Extension of funding for LGE and Empower Programmes

There are commitments in the Mayor’s Police and Crime Plan to ‘invest, along with London Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) and NHS England, in specialist services focusing on advocacy, mentoring and specialist health, housing and employment support’ to intervene with, and support, those young people already caught up in gangs and violence as well as ‘increase the number of youth independent sexual violence advocates who can offer support to children and young people’.

This decision recommends that MOPAC continue to fund the provision of specialist support services to 11-25 year olds involved in gangs and violence, including those that have been sexually exploited in this context, for an additional 12 months, through to March 2021.

The continuation and alignment of funding for these services enables MOPAC to ensure continuity of provision for vulnerable children and young people, whilst also creating a reasonable timeframe for the established and reliable services provided to be built upon to react to developments within policy and needs of service users.

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to:

(a) approve the award of a conditional grant up to the value of £1,169,349 to Safer London for 2020/21 to fund a service that helps young Londoners to exit the gang; both those who are gang involved and those who are exploited by them.

(b) approve the award of a conditional grant up to the value of £552,000 to Safer London for 2020/21 to continue to deliver specialist support for victims, primarily young women and girls who are involved in or at risk of gang involvement and/or at risk of sexual violence and exploitation, primarily within gangs.

(c) delegate responsibility for the finalisation of planning and grant arrangements related to the conditional grant described below, including relevant terms and the signing of agreements, to the Chief Executive Officer.

1. Introduction and background

1.1. The Mayor’s Police and Crime Plan 2017-2021 (PCP) puts victims at the heart of everything MOPAC does, recognising some Londoners, including children and young people, are at higher risk of becoming victims of crime, or of being exploited by others to commit criminal acts.

1.2. Under the ‘Keeping children and young people safe’ strand of the PCP there is a commitment ‘to invest, along with London Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) and NHS England, in specialist services focusing on advocacy, mentoring and specialist health, housing and employment support’.

1.3. The Knife Crime Strategy commits to ‘continuing and developing the work of the London Gang Exit (LGE) Service to focus work on people involved in gangs who use weapons, including work to develop offenders’ skills to improve their employability and increase their access to job opportunities.’

1.4. MOPAC currently commissions Safer London to provide specialist support services to children and young people involved in gangs and violence, including those that have been sexually exploited primarily in this context. Funding to deliver the services London Gang Exit (LGE) and Empower, delivered by Safer London, ends in March 2020.

1.5. LGE commenced delivery in February 2016. Safer London lead delivery of the programme, with delivery partner Catch22 carrying out work in the secure estate; and investment in kind from CRC and the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).

1.6. MOPAC has been contributing funding towards youth Independent Sexual Violence Advocates (ISVAs) since 2014. The PCP priority of ‘Keeping Children and Young People Safe’ commits that ‘MOPAC in particular will increase the number of youth ISVAs who can offer support to children and young people. This provision will be integrated within local partnership teams to improve the outcomes for victims. Also under the priority of ‘Keeping Children and Young People Safe’ there is a commitment ‘to work with local boroughs to invest in the earlier identification of young people at risk of CSE.’

2. Issues for consideration

London Gang Exit

2.1. Since April 2018 LGE has been funded jointly by MOPAC and the Mayor’s Young Londoners Fund. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), and London Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC), contribute in-kind through secondees. The current funding period comes to an end in March 2020. Safer London’s delivery model is based on interventions lasting approximately six months and with the programme currently operating at capacity this means that new referrals are not being accepted, however Safer London will assess the circumstances and risk and will always ensure that appropriate advice or direction towards another service is provided for the highest-risk young people, or consider if short-term interventions are appropriate. Accepting referrals beyond the current point in time without certainty of extension risks contributing to the vulnerability of a young person if a meaningful intervention is unable to be completed. This paper makes a recommendation to continue to fund LGE for a further twelve months, from April 2020 to March 2021 at a cost of £1,169,349.

2.2. LGE aims to reduce the harm caused by gangs; reduce involvement in gang offending; and to assist exit from a gang related lifestyle. The pan-London service was co-designed alongside partners to complement and enhance existing local services, filling gaps in provision to achieve better parity of offer, whatever borough the client lives in. The service has accepted referrals from 31 out of 32 London boroughs.

2.3. The programme provides specialist support around one-to-one mentoring and challenge, health and wellbeing, employment and training, housing, family, and relationship support to help both those who are gang nominals and those who are exploited by them. The programme works with young people on statutory orders or on a voluntary basis. Referrals can come from any agency: police, council, health, housing, offender managers, secure estate, voluntary and community sector organisations, as well as referrals from family members and self-referrals from young people. In the 12 months to September 2019, LGE had supported 209 young people. Since the programme began in 2016, 184 young people have completed a programme of intervention activity with LGE which has lasted for a minimum of six months.

