Pupil Referral Unit Support and Community-based Afterschool activity

The Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) has a focus on reducing the risks faced by young Londoners in staying safe. The link between exclusions and violence affecting young people is increasingly clear. This programme is designed to provide additional mentoring support to vulnerable young Londoners who attend London’s Pupil Referral Units (PRUs) which will provide support, encourage aspirations, and enable young people to think about their future in a safe and encouraging environment. This programme will also work to re-engage, through sport, those at risk of disengaging from mainstream education. Finally, this programme will also fund local, community-led afterschool activities to keep young Londoners safe after school, a known high-risk period.

This programme will be delivered in partnership with education settings, local authorities and local community organisations.

The total funding required for this programme is £2.38m as per the below strands:

• Afterschool provision:

£680k of the funding for Afterschool provision has been previously approved in PCD 648 and 673. It is proposed to allocate further funding of £700k (from 21-22 Mayoral growth funding), resulting in a total of £1.38m. It is the intention that this funding will be managed by an external managing agent. Therefore, up to 10 percent of this funding will be used to engage a grants management organisation through a competitive tender process, to facilitate the programme delivery. The remaining 90% will be allocated via a competitive grants process to community led grassroots organisations, facilitated by the managing agent.

• Mentoring and the ‘Open Doors London’ programme:

The remaining £1m is from the growth funding provided by the Mayor for new violence reduction initiatives and will fund the mentoring element (£840K) and the Open Doors sport re-engagement programme (£160K).

1. The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to approve;

• £840k (£210k in 20-21; £630K in 21/22) for the provision of mentoring and careers advice in PRUs, to be awarded via direct grant to all London boroughs, funded by 20-21 VRU Mayoral growth funding.

• £160k in 20/21 for the re-engagement through sport project ‘Open Doors London’, via a Service Level Agreement with the GLA Sports Team, funded by 20-21 VRU Mayoral growth funding.

• £700k of 21/22 Mayoral growth funding to be drawn down from reserves and added to the existing approved Afterschool Provision Programme (adding to the existing core budget of £680k, approved as per DMPC decision PCD 673), resulting in a total of £1.38m (£345k in 20/21; £1.035m in 21/22). This will be allocated via a competitive grants process, facilitated by a managing agent, as per Recommendation 2.

2. Allocation of up to 10 percent of the overall funding for the Afterschool Provision programme (£1.38m) to engage a grants management organisation to facilitate the programme delivery, through a competitive tender process.

3. In total, as per the above profiling, of the £2.38m 20/21 existing commissioning budget, carry-forward £1.665m into next financial year to ensure funding for the duration of the programmes, which span into FY 21-22.

1. Introduction and background

The Government’s Serious Violence Strategy 2018 identified truancy and exclusion as one of the risk factors for serious violence. It also referred to evidence that children excluded from school are overrepresented in young offender populations and that they are also overrepresented as victims of serious violence. Furthermore, a considerable amount of research which identifies the poor outcomes for young people who have been excluded from school and the high proportion of young people with exclusions who enter the criminal justice system.

1.1 The total programme budget of £2.38m is divided into the following three key project strands, which are detailed in section 2.3 below.

Tabel 1. Allocated Funding Table

1.2 This will run for a twelve-month period from mid-FY 20-21 into mid-FY 21-22.

2 Context

2.1 PRUs and alternative provision play a vital role in supporting vulnerable young Londoners to stay in education, thereby increasing their educational outcomes, wellbeing and mental health and future employability options. Over the last nine months the VRU have visited, spoken and consulted with PRU head teachers and practitioners as well as policy partners who work to establish best practice in PRUs/AP; PRU career advisors and several GLA teams to hear their concerns, issues and views. It was important to hear their views on how to improve the service they provide to some of London’s most vulnerable children particularly during this challenging time, and how the VRU can support the work they do. The strands of funded work proposed have been derived from such consultations. For example:

• Both the VRU’s evidence base and our network of PRUs told us that the period between 3pm and 7pm can be a high-risk time for many students and having somewhere to go and something to do would lower that risk considerably. In response, the VRU is now funding (£560K) PRUs across 16 priority boroughs to provide afterschool activities.

• Good practice is happening all over London in PRUs and this needs to be shared so that other PRUs facing similar challenges can learn about what is working well for others. The VRU, with its regional role in London, is well placed to be a platform to share this learning and good practice across the capital. Between July and December 2020, The Difference, an organisation that works to improve education for the most vulnerable learners, will organise a programme of good practice sharing seminars for the VRU.

2.2 This proposed programme will support some of London’s most vulnerable young people to stay in school and stay safe.

2.3 The following strands of work will be funded in this programme:

1. PRU Mentoring and Careers Advice: £860k in FY2020/21 and 21/22

Mentoring

Although practiced in diverse ways, by different adults in different roles across PRUs/APs, mentoring is repeatedly mentioned as a necessary resource, recognising that for many young people, that consistent one-to-one relationship with a responsible, accessible, approachable adult enables them to keep on track with their studies, behaviour and attendance. It is worth noting that not every child in every PRU in London has a mentor as PRUs have different models of support. Possible models of mentoring that PRUs have highlighted include:

• Career mentoring: Career mentors from all walks of life are key to opening up options for pupils. This is especially true for girls.

• Academic mentors: (as opposed to tutors) support the career options development of a pupil.

• Parent mentors/liaison: preferably out in the community, visiting people in their homes to build a supportive relationship.

• Out-reach/engagement/general mentoring: Outreach to pupils to re-engage them and convince them to re-enrol/re-engage.

The VRU is proposing to fund all of the above types of mentoring-based activity and will leave it to the individual PRUs to select the most appropriate one(s) based on their specific need or requirements and funding available (£27k per borough).

Careers Advice in PRUs

Though yet uncertain, it is likely that young people’s post-16 choices in London will be significantly impacted upon by COVID-19. Youth unemployment is set to rise with many companies postponing or cancelling their apprenticeship and graduate schemes. There is also evidence that double the proportion of young people have lost work or been furloughed as a result of COVID-19 compared to older aged groups.

PRUs have expressed concern around Year 11 and their transition to post-16 learning, training or earning and those who have the resources plan to provide transition mentoring over the summer months to Year 11s. At a recent event on career advice in PRUs, career advisers in PRUs outlined the challenges of getting the right advice to the young people who need it at the moment. The recent Dept. for Education additional transition support for Year 11 (£750 per pupil) is a good start but not enough for the intense support teachers believe is required. This identified need for career advice can be met by career mentors as part of this mentoring programme.

2. Funding for community-led organisations to provide after-school activities for young people at risk of violence or vulnerability £1.38m

The Unit values the work of the community grassroots sector in supporting young people who are at risk of violence. These organisations can reach young people in their communities, providing them with confidence, skills, opportunities and support. This new targeted afterschool fund will work with grassroots organisations to deliver this programme.

It is proposed to increase this programme by £700k (from 21-22 Mayoral growth funding), resulting in a total of £1.38m. Funding for this afterschool provision has been previously approved in DMPC 673. It is the intention that this funding will be managed by an external managing agent. Therefore, up to 10 percent of this funding will be used to engage a grants management organisation to facilitate the programme delivery through a competitive tender process.

3. ‘Open Doors London’ – using sport to re-engage Year 10 and 11 pupils: £160k in FY 2020-21

Various PRUs have raised their concerns around re-engaging young people over the summer months in the run up to the return to fulltime education in the autumn, but also during the school holiday throughout this academic year.

The VRU will therefore fund, via the GLA Sports Team, ‘Open Doors London’ – a partnership between the GLA and VRU, ukactive and Sported that will deliver a school holiday(s) programme (Aug 2020 - Mar 2021) of sport-based intervention and associated mentoring within selected PRUs/APs in Brent, Newham, Croydon, Lambeth. These boroughs were identified through ukactive mapping of the following data indicators: childhood obesity stats; youth crime; child poverty; free school meals; inactivity; vulnerability; exclusion rates per borough; food bank usage per borough combined with ukactive and sported school and delivery partner links.

‘Open Doors London’ will (re)engage and divert from crime and anti-social behaviour the most vulnerable young people in selected PRUs/APs. ‘Open Doors London’ will provide activity and associated support services during school holidays, using sport as an intervention. This engagement, enhanced diversion and support will benefit vulnerable young people most affected by COVID19.

Currently, the VRU has allocated £500K to youth organisations across London via the Community Response Fund to help engage young people in London over the summer. This programme will support that effort by continuing to engage those at risk of disengaging with education throughout the coming school year.

3 Issues for consideration

3.1 A key focus of the VRU’s Education programme is prioritising wellbeing and achievement in schools.

3.2 The VRU’s Education Programme is currently delivering the ‘Supporting Inclusive Schools’ programme; offering four different but complimentary projects to 16 priority boroughs: The four projects offered to boroughs focus on (i) promoting healthy relationships to tackle domestic/gender based violence (ii) supporting the sometimes-difficult transition from primary to secondary school, (iii) creating a nurturing whole-school environment that can help reduce the challenging behaviour which often prevents a child from reaching their full potential in school/PRU and (iv) funding for PRU afterschool provision to keep young, vulnerable people safe and occupied in the key period between 3pm and 7pm on a school day.

4 Financial Comments

4.1 The budget requirement for this work totals £2.38m across two financial years (FY 20-21 and FY 21-22). This includes a further £700k allocated to the community-led after school provision from the growth funding allocated by the Mayor for 2021/22. The programme will be funded from previously approved funding (see table in 4.3 for details).

4.2 This proposal requests of the £1.68m existing budget this financial year, £1.665m is carried forward into 21/22 to ensure funding is available for the duration of the programmes.

4.3 The profiling is as per below, along with funding sources.

5 Legal Comments

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 bids for grant funding made and all offers made of grant funding; and/or where appropriate a strategy for grant giving.

• Approve the strategy for the award of individual grants and/ or the award of all individual grants whether to secure or contribute to securing crime reduction in London or for other purposes.

6 Commercial/Grant Award Issues

The table below outlines how each element will be commissioned.

Note: Please see Annex 1 for alignment with VRU strategy and objectives.

7 Public Health Approach

7.1 Evidence-based practice is fundamental to the implementation of a public health approach to reducing violence. Therefore, more research including the gather of good practice and ‘what works’ is required to deepen and broaden the evidence base around reducing school exclusions in London.

7.2 Evaluation of good practice to answer the question ‘what works and for whom?’ which must also happen before policy and programmes can be effectively scaled up and sustained to contribute to population level outcomes (a core requirement for public health programmes).

7.3 This programme of work has been informed by discussions and feedback from

- Head (and Assistant Head) teachers in PRUs in London

- Practitioners and policy partners who work to establish best practice in PRUs/AP

- PRU career advisors

- External organisations who work with vulnerable young people

- GLAs teams: Sports Team, Team London, Skills team, Education and Youth Team/Peer Outreach team

8 GDPR and Data Privacy

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.

9 Equality Comments

9.1 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.

9.2 In 2017/18 the rate of permanent exclusions represented just under one-fifth of one percent of the total of London secondary school pupils. While fixed-period exclusions are more common, less than five percent of pupils received such an exclusion in 2017/18. But it is worth noting that rates of both permanent and fixed-term exclusions in London are lower than the national average.

9.3 We also know that certain groups are disproportionately excluded from school. In terms of the rates of pupils with one or more fixed-period exclusion, the rates were highest among Black pupils and lowest among Asian pupils. Pupils eligible for Free School Meals (FSM) make up 33.5% of permanent exclusions despite only being 15.9% of the student population.

9.4 Off-rolling to removal of pupils illegally or inappropriately is also a growing concern. A lack of public data means that there are no accurate figures on off-rolling or managed moves. I welcome the research from the Education Policy Institute which interrogates available data. Their updated October 2019 publication found as many as 1 in 10 pupils out of the national cohort who sat their GCSE in 2017 experienced an ‘unexplained exit’ at some point during their secondary school career.

9.5 Croydon’s Vulnerable Adolescent Review found that exclusion from school was a common factor in the most vulnerable young people in the borough. All of those excluded from primary school went on to be involved in the criminal justice system. Exclusion from school is one of several adverse childhood experiences which can increase the likelihood of being involved in or affected by violence in later life.

9.6 Reducing the number of children excluded or going missing inappropriately from education by supporting an inclusive schools approach is an integral part of the VRU programme.

9.7 So the evidence does show that the most vulnerable children in society are more likely to be either permanently excluded or not attending school. We also know that truancy and exclusion are risk factors in serious violence. Early intervention and support for vulnerable young people both in and out of school is needed.

9.8 Initial screening for equality impact has taken place and it was established that a full EQIA was not required.