Community Engagement Funding 2022/23

The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) is responsible for making arrangements for obtaining the views of the community and victims of crime on matters concerning policing in London and for overseeing the delivery of policing by the Metropolitan Police Service.

These functions are discharged through a variety of mechanisms, including the Community Monitoring Groups (CMGs) and Safer Neighbourhood Boards (SNBs), which are established mechanisms for delivering local police accountability and engagement, and through targeted engagement on specific areas of work. In 2020, the Mayor committed to overhauling the existing community scrutiny and engagement mechanisms. This work will continue in 2023. In addition, MOPAC has supported the provision of a digital Neighbourhood Watch communications platform and it is proposed that this will continue until March 2023.

This decision seeks approval of the 2022/23 funding for the community engagement work programme referenced above totalling £947,000.

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime approves the allocation of the 2022/23 Community Engagement Fund £947,000 as follows:

1. up to £207,000 for implementation and programme management of the community engagement programme, including activities related to the Mayor’s Action Plan;

2. interim funding of up to £700,000 for the continuation of the existing Safer Neighbourhood Boards in 2022/23;

3. contribute up to £40,000 to secure OWLs continued operation until March 2023;

4. Delegate the signing of related grants and contracts to the Chief Executive Officer and/ or Director of Strategy in line with the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation.

1. Introduction and background

1.1 The draft Police and Crime Plan 2021-25 (PCP) sets out the Mayor's ambitions for policing and community safety in London. There are four key priorities set out in the draft PCP and the community engagement programme will be key to delivery across all the priorities and in particular, MOPAC’s efforts to improve trust and confidence. This decision will support and enable MOPAC’s work to promote trust and confidence in the Metropolitain Police Service by supporting and further developing MOPAC’s work to improve community engagement, accountability and transparency at both the local and pan-London level.

1.2 This decision sets the key elements of the 2022/23 community engagement programme and seeks approval for the associated budget.

2. Issues for consideration

2.1 The 2022/23 community engagement programme comprises two strands of work:

a) Delivery of the Mayor’s Action Plan for Transparency, Accountability and Trust in Policing (the Action Plan) in which he committed to overhauling the existing community scrutiny and engagement mechanism. That work will continue in 2023, moving into transition and implementation of the recommendations arising from the review work and an ongoing programme of public engagement. This element of the programme will seek to broaden MOPAC’s engagement and to develop the role of community scrutiny and accountability as part of MOPAC’s wider oversight and governance; and

b) Maintenance of the existing mechanisms for community scrutiny and engagement as we develop and transition to a new framework, including the roles of Community Monitoring Groups, Safer Neighbourhood Boards and the provision of the Online Watch Link (OWL) digital communication system for local Neighbourhood Watch Schemes.

3. Financial Comments

3.1 Implementing the recommendations of this Decision amounts to a cost of £947,000. This cost will be funded from MOPAC core 2022/23 budget held within the Strategy and MPS Oversight Directorate, subject to MOPAC’s 2022/23 draft budget being approved in February 2022.

3.2 The funding will be allocated as follows:

• £207,000 for the MOPAC actions within the Action Plan, including the development and implementation of new community scrutiny and engagement mechanisms;

• up to £40,000 to maintain the provision of a digital Neighbourhood Watch communications platform; and

• up to £700,000 to maintain the existing community engagement, i.e. Safer Neighbourhood Boards and Community Monitoring Groups) that will continue to operate at the borough level. Appendix A lists the individual allocation to each SNB and is inclusive of £5,200 ringfenced for administrative costs.

4. Legal Comments

4.1 The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is authorised to take this decision by the MOPAC Scheme of Consent & Delegation, Section 4, “Delegation to the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime”, “Financial administration” para 4.7: “The approval of …MOPAC expenditure, income and funding of annual revenue budgets and capital programme”.

