Health Inequalities Strategy Implementation Plan Commitments 2021-24

The Mayor and London partners will work together to:

• Raise awareness about a range of childcare offers amongst London parents of under-fives by running a city-wide campaign and working with London businesses to help employees understand childcare offers - creating a best practice toolkit on how to effectively raise awareness of childcare offers
• Support parents to gain skills, access childcare entitlements and find and progress in good work through the European Social Fund and the Parental Employment Programme.
• Share insights that can support best practice from London’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) funded innovation projects on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), with a focus on children who have experienced domestic abuse.
• Convene partners to consider the implications of the National Child Mortality and Social Deprivation Report.
• Support the NHS London Immunisation Strategy through Talk London and other engagement channels to help reach communities where uptake is currently low.
• Build on several pilot projects in London’s boroughs to develop a joint commitment to expanding Social Prescribing for Children and Young People. This cross-sector strategic partnership work, led by Healthy London Partnership (HLP), includes NHS London, the GLA, London Plus, Partnership for Young London and London’s local authorities.
• Deliver the Healthy Place, Healthy Weight Mission, that includes support for infant feeding including breastfeeding, ensuring mothers, parents and carers of new-borns feel well informed, supported and empowered to make healthy decisions about how they are fed.

The Mayor and London partners will work together to:

• Convene boroughs, NHS and education partners to consider recommendations from the London’s local government Sector Led Improvement review into children’s services on improving systems-wide working to ensure services are harmonised and child centred.
• Support the NHS to deliver the London Immunisation Strategy, prioritising immunisations for children in those communities where uptake has traditionally been low.
• Continue to support and encourage early years settings and schools to adopt healthy practices and support healthy learning environments through joining the successful Healthy Early Years London and Healthy Schools London programmes. The Mayor and partners will target this engagement at settings where children and families that would benefit most from them.
• Support access to high quality early education and childcare by investing in sector-specific early years business support for up to 2,500 nurseries and childminders through the London Business Hub.
• Support high quality relationship and sex education in schools, through partnership programmes such as Healthy Schools London and Stepping Stones, and through the Young Londoner Fund support projects which are raising awareness of healthy relationships.
• Promote inclusivity, encourage healthy relationships and nurture resilience in children who are most at risk of being impacted by violence, specifically domestic violence, through VRU funded schools-based programmes.
• Support the Mayor’s recently launched London Schools Pollution Helpdesk, which offers free advice and support to schools and local authorities that are interested in taking action to reduce emissions and children’s exposure to air pollution.

The Mayor and London partners will work together to:

• Deliver the Healthy Place, Healthy Weight Mission including:
  • Delivering up to 50 School Superzones across the capital by 2025. The expansion of the programme will start with supporting Superzones established in the 13 pilot boroughs to develop further and progress their action plans. The offer will then be opened up to all boroughs whilst prioritising areas of higher deprivation.
  • Continue the roll out of water only schools across London, ensuring that London’s schools are healthy environments to learn and play.

  • Increasing healthier options in convenience stores and food businesses and promoting urban food growing.

  • Promoting whole systems approaches, in which everyone has a part to play, to tackling overweight and obesity, and advocating for community centred approaches that will help build on the particular strengths of communities and ensure that the mission activities and other work reflect local realities.

• Further, the Mayor and London partners will share learning from the Transport for London advertising restrictions on food and drink high in fat, salt and sugar, to encourage others to apply the policy to other advertising places and spaces across London.

• The London’s Child Obesity Taskforce, whose term will end in November 2021, will produce a report providing an overview of action since the ‘Every Child a Healthy Weight – Ten Ambitions for London’ was published in 2019. Discussions to explore a future role for members, to continue to support and advise on work relating to child obesity, are underway.

The Mayor and London partners will work together to deliver:

• The New Deal for Young People Mission which commits partners to improving opportunities and life chances for young Londoners by pledging that by 2024 young Londoners most in need will have access to a personal mentor and all young Londoners will have access to quality local youth activities. This will be achieved by:
  • enabling more young people in need to benefit from quality mentoring and youth activities
  • improving the quality of mentoring by building capacity of the youth sector
  • increasing strategic investment in London’s youth and mentoring activities
  • empowering system change and sustainability within the youth sector
• Further the Mayor and London partners will support the NHS to continue its targeted action for children and young people with asthma, through initiatives such as the #AskAboutAsthma campaign and implementing the National Asthma Bundle of Care.

The Mayor working with Thrive LDN and other partners will:

• Continue to champion the Mayoral funded Bereavement Support Programme for Londoners by supporting a public awareness campaign, associated training and resources.
• Evaluate the three year Youth Mental Health First Aid in schools programme, funded by the Mayor. This has delivered over 3,600 training sessions for educational and youth sector staff.
• Work with the charity Mind to develop peer-to-peer networks aimed at supporting people with lived experience of mental ill health.
• Deliver a series of cultural programmes, funded in partnership with the Baring Foundation to support children and young people’s mental health.
• Incorporate measures on health and wellbeing into measuring the impact of London’s Adult Education Budget (AEB) through the London Learner Survey and long-term impact evaluation.
• Work with Adult Education providers and the Association of Colleges to support stronger links to mental health services and support, including via social prescribing.
• Take forward actions from the Public Mental Health Review, conducted by Thrive LDN. The Review’s action plan encourages public mental health partners across London to focus on advancing equity and reducing mental health inequalities for Londoners.
• The VRU will continue to deliver the Therapeutic Intervention for Peace pilot programme taking a ‘whole-school approach’ to provide a culturally competent, co-designed, therapeutic service working with young people who have experienced trauma and are at risk of exclusion.
• The VRU will roll out “Your Choice” across all London Boroughs, in collaboration with Directors of Children’s Services, CAMHS providers and the NHS Violence Reduction Programme. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is provided as part of a high intensity intervention to children at greatest risk and will be accessed by 500 young people across London by 2022. This is fully funded by the Home Office (for 2020/21).

Other pan-London work led by partners includes:

• The Office of Health Improvement and Disparities’ (OHID) Prevention and Promotion Fund for Better Mental Health 2021-22 will support 11 London boroughs to develop prevention focussed approaches to improving mental health in their communities.

The Mayor will work with Thrive LDN and other partners to deliver activity for London including:

• Through the Mayor’s Resilience Fund, support the winner of the Bereavement Services Challenge to develop solutions to improve bereavement support services for underrepresented communities.
• Continue to take opportunities, such as World Mental Health Day and Mental Health Awareness Week to discuss mental health publicly and encourage others to do the same.
• Build on existing digital mental health infrastructure to create a single point of access for wellbeing promotion and mental health support.

Other pan-London work led by partners includes:

• The NHS will continue to protect the most vulnerable from COVID-19, including ensuring that those with Severe Mental Illness and those who are homeless with mental health issues have had the opportunity to receive their COVID vaccine.
• The NHS will improve uptake of annual physical health checks for those with Severe and Enduring Mental Illness and ensuring positive interventions are offered in those areas that most impact on health inequalities such as smoking.
• Restore NHS services inclusively, including resuming a face-to-face offer for all mental health services to support patient choice whilst meeting Infection, Prevention and Control guidelines.
• Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) and mental health trusts will develop plans to address digital inequalities.
• Take action to progress the NHS’ Advancing Mental Health Equalities Strategy.
• The NHS will improve data collection within the Mental Health Services Data Set to inform initiatives and progress on tackling health inequalities.

The Mayor will work with Thrive LDN and other partners to deliver activity for London to:

• Provide £100,000 funding for the Right to Thrive Innovation Fund, supporting community mental health projects for Londoners who experience discrimination.
• Deliver an annual, young-Londoner led World Mental Health Day festival, raising awareness of mental health, reducing stigma and encouraging peer support.
• Run mental health campaigns throughout the year at key times including Mental Health Awareness Week, Creativity and Wellbeing week and #ZeroSuicideLDN.
• Raise awareness and understanding amongst Londoners of the factors which influence mental health and wellbeing through a resource library and campaign.

Other pan-London work led by partners includes:

• In partnership with London’s local authorities, Good Thinking will continue to produce culturally competent resources to meet complex issues such as trauma and bereavement.
• The NHS will build peer support roles and career pathways for those with lived experience through service transformation opportunities such as the Community Mental Health Framework for Adults and Older Adults.
• As part of their strategy to advance mental health equalities, the NHS are rolling out the Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework to improve access, experience, and outcomes for BAME communities.
• Boroughs and their partners will seed creative health and wellbeing programming within the London Borough of Culture’s programme for 2022 (Lewisham) and 2023 (Croydon).

The Mayor will work with partners to:

• Help businesses to promote good mental health in the workplace, by using the Good Work Standard to set the benchmark for good, health-promoting, work and to drive up workplace standards.
• Convene further education and other partners to share recommendations from GLA commissioned reports on mental health needs of the sector.
• Continue to promote the Mayoral funded and NHS led Coping Well During Covid webinars, designed to support Londoners deal with some of the wider impacts of the pandemic.

Other pan-London work led by partners includes:

• Mind in London will continue working across their 18 local branches to both promote and protect mental health in the workplace
• Good Thinking will continue to develop its digital wellbeing support offer for Londoners, including providing targeted advice for employers and employees.
• Sub-regional partnerships will continue to manage key delegated employment schemes such as the Work and Health Programme and integrate these with local services including mental health services.
• Mental health and wellbeing hubs for health and care staff in every London ICS area providing rapid access to assessment and evidence-based mental health services and support where needed.

The Mayor will work with Thrive LDN and other partners to:

• Support the #ZeroSuicideLDN campaign to go even further by endorsing Thrive LDN’s new target of 500,000 Londoners taking the free training and developing the skills and confidence to identify warning signs and feel comfortable having conversations about suicide.

Other pan-London work led by partners includes:

• OHID will support local authorities to adopt the Prevention Concordat for Better Mental Health and to develop and implement their local suicide prevention plans.

• London’s multi-agency Suicide Prevention Group will continue to take a cross-sector and innovative approach to developing pan-London prevention projects. These include London’s Real Time Surveillance System (RTSS), suicide prevention education, suicide bereavement support and support for witnesses of suicide. Their suicide prevention priorities for 2022-23 include self-harm pathways post-discharge, reducing access to medication as a means, and online access to lethal means.

To deliver the expanded scope of the Key Commitment that now addresses the twin dangers of air pollution and climate change, this objective will also seek to ensure London’s carbon emissions are reduced so that fewer Londoners are exposed to climate risks, particularly the most vulnerable. The Mayor, working with partners through the Green New Deal mission will:

• Expand the ULEZ on 25 October 2021 to ensure London meets legal limits for NO2 by 2025 at the latest and bring the health benefits of cleaner air to millions more people both inside and outside the new zone.

• Support boroughs to implement local zero emission zones in town centres from 2020 and aim to deliver a central London zero emission zone from 2025.

• Seek to ensure TfL’s goal of a zero-emission bus fleet in London is achieved by 2034, three years earlier than previously planned.

• Support the decarbonisation of road transport primarily through mode shift (increasing walking and cycling) and electrification, such as through London’s 2030 Electric Vehicle (EV) Infrastructure Strategy.

• Support the development of area-based programmes, such as Future Neighbourhoods 2030 to exemplify integrated ways to tackle some of London’s defining environmental challenges, including the climate and ecological emergencies and toxic air quality, whilst creating jobs, developing skills and supporting a just transition to a low carbon circular economy.

• Accelerate the scale up retrofit action on homes and workplaces across London to support improvements to air quality and reducing exposure to outdoor air pollution, work to a net zero carbon city and reduce energy bills.

In addition, the Mayor will:

• Review the Mayor’s Air Quality Alerts system to increase its use by those most at risk from the impacts of air pollution.

• Empower school communities, through the London Schools Pollution Helpdesk and the Schools and Nurseries Air Quality Forum, to take action on air quality and reduce emissions and exposure for children, prioritising the remaining schools located in areas that exceed legal limits for air pollution.

• Continue to engage schools who have Breathe London sensors, to help them engage young people in tackling air pollution and make interventions based on their sensor data.

• Support community groups through the Breathe London Community Programme, to apply for a free sensor, enabling them to monitor air pollution, make interventions or campaign for change.

• Continue to work closely with national and local government and the health and care sector to take forward action in response to the Coroner’s Prevention of Future Deaths report that followed the inquest into the death of Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, and to raise awareness of the health impacts of air pollution and help Londoners reduce their exposure to it.

• Using the London Plan 2021 to reduce exposure to existing poor air quality through design and mitigation strategies.

• As Chair of the C40 Cities network (elected in November 2021) representing nearly 100 cities from around the world, ensure action to tackle the twin dangers of air pollution and the climate emergency are prioritised whilst delivering a green and fair recovery from the pandemic.

Other pan-London work led by partners includes:

• Boroughs will continue to deliver commitments and actions set out in their Air Quality Action Plans to improve air quality.

• London Councils’ Environment Directors Network (LEDNet) and Association of Directors of Public Health (ADPH) will continue to support and promote the recommendations set out in their Joint Position Statement on cleaning up London’s air.

• NHS has committed to tackling climate change and reducing emissions to ‘net zero’ with the aim of being the world’s first 'net zero' national health service. The NHS will also work to reduce air pollution from all sources and cut business mileages and fleet air pollutant emissions by 20% by 2023/24.

• ADPHL climate change emergency declaration and joint position statement on addressing the negative impacts of air pollution.

The Mayor and partners, in particular London boroughs, will work to implement the health and wellbeing provisions of the London Plan 2021:

• Promote healthy lives, support preventative health measures and create healthier environments through, for example, supporting increased use of active modes of transport (walking and cycling) and public transport, Healthy Streets, access to social infrastructure, including public toilets, and affordable sustainable housing.

• Reduce the exposure to poor air quality, minimise the risks and impacts of climate change, and support urban greening.

• Strengthen action taken to mitigate any potential negative impacts and maximise potential positive impacts of development and growth on health and health inequalities.

• Ensure Good Growth and the prioritisation of health in London’s planning decisions including achieving safe, secure and inclusive environments.

• Encourage London boroughs to work with stakeholders and account for priorities and actions relating to health inequalities when preparing Development Plans.

Other pan-London work led by partners includes:

• London boroughs will deliver frameworks, supported by the GLA and London Plan, that promote inclusive neighbourhoods and manage clusters of retail and associated uses, having regard to their positive and negative impacts on mental and physical health and wellbeing.

Other partnership action:

• In North West London, Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation (OPDC) was set up by the Mayor to manage the UK’s largest regeneration project which covers parts of the three London boroughs of Ealing, Brent and Hammersmith & Fulham. OPDC is working in partnership with the boroughs to build in health and wellbeing from the outset. The Healthy Streets Approach is being championed within OPDC’s Local Plan to maximise walking and cycling and create green and welcoming streets. Further work is also being progressed to embed additional Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion considerations in planning guidance to deliver an equitable built environment. OPDC is working closely with partners to secure a range of high-quality social infrastructure facilities for existing and new residents and workers, including partnership work with health and care partners to plan the delivery of health and care facilities.

The Mayor and partners, including the NHS, London boroughs and working through TfL in particular, will protect, enhance and expand London’s green space as part of the London Recovery Board’s Green New Deal Mission by:

• Ensuring that Londoners live no more than a 10-minute walk from green space, more than 50 per cent of London’s area will be green and London’s tree canopy cover will increase by 10 per cent by 2050.

• Working through TfL and support London boroughs to increase street greening, including measures to increase shade and reduce flooding, as part of the Healthy Streets Approach.

• Using the London Plan 2021 to protect London’s network of green and open spaces and support the creation of new open spaces and other urban greening, especially in areas where there is a shortage.

• Working to reduce health inequalities through green infrastructure and climate resilience funding programmes that focus on supporting projects in areas with poor access to green space and high vulnerability to the impacts of climate change. E.g. Grow Back Greener and Green and Resilient Spaces.

The Mayor will work with communities and partners including boroughs, business, faith groups, schools and cultural institutions to make London a more climate resilient city. Together they will:

• Use London’s Climate Risk Maps to deliver equitable responses to the impacts of climate change and target resources to support communities at highest risk.

• Ensure Londoners are aware and can prepare, respond to, and recover from the impacts of flooding and extreme heat and cold events in London.

• Ensure critical infrastructure providers are aware of the impacts of increased temperatures and the Urban Heat Island, to protect health and reduce health inequalities.

Reduce the risks and impacts of flooding in London by:

• Implementing the London Plan 2021 policies.

• Developing community led climate adaptation projects in areas of climate vulnerability.

• Working with flood risk management authorities to prepare, respond to and recover from flooding.

• Delivering climate adaptation measures, adaptation plans and an education programme to schools at highest climate risk and surface water flood risk in London.

Minimise the risk of overheating in London by:

• Implementing the London Plan 2021 policies.

• Working with key delivery partners to provide Cool Spaces and to embed the Healthy Streets Approach to reduce impacts of heat on the streets.

Other pan-London work led by partners includes:

• All London NHS Trusts and Integrated Care Systems will publish ‘green plans’ in Spring 2022.

The Mayor and London partners will work together to:

• Deliver the Robust Safety Net Mission to build a genuinely robust safety net. This will ensure that, by 2025, every Londoner can access the support they need to avoid or alleviate financial hardship. Actions will include:

• Developing a consistent approach to local welfare provision amongst all boroughs and making the case to central Government for sustained investment.

• Scaling up work to embed advice and support services in community settings (including linking to health settings through social prescribing)

• Improving the strategic coordination of advice and support services across London.

• Support Londoners experiencing financial hardship to get the advice and support they need to understand, claim or enforce their financial rights and entitlements. This will include:

  • Funding a diverse range of partnerships to embed social welfare legal advice services in community locations such as schools, food banks, and children’s centres, and supporting these to link into health the system through social prescribing

  • Continuing to update, refine and promote the Mayor’s Employment Rights Hub.

  • Commission research and analysis to understand the impact of the pandemic on low-income households and levels of poverty in London.

• Continue to support action on fuel poverty and its impact on vulnerable Londoners by:

  • Working with boroughs, government and energy companies to increase the energy efficiency of London’s homes so they are better insulated and use less energy.

  • Ensuring Londoners in fuel poverty are able to access fairer energy tariffs. 

• Health and social care partners will work with the GLA to target retrofit interventions at those at greatest health risk, including building a single Warmer Homes referral portal for health services in London.

• Supporting access to advice on warmer homes and saving energy through the Mayor’s Warmer Homes Advice Service.

The Mayor and London Recovery Board partners will:

• Deliver the London Economic Framework’s five pillars for action – Jobs, Business, Thriving Neighbourhoods, Connected City and Global London with building the green economy and narrowing social, economic and health inequalities as cross-cutting themes.

• Deliver the Good Work mission that will support Londoners into good jobs with a focus on sectors key to London's recovery. Specifically, partners will:

• Launch the No Wrong Door programme, GLA, London’s boroughs, Job Centre Plus and other partners will coordinate their services to help Londoners, employers and other stakeholders to be referred to, and access, information, advice and support services that are right for them. Hubs will be implemented from March 2022.

• Provide skills support for Londoners most impacted by the pandemic, helping them find jobs in key sectors such as digital and green industries, health and social care and our creative and cultural industries through the AEB, including the £32m

• Implement the London Anchor Institutions Charter to ensure that the city’s biggest organisations use their recruitment and procurement power to maximise employment opportunities and help young people to flourish.

• Promoting the Mayor’s Good Work Standard as the benchmark for good employment standards and increasing the number of accredited employers including targeting uptake of the Good Work Standard in specific sectors including micro-businesses, on-demand (gig/ freelance), fashion and creative industries.

• Develop and launch a Charter for Gig Economy Workers to help drive-up employment standards building on similar principles to the Good Work Standard.

• Establish sector-specific skills academies to help Londoners get the skills they need to work in industries key to London’s recovery, including the green economy, digital, hospitality, health and social care and creative industries.

• Announce the Living Wage each year and take action across the GLA Group in support of the Living Wage campaign by:

  • Ensuring GLA group employees are paid the London Living Wage and continue to ensure contract terms are included across all appropriate GLA Group contracts through the GLA Group Responsible Procurement policy.

  • Becoming a Living Wage Funder, to ensure the GLA’s grant making also supports fair pay.

  • Continue to publish gender and ethnicity pay audits and have action plans in place across the GLA Group that will end those gaps and extend these to include disability pay audits.

• The Mayor will lead the campaign to make London a Living Wage City, targeting accreditation of an additional 1,600 employers, lifting at least 48,000 people onto the real Living Wage and putting £635m in Londoners’ pay packets by 2024.This programme is administered by London Citizens and the Living Wage Foundation, with substantial funding from Trust for London. The Living Wage Foundation are the accrediting body for Living Wage employers. Mayoral activity will include:
  • Co-chair the pan-London Steering Group for the programme

  • Work with partners to develop individual action strands with focus on particular sections of London’s economy characterised by low-pay, bringing together employers, worker groups, unions and community groups in focused action. Action strands and their early goals will be defined in early 2022.

  • Lead by example to ensure that all GLA group functional bodies are accredited with the Living Wage Foundation, and all workers on GLA contracts are paid the London Living Wage.

• The GLA will take steps to formally become a Living Hours employer by 2024. The campaign recognises the well-being impact of insecure employment. It requires Living Wage employers to commit to provide workers with at least four weeks’ notice of shifts, a contract that accurately reflects hours worked, and a contract with a guaranteed minimum of 16 hours a week.

Other action:

• London’s NHS and London’s Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) has established the NHS Anchor Systems Network to encourage and support uptake of the London Living Wage and Good Work Standard into procurement processes and supply chains.

The Mayor working with local councils, housing associations and developers will:

• Deliver