Children & Young People’s Victim and Witness Support Service

This decision is for a one-year extension to MOPAC’s grant with Victim Support for the provision of the Children & Young People’s Victim and Witness Support Service (CYP Service) through to the end of March 2021 at an additional cost of £1.4 million for 2020/21.

The DMPC is asked to approve the extension of the CYP Service grant until the end of March 2021 at an additional cost of £1.4 million for 2020/21.

1. Introduction and background

1.1. MOPAC has statutory responsibility to provide both support to victims under 18 years of age and pre-trial support for young witnesses going to court. This latter responsibility has been devolved from the Ministry of Justice to MOPAC. This decision extends the grant for the delivery of the current service for a further 12-month period, to ensure that there is continuity of support for young victims and witnesses through to the end of March 2021, at which point the newly-commissioned service will commence.

2. Issues for consideration

2.1. It is proposed that the grant to Victim Support for the delivery of victim support services for children and young people is extended for a further 12 months, from 1st April 2020 to 31st March 2021.

2.2. The award of a grant for the delivery of this service in 2020 - 2021 will ensure that there is no break in the support available for young victims and witnesses of crime in London while development work is undertaken to design and commission a new integrated service that is fully able to effectively support all young people, therefore ensuring MOPAC delivers on its statutory responsibility to enable young victims to cope and recover from their experiences, including those with very complex needs.

2.3. Additionally, it will provide an opportunity to test new approaches to supporting young witnesses, the results of which can inform both the design of the future service and the approach to its mobilisation.

2.4. As per PCD 634, the CYP Service will also, through 2019/20 and 2020/21, trial additional service elements to support young witnesses of domestic abuse and young witnesses of homicide.

3. Financial Comments

3.1. This decision seeks approval for the extension of a grant for the provision of support services to young victims and witnesses of crime for a further 12-month period, from 1st April 2020 to 31st March 2021, at an additional value of £1,400,000. This decision therefore implies that this service is a priority for funding from the MoJ Victims Fund over other discretionary services that have historically been paid out of this fund and agree to it being a budget line for 2020/21 ahead of wider discussions/decisions on MOPAC’s budget for next year. Other funding will be allocated, where possible, to those discretionary services that might otherwise be displaced.

3.2. This will make the total funding in the grant £1,750,000 in 2019/20 and £2,000,000 in 2020/21. The additional funding is detailed in PCD 634.

4. 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 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. Under MOPAC’s Scheme of Consent and Delegation, the DMPC has delegated authority for the award of grants with a total value of £500,000 or above. The release of funding in accordance with the proposals set out in this decision form is accordingly to be approved by the DMPC.

5. Commercial Issues

5.1. The proposal to extend the grant for victim support services for children and young people is deemed commercially acceptable as it is necessary to ensure that there is sufficient time to trial the additional service elements included within PCD 634 and comprehensive support in place for children and young people who are victims and witnesses of crime throughout 2019/20 and 2020/2021.

5.2. This grant extension will also enable MOPAC to design the requirements for the future service; run an open and competitive process to appoint the future service provider, and robustly and securely manage the transition to the new service arrangements by the end of 2020/21, while ensuring continuity of support for children and young people who are victims and witnesses of crime throughout this period.

6. Public Health Approach

6.1. The CYP Service supports young victims and witnesses of crime in London to cope and recover from their experiences. The approach aligns with the emerging delivery model for the Violence Reduction Unit through trauma-informed needs assessments and established referral pathways with other specialist support and local services.

6.2. The Violence Reduction Unit is supportive of the proposed approach as a way to meet current levels of demand and need, and ensure that support remains available for young victims and witnesses of crime in London.

7. GDPR/Data Privacy

7.1. The grant for the delivery of a support service to young victims and witnesses of crime will be based on MOPAC’s standard Grant Agreement, which includes provisions relating to GDPR, which will cover the delivery of this service in 2019 – 2021.

7.2. A full Data Protection Impact Assessment will be completed by Victim Support as part of the mobilisation of the new elements of service, between October and December 2019, of the new elements of the support service for young victims and witnesses of crime, to identify and minimise risk to the data subjects.

8. Equality Comments

8.1. 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.

9. Background/supporting papers

N/A