Keeping Children and Young People Safe 2021/22 Commissioning Decisions

Executive Summary:

In order to provide funding certainty at this time of crisis, and realign commissioning with the postponed Mayoral election and new administration, this decision requests the extension until the end of March 2022 of the following projects and services relating to delivery of the Keeping Children and Young People Safe section of the Police and Crime Plan.

The following have been identified as vital for achieving the Mayor’s key aims of supporting young people to exit the harm caused by gangs and serious violence; supporting young people to recover from child sexual exploitation; and ensuring that boroughs can strengthen their safeguarding arrangements and that there is a forum for discussion of best-practice and issues across London.

• London Gang Exit (LGE) - which supports young people to escape the harmful effects of gangs

• Empower – which supports young people suffering sexual exploitation in the context of gangs

• Oasis (in North Middlesex & St Thomas’ Hospitals) - offering interventions and support for young victims who attend hospitals with injuries from violence

• ISTV and Safestats – collating violence data from hospitals, to inform a public health approach to violence reduction by professionals across London

• Funding to boroughs to help co-ordinate their local safeguarding activity

• Funding to London Councils to support the London Safeguarding Children Partnership

The total financial commitment will be £2,715,667 in 2021/22.

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to:

• Approve the extension through 2021/22 of funding relating to projects supporting children and young Londoners, at a total financial commitment of £2,715,667; and

• Delegate responsibility for agreeing the specific terms relating to individual grant and, or contracts to the Director of Commissioning and Partnerships.

1. Introduction and background

1.1. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a wide-reaching impact on MOPAC, the MPS and commissioned services. At this time of crisis, it is more important than ever for commissioners and providers to have certainty of funding.

1.2. A large proportion of MOPAC’s commissioned services and grants are due to expire on 31st March 2021. This aligned with the original dates for the Mayoral election and production of the new Police and Crime Plan, however as a result of the pandemic the election has now been postponed until May 2021. This means that these services face a cliff-edge of funding at the end of this financial year.

1.3. In order to realign commissioning with the postponed Mayoral election and production of the new Police and Crime Plan, this decision sets out those projects and services which are due to end in March 2021, where performance has been at least satisfactory, and requests that they be extended for a year until the end of March 2022.

1.4. In order to expedite the decision process and meet our commitment to give providers and commissioners 6 months’ notice of funding for 2021/22, the projects and services for which extension is requested have been grouped into themes. This decision relates to delivery of the Keeping Children and Young People Safe section of the Police and Crime Plan.

2. Issues for consideration

2.1. All projects and services which are due to expire in March 2021 have been considered under their own merits; how these contribute towards the Mayor’s aims to create a safer city for children and young people; and to ensure that they have demonstrated satisfactory performance and value for money. They have also been considered as part of MOPAC’s wider commissioning, budgets and priorities, to make sure that the projects which will be extended for a further year are those most essential to achieve results against the issues the Mayor committed to tackling in his Police and Crime Plan. In the sphere of work with children and young people exploitation is a key risk and therefore the projects proposed for extension will help young people move away from harm, cope, and recover; while contributory funding will support the co-ordination of safeguarding activity across London as well as helping boroughs to respond to local risks; and for data to guide these decisions to be made available to the professionals who can use it to target resources most effectively. The projects and services below are requested for extension to the end of March 2022:

2.2. LGE

LGE (previously known as London Gang Exit) provides a holistic approach to supporting young people to escape the harmful effects of gangs, both those who are gang-involved and others who may be exploited by them. The model is based on delivering interventions lasting a minimum of six months, over which time emotional and motivational factors will be addressed, as well aspects which provide stability for a young person; education, employment, and accommodation. Since October 2017, the service has accepted 448 referrals, provided interventions to 329 individuals, and seen 131 young people complete interventions lasting at least six months. Many more have benefitted from the intervention and safety planning, yet not reaching the six-month threshold considered as a completion of work. This service is delivered by Safer London. PCD 620, signed in November 2019, approved the extension of Safer London’s delivery of LGE for a year, from April 2020 to March 2021.

2.3 Empower

Empower primarily supports girls and young women who are involved in or at risk of gang involvement, or sexual violence and exploitation. Empower operates across 16 London boroughs. 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. Since 2017 Empower has delivered interventions to 191 young people on a one-to-one basis and completed a programme of work with 118 individuals. In addition, the service has delivered 170 group work sessions, and provided consultancy advice to professionals supporting 835 young people. This service is delivered by Safer London. PCD 620, signed in November 2019, approved the extension of Safer London’s delivery of Empower for a further year, from April 2020 to March 2021.

2.4 Youth workers in North Middlesex & St Thomas’ A&Es

MOPAC has been contributing funding to Oasis since October 2018 to support young victims of violence receiving treatment in North Middlesex Hospital and St Thomas’s Hospitals. The hospital outreach service provides interventions that can be as brief as completing a safety plan to reduce immediate risk during the short time the young person is at hospital; however Oasis also runs diversionary activities in the local communities, so young people can be signposted to these or receive ongoing support and mentoring. Since October 2018 the service has received 822 referrals across the two sites, providing brief interventions to many and engaging on a longer-term basis with 169 young people. PCD 432, signed in July 2018 approved funding for Oasis to deliver these services until September 2020. PCD 634, signed September 2019, approved the award of uplift funding from the Mayor’s Violence Reduction Unit until March 2021.