4.2 The activities set out in this decision are in accordance with MOPAC’ s responsibilities under section 14 of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 (the 2011 Act), to make arrangements for obtaining the views of the community on policing in the area. MOPAC’s general powers are set out in the 2011 Act. Section 3(6) of the 2011 Act provides that MOPAC must "secure the maintenance of the metropolitan police force and secure that the metropolitan police force is efficient and effective." Under Schedule 3, paragraph 7 of the 2011 Act, 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.

4.3 In addition, 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 antisocial behaviour." Section 143(3) specifically allows MOPAC to make grants in connection with such arrangements and any grant may be made subject to any conditions that MOPAC deems appropriate. The proposals set out in this decision support MOPAC's duties under and are in accordance with MOPAC’s powers under that section.

4.4 Under Section 5.23 of MOPAC’s Scheme of Delegation, grant agreements under the value of £150,000 may be signed by the relevant MOPAC Director in line with their individual Scheme of Delegation.

5. Commercial Issues

5.1 Where applicable, open and competitive procurement processes will be followed to secure additional capacity and/or support for the wider community engagement programme, leading to the award of contracts for services rather than a grant agreement. This approach complies with the MOPAC contract regulations.

5.2 MOPAC has made an annual commitment to fund provision of a digital Neighbourhood Watch communications platform that serves a small number of Neighbourhood Watch Schemes since December 2019. The current agreement expires on 31 March 2022.



5.3 Legal advice has been sought in respect of the provision of further funding to support this platform and two key issues have been examined (i) potential conflicts with procurement law and (ii) the provision of state aid. In this case, the proposed funding [and cumulative effect] will fall well within the De Minimis Regulation for aid not exceeding the €200,000 limit and would not therefore be unlawful. In addition, any impact will be further mitigated by the confirmation that there will be no provision to further extend support for OWL outside of a formal procurement process. It is therefore proposed that these arrangements be extended until 31 March 2023 with no further extensions beyond this date.

6. Public Health Approach

6.2 A public health approach is rooted in good multi-agency working and close working with communities, focused on prevention, and informed by the systemic use of evidence. The public health approach and working closely with local communities is embedded into the action plan programme and will continue to be incorporated into the work as it is implemented.

7. GDPR and Data Privacy

7.2 GDPR matters have been discussed with the Data Protection Officer, who has confirmed that no Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) is required for these programmes of work. However, the personal details of any individuals or organisations with whom contact is made for the purposes of the engagement will be managed in accordance with MOPAC’s wider Privacy Notice. Any organisation that is contracted to conduct work in support of this programme will be required to sign a MOPAC contract that will specify their GDPR responsibilities.

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.

8.2 The Action Plan has several strategic outcomes that aim to further equalities, including more proportionate police tactics, challenging the inequalities in their use and improving public perceptions in these areas, and building a more representative workforce (i.e. more proportionate representation of Black communities). A key aim of the broader work of community engagement is to engage more diverse and representative members of the public to be included in community oversight and scrutiny.

8.3 An Equalities Impact Assessment (EIA) has been completed for activities pertaining to the delivery of the Mayor’s Action Plan and each individual action. The EIA has been reviewed and some areas for further development have been identified. SNBs and CMGs are under review. In the interim, there are two key areas in which they can have a positive impact: (i) by addressing the disproportionate impact of crime and policing on different areas and communities and (ii) by seeking to involve and represent diverse communities in police-community engagement. Though these structures may change as a result of the review, these two principles will continue to underscore MOPAC’s community engagement delivery in this area and the allocation of funding to this work will have a positive impact across all protected characteristics.

8.4 As a result of the consideration of the equalities impact of this work programme, targeted work to better engage, involve and understand the impact of crime and policing on under-represented communities that have the lowest levels of trust and confidence and/or whose views and experiences continue to be under-represented in the community engagement programme, will be undertaken. This will include working with LGBTQ, disabled and Black and minoritised communities, and a focus on better understanding intersectionality.

9. Background/supporting papers

• Appendix A List of SNB allocations

Appendix A - 2022/23 Safer Neighbourhood Board/local engagement allocations