Ministry of Justice funding for services to victims of crime

MOPAC receives an annual grant from the Ministry of Justice for the local commissioning of victim and witness support services in London. This decision seeks approval to accept the grant funding for 2020/21 and sign the grant agreement. The funding available for 2020/21 is £11,998,568.

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to:

1. Accept the £11,998,568 grant funding from the Ministry of Justice for victim services for 2020/21.

2. Delegate authority to the MOPAC Chief Finance Officer to sign the necessary grant agreement and monitoring returns for this funding.

1. Introduction and background

1.1. Since 2014, responsibility for regional commissioning of victim services was devolved to Police and Crime Commissioners. The funding to enable this comes from the Ministry of Justice's Victims Fund and Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Fund.



1.2. This funding is used to pay for core victims services including: the London Victim and Witness Service; Sexual Assault Referral Centre; Children’s and Young People’s Service; Empower Young People’s Advocates; and Rape Crisis Centres.

1.3. For 2020/21, the contribution for the Ministry of Justice was £11,998,568.

2. Issues for consideration

2.1. MOPAC is required to sign an annual grant agreement to accept this funding which set out the conditions by which this funding is to be spent (including a ring-fenced amount for CSA services) and the reporting requirements. The grant does not require match funding from MOPAC. MOPAC incorporates those requirements in the grant and contractual agreements for services that are funded from this source.

2.2. The devolved funding for the pre-trial witness support service is incorporated into this grant. Any further devolution arrangements for victim services would be incorporated into this grant agreement following the necessary approvals.

2.3. The reporting requirements for this funding include the submission of mid-year and end of year performance returns as well signing a statement confirming compliance with the minimum standards.

3. Financial Comments

3.1. This decision provides authority to receive £11,998,568 in grant funding from the Ministry of Justice, in accordance with the grant conditions set out by the Ministry of Justice. This amount will form part of the approved 2020/21 budget for MOPAC’s Criminal Justice Commissioning service.

3.2. The grant agreement does not require match funding from MOPAC.

4. Legal Comments

4.1. 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 of grant funding.

4.2. Paragraph 4.6 of the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent provides the DMPC authority to delegate those functions which have reserved for the DMPC.

4.3. These recommendations are in line with the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent.

 5. Commercial Issues

5.1. All grants and contracts which utilise this funding will incorporate the relevant terms from the grant agreement between MOPAC and the Ministry of Justice to ensure compliance.

6. Public Health Approach

6.1. The VRU will be consulted on services commissioned using this funding to ensure alignment with VRU activity and wider public health approach to tackling violence in London.

7. GDPR and Data Privacy

7.1. 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

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. MOPAC will ensure Equalities considerations form part of all work commissioned with this funding.