2.5 ISTV

Information Sharing to Tackle Violence (ISTV) is the programme which has seen all London hospitals provide anonymised, standardised information on those presenting with injuries sustained through violence. This data is then made accessible to professionals working in crime reduction, community safety, and commissioning, and can be used to inform the design of new services, commissioning decisions, and crime prevention strategies. The GLA’s Safestats portal provides a web-based location from which this and further data can be accessed, and this funding will include a contribution to the GLA for 2021/22 to support the transitioning of Safestats to a more sustainable funding model (which did not happen in 2020/21 as intended). Both ISTV and Safestats are delivered by the GLA’s City Intelligence Unit.

CEOD 20, signed in February 2020, approved funding for ISTV in 2020/21; and funding for a contribution to the GLA SafeStats portal.

2.6 Safeguarding funding to boroughs

MOPAC has provided an annual contribution to each London borough of £5,000 to support the Local Children’s Safeguarding Partnerships and £5,000 to Local Adult Safeguarding Boards. This is granted directly to boroughs, and leaders are able to allocate funding in line with locally-identified needs. Provision of this funding helps MOPAC to discharge our duty as set out in the Working Together to Safeguard Children (2018) Government guidance for inter-agency working to safeguard children. PCD 797, signed September 2020, approved £10,000 funding to be provided to each borough towards safeguarding arrangements in 2020/21.

2.7 Funding to London Councils to support the London Safeguarding Children Partnership

MOPAC has provided annual funding to London Councils since 2014/15 to support the running of the London Safeguarding Children Partnership. This funds a post to manage and co-ordinate the partnership, its Executive and related activity. PCD 797, signed in September 2020, approved provision of funding to London Councils to support co-ordination of safeguarding matters at a pan-London level.

3. Financial Comments

3.1. This decision requests approval to extend the contracts or grants delivered by the providers in 2.2 to 2.7, at a total financial commitment of £2,715,667, from 1st April 2021 until 31st March 2022. An overview of the individual allocations and their funding source is set out in the table below.

3.2. This expenditure is budgeted from MOPAC core budget (and carry-forward), Police Grant, PPAF, Mayoral growth funding, and MoJ funding.

3.3 Payments will be made in line with current arrangements in the contract or grant, following satisfactory performance and contract or grant management meetings.

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 (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.

4.2. 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.” 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. 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.

4.4. Under MOPAC’s Scheme of Delegation, the approval of business cases for revenue or capital expenditure of £500,000 and above, are for the DMPC. The strategy for grant giving, the award of individual grants, all offers made and the award of grant funding are also for the DMPC. The decisions in this report can be approved by the DMPC.

4.5. Officers must ensure the Financial Regulations and Contract Regulations are complied with.

4.6. Officers should ensure that the funding agreements are put in place with and executed by MOPAC and each of the providers before any commitment to fund is made.

4.7. Officers confirm that sufficient assurance has been carried out to this decision to determine that the DMPC has legal authority to agree the recommendations on funding and the extension of grants/ contracts.

5. Commercial Issues

5.1. This decision requests to extend existing grants and contracts, as laid out in 2.2 to 2.7, or create new grants where needed.

5.2. There are no procurement issues with this decision, as where contracts are in place, the value of these contracts is not being increased by more than 50% of the current value, or is in line with any terms of the contracts or Grant Agreements relating to extensions.

5.3. MOPAC makes no commitment to fund the organisations listed in 2.2 to 2.7 until grant or contract variation letters or agreements have been signed by both parties. These will detail the new performance and payment schedules, in line with previous arrangements.

5.4. Further details on the commercial issues for each project or service can be found in the decisions referenced in 2.2 to 2.7.

5.1. The modification request to the grant agreement/contract will comply with the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent.

6. Public Health Approach

6.1. LGE and Empower provide trauma-informed and young person-centred support to enable young people to cope, recover, and access services to help them to move away from exploitation and make positive choices. The work carried out by Oasis in hospitals aims to provide similar outcomes when young people attend with injuries sustained in violence, and can range from brief safety planning, to onward referral to other services. All three align with the public health approach of the VRU.

6.2. Understanding factors behind violence is a key aspect of the public health approach, and the ISTV programme, combining data with GLA Safestats; along with data provided through the Oasis programme; all provide an insight beyond crime data alone which MOPAC, the VRU, and partners can use to inform commissioning and decisions and ensure responses are relevant to the issues identified.

6.3. The public health approach taken in London aims to broaden the concept of safeguarding to include contextual safeguarding; considering all factors in a community which could cause harm to a vulnerable child or adult or push them towards violence and exploitation. Provision of funding to allow boroughs to address locally-identified risk factors, and funding London Councils to co-ordinate the LSCB to discuss safeguarding issues, are both steps which enable effective safeguarding of young and vulnerable Londoners.

6.4. Further details on the public health approaches of each project or service can be found in the decisions referenced in 2.2 to 2.7.

7. GDPR and Data Privacy

7.1. The extension of the projects and services listed in 2.2 to 2.7 will not alter the data protection measures in place for each. Where required, DPIAs will be updated to reflect the extension of the corresponding project or service.

7.2. Further details on the data protection considerations for each project or service can be found in the decisions referenced in 2.2 to 2.7.

8. Equality Comments

8.1. Under s149 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. Due regard has been paid to potential impacts on equality and this is detailed in the previous decisions as referenced in 2.2 to 2.7, and these continue to apply to the extensions that are being proposed. The providers will be required to have due regard to the protected characteristics of the people and communities relevant to this piece of work.

8.3. The extension of these projects and services will ensure that, at this time of crisis, vulnerable Londoners do not face a reduction in support.