including in London, in the aftermath of the tragic Southport killings of three young girls which was fuelled by Far-Right extremists promoting hate and mis / disinformation.  

10. There have also been record levels of young people being arrested for terrorism offences in the last reporting period.  

11. The continuation of the SEF is critical at this time due to its ability to strengthen communities against extremism and encourage Londoners to stand up to hate and intolerance alongside safeguarding Londoners vulnerable to radicalisation and helping to stop the spread of extremist ideologies.  

12. The Mayor committed in his 2024 election manifesto that “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 cost of delivering Call 6 of the Shared Endeavour Fund (25/26 delivery) is £875,000. This will be funded from the 2025/26 MOPAC Counter Terrorism and Counter Extremism Hub budget. 

2. The total cost of the contract with Groundwork London is £55,117. This will be funded from the MOPAC Counter Terrorism and Counter Extremism Hub budget in 2025/26. 

3. Finance have carried out a financial due diligence check on Groundwork London. The check assessed Groundwork London as low risk and did not highlight any negative financial issues to consider.  

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 4.13 of the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent provides that the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime (DMPC) has delegated authority to approve all requests to go out to tender for contracts of £500,000 or above.   

5. The Mayor's Office for Policing Crime is a contracting authority as defined in the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 ("the Regulations"). All awards of public contracts for goods and/or services valued at £181,302 or above will be procured in accordance with the Regulations.  

5. Commercial Issues  

1. This Decision seeks to award a contract for a Grant Fund Manager for calls 6, 7 and 8 of the Shared Endeavour Fund, at a total potential value of £170,376 with a duration of 15 months with two extension options available (for calls 7 and 8) to extend up to May 2028. 

2. In accordance with 5.13 of MOPAC’s Scheme of Delegation, the Chief Executive can approve the award of contracts with a total value between £50,000 to £499,000. 

5.3 This is a services contract, the value of this procurement at the time of publishing was estimated to be £180,000 which is above the thresholds set out for goods, supplies and services in the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, therefore a Find a Tender notice and Contracts Finder notice will need to be published. 

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

6. 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.  

3. 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. 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.  

9. Background/supporting papers 

1. None