2.4. There have been three interim evaluations of LGE to date. The first in October 2016 looked at lessons from implementation. The second interim evaluation in October 2017 presented early indicative impact on offending and victimisation, emphasising caution in interpreting results at this early stage, but finding tentatively positive outcomes in terms of non-proven offending (though not statistically significant). Analysis conducted in December 2018 looked at two cohorts who had been supported by LGE. This indicated overall offending decreased; and victimisation and violent victimisation decreased . The final analysis, due by Spring 2020, will explore implementation and impact against key outcomes. This will look to compare the impact results against a control group, and explore any changes in the type of offending. This final report will be a robust evaluation of LGE to date, and subsequently the LGE model may be flexed to build on any strengths, or mitigate any weaknesses identified.

2.5. Given the quality outcomes being delivered, the significant commitment of Young Londoners Funding to LGE in 2020/21 and to allow for research to be undertaken to refresh our understanding of the gangs and exploitation picture across London, we are therefore recommending that the decision is taken to extend Safer London’s delivery of LGE for twelve months from April 2020 to March 2021. The model funded in 2020/21 includes additional resources focused on housing advocacy, emotional wellbeing and family and community engagement work.

2.6. LGE has been running since February 2016 without an increase in funding, yet the overall level of referrals have increased, as has the level of violence in London. Delivery of LGE for 2020/21 at an equivalent level to 2019/20 would cost £947k.The £223k increase requested to the budget for delivery of LGE during 2020/21 (to £1,169,349) represents an increase to services required to meet the complex needs relating to mental health and housing which exist for a significant proportion of those supported. Safer London report that 34% of clients require support in overcoming issues impacting on their mental health and 37% of clients require housing-related support. The current level of demand for these services puts existing specialist resources at full-capacity, and there can be a delay in clients receiving access to these specialist staff, which results in cases being held open.

2.7. The additional budget will provide a further three staff, these being; a second Emotional Wellbeing Officer to support clients with mental health needs; a Family and Community Engagement worker, who will also work to increase referrals for female offenders; and a second member of staff to focus on housing advocacy. Increasing resources in the mental health and housing components will improve the access which clients have to this support and improve the speed with which interventions are completed overall, due to cases not having to be held open while clients wait to receive mental health or housing support. The target which Safer London have been working to under the current Grant Agreement is based on opening 8.7 clients each month to LGE, where as the increase in posts would see them working to opening 16.7 cases each month.

2.8. An issue for consideration is the recent allocation by the Violence Reduction Unit of £62k to Safer London’s mental health and wellbeing pilot (PCD 634). This pilot is exploring flexible ways of providing mental health support to young people in Lambeth, as well as building capability in smaller organisations supporting young people in the borough. The VRU funding provides a six-month extension to the pilot Safer London were running taking it to March 2020, and includes an evaluation of work. The majority of young people supported through this pilot are from the LGE cohort.

Empower

2.9 Empower is currently the key MOPAC-commissioned service supporting victims of Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE), forming part of MOPAC’s statutory responsibilities to commission or deliver support services to victims of crime, including victims of CSE. The current funding period comes to an end in March 2020, if certainty of extension is not given to Safer London by December 2019, referrals would need to stop being accepted. Accepting referrals beyond December 2019 without certainty of extension risks contributing the vulnerability of a young person if an intervention is unable to be completed. This paper seeks DMPC approval for a budget of up to £552,000 to continue to fund Empower for a further twelve months, from April 2020 to March 2021.

2.10 Since September 2014 MOPAC has funded Empower, which currently translates to 14 Young People Advocate posts (12.6 FTE), primarily supporting girls and young women who are involved in or at risk of gang involvement or, at risk of sexual violence and exploitation, across 16 London boroughs . Through additional funding sourced by Safer London, provision of Empower is made available across the remaining London boroughs, prioritising the service in the additional boroughs to the areas of greatest need.

2.11 The 2016 London CSE Needs Assessment identified a need to provide a more consistent service to these victims, as coverage there was not sufficiently extensive across London. The expansion of the Empower service in 2017 retained the existing provision and extended in alignment with the then MPS Safeguarding pilots. It is proposed that the existing provision is retained.

2.12 Empower aims to improve responses to victims of sexual violence and reduce reoffending, addressing gangs and serious youth violence. The programme provides specialist one-to-one support and advocacy that enables young people to access health and wellbeing, employment and training, housing, family, and relationship support to help both those who are gang nominals and those who are sexually exploited by them or at risk of being so. Referrals primarily come from local authorities but can also come from any other agency: police, health, housing, offender managers, voluntary and community sector organisations, as well as referrals from family members and self-referrals from young people.

2.13 Between October 2017 to June 2019, Empower has provided 98 young people with specialist one-to-one support; 678 additional consultations for professionals; training for 1,296 professionals to ensure that young people are getting identified as being at risk and effectively supported; 142 group work education sessions to ensure that young people enter into a dialogue about healthy relationships and consent.

2.14 We are therefore recommending that the decision is taken to extend the funding for Safer London’s delivery of Empower for twelve months from April 2020 to March 2021. Extending Safer London’s delivery provides consistency for vulnerable service users and allows the established and reliable service provided by Safer London to be built upon to react to developments within policy and needs of service users, including the development and commissioning of a new, specialist victim support service for Children and Young People in London (PCD 611).

3 Financial Comments

3.1 This decision seeks DMPC approval for a budget of up to £1,721,349 in 2020/21 to fund the continuation of specialist support services to children and young people involved in gangs and violence, including those that have been sexually exploited primarily in this context, for twelve months.

3.2 The grants will be funded from the Mayor’s Young Londoners Fund (YLF), Ministry of Justice (MOJ) grant funding for the provision of Victims’ support services and MOPAC budget. A breakdown of the funding is provided below:

Table 1: Sources of income – Extension of youth exploitation services - 2020/21

3.3 Funding for Empower in 2020/21 will continue to come from the MoJ Victims Grant. It is noted that this is an annual funding allocation from the MoJ to MOPAC and therefore funding would need to be provided at risk, backed by provision within MOPAC reserves until MoJ funding is confirmed.

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.” 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 thinks appropriate.

4.3 The recommendations in this decision are in line with the legislation and in line with MOPAC’s Scheme of Delegation as set out below.

4.4 In line with section 4 of MOPAC’s Scheme of Consent and Delegation, the DMPC has authority for the:

• approval of business cases for revenue expenditure above £500,000 and for the strategy for the award of grants (section 4.8);

• approval of the strategy for the award of individual grants and the award of all individual grants (section 4.8); and

• approval of the procurement strategy and requests to go out for tender for contracts of £500,000 or above, and the award of contracts with a value of £500,000 and above (section 4.13).

4.5 In line with section 5.22 of MOPAC’s Scheme of Delegation, the Chief Executive Officer has authority for the finalisation of planning and grant arrangements, including relevant terms and the signing of contracts and grant agreements.

4.6 For Empower this will be a continuation of an existing funding arrangement with Safer London, and bound by the existing Grant Agreement for Empower Young People Advocates which runs to March 2021.

5 Commercial Issues

5.1 The GLA Contracts and Funding code states that although a formal tendering exercise is not required by procurement law for grants, MOPAC must give consideration to value for money, fairness, and transparency. Safer London are subject to robust quarterly performance management through which they demonstrate substantial throughput of cases and reach, and ability to engage with and meet the needs of a vulnerable group.

5.2 The Mayor’s Young Londoner’s Fund (YLF) has provided £500k of investment towards delivery of London Gang Exit for 2020/21, operating on the principle of match funding being committed by MOPAC. This has been provided on the basis that a quality service will be provided to young people at risk of violence.

5.3 The current grant agreement for Empower runs from April 2016 to March 2021. Since 31st March 2017 the annual continuation of the grant has been subject to availability of funds, and satisfactory performance.

5.4 The MOPAC Contracts Regulation states that MOPAC has a range of specific responsibilities for commissioning services. This stability, through this extension recommendation, will allow services commissioned under the Mayor’s £15m fund to tackle violence against women and girls to become embedded; along with the need to conduct further research to understand scale of the issue; and the needs of the cohort accessing services to support young victims of sexual exploitation across London.

5.5 Delivery outcomes and spend profile of both services will be bound by the terms of the grant agreement negotiated with Safer London before any commitment to fund is made.

6. Public Health Approach

6.1. The grant is informed by the Mayor’s approach to violence reduction and therefore forms part of MOPACs contribution to the overall programme of violence reduction led by the Mayor’s Violence Reduction Unit. MOPAC and the VRU will work closely together on the response to the final evaluation of the LGE service informing any further service changes or improvements which may come from this robust evidence base. Furthermore this programme of work will be, where appropriate, aligned to the wider commissioning programmes of MOPAC and the VRU to ensure that the effectiveness of the service is maximised.

6.2. The delivery of advocacy and specialist services that provide trauma-informed and child-centred support with the aim of disrupting the cycle of exploitation aligns well with the public health approach that is at the heart of the VRU.

6.3. These services provide support to enable young people to cope and recover more effectively, with the aim of supporting that young person to access services necessary (e.g. housing, training, education, mental health support) for them to be able to make more positive life choices.

6.4. Through LGE and Empower statutory and non-statutory agencies are engaged to increase awareness of the services available, exchange information and expertise, and to improve the coordination of relevant services to young people.

7. GDPR and Data Privacy

7.1. LGE and Empower are existing services and Data Protection Impact Assessments are already in place.

7.2. All grant agreements include clear provisions relating to compliance in this area, and in relation to the processing of personal data, therefore the grant agreements covering the extension of delivery will specify MOPAC’s requirements in this area. These terms were drafted following consultation with MOPAC’s GDPR Project Manager.

8. Equality Comments

8.1. Under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 (the Equality Act), as a public authority the Deputy Mayor/MOPAC must have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation, and any conduct that is prohibited by or under this Act; and to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. Protected characteristics under the Equality Act are age, disability, gender re-assignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, and marriage or civil partnership status (the duty in respect of this last characteristic is to eliminate unlawful discrimination only).

8.2. To address the inequalities that exist in London, MOPAC has four targeted priorities directed at those people who are disproportionately affected by crime. The priorities aim to provide specialised services that safeguard the most vulnerable in society and reduce evident existing inequalities. These priorities are reflected in MOPAC’s victims’ commissioning plans and are as follows:

• A better police service for London

• A better Criminal Justice Service for London

• Keeping Children and Young People Safe

• Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls.

8.3. All providers and services commissioned by MOPAC must be compliant with the public sector equality duty set out in section 149(1) of the Equality Act 2010 and demonstrate a commitment to equal opportunities and understanding of equality issues.

8.4. The Police and Crime Plan 2017-21 Integrated Impact Assessment (IIA) takes into account feedback from the public and stakeholders and makes an assessment of its impact on a number of objectives including Crime, Safety and Security, Equality and Inclusion and Social Integration. The Impact Assessment shows that young people are disproportionately impacted by crime as both victims and offenders.

8.5. MOPAC’s analysis of the Metropolitan Police Gang Violence Matrix used a snapshot of data from September 2018 when 3,228 individuals were on the Matrix. This found that individuals on the Matrix are predominantly under the age of 25 (74%); 99% were male, and 80% were black African-Caribbean . Analysis carried out as part of this review found that black African Caribbean males under 25 were disproportionately affected as both victims and perpetrators of knife crimes with injury, knife homicides, and serious youth violence.

8.6. A Public Health Approach to Serious Youth Violence: Supporting Evidence released by the Mayor in July 2019 used a range of multi-agency front line data, which when analysed together suggests that Serious Youth Violence (SYV) and related-incidents increased between 2012/13 and 2017/18, but showed a slight reduction in 2018/19.

8.7. From this report, three quarters of the victims of SYV offences are males, and 85% are aged 15-24 years. 39% of the victims are from a white ethnic background, and 26 % are from a black ethnic background. Black young people comprise 17% of the young person population in London, meaning that they are over-represented as victims of SYV; although less than 1% of young black Londoners are involved in SYV

8.8. Just over three quarters of SYV offenders are male (77%). 60% are aged 13-28 years. 41% are from a white ethnic background, and 35% from a black ethnic background. Three percent of the SYV offenders had a disability, and within this 55% had Mental Health issues, and 21% had Learning Disabilities. 62% of the Serious Youth Violence offenders looked at in this research had previously been convicted, cautioned or arrested recently.

8.9. Analysis suggests that there is a strong relationship in London at borough level between the proportion of the population who are victims of Serious Youth Violence, and a range of public health factors including poverty, deprivation, mental and emotional wellbeing, and educational attainment.

8.10. Analysis of the Public Attitude Survey which provides a snapshot of public opinion on policing and crime matters found that there was a strong positive association between the proportion of the population who were victims of Serious Youth Violence, and the public perception of gangs being a problem in the area. There was also a strong positive association between the proportion of the population who were victims of SYV, and the perception of violence being a problem in the local area.

8.11. LGE has been designed to respond to these particular needs; with staff that are trained and experienced in providing trauma-informed support to young people with complex needs. Diversity monitoring is an integral part of the quarterly contract management for LGE and forms part of the evaluation of the programme conducted by MOPAC’s Evidence and Insight team.

8.12. We know that 29% of recorded CSE activity has involved gangs, and evidence indicates that as many as one in three young people who have experienced or are at risk of CSE in London are male.

8.13. In aligning the commissioning of services for child criminal and sexual exploitation, MOPAC will ensure that a review process is built in, to ensure that future service models are meeting the collectively agreed outcomes and outputs. The review process will allow MOPAC and fellow commissioners to revise and agree new or additional outcomes and outputs with delivery partners.

9. Background/supporting papers

9.1. Decision Paper London Gang Exit service (Approval for funding in 2016) /programmes-strategies/mayors-office-policing-and-crime/governance-and-decision-making/mopac-decisions--39

9.2. Decision Paper London Gang Exit Service (Extension of service from October 2017) /programmes-strategies/mayors-office-policing-and-crime/governance-and-decision-making/mopac-decisions-438

9.3. Decision Paper Safer London Empower Extension 2017-20

/programmes-strategies/mayors-office-policing-and-crime/governance-and-decision-making/mopac-decisions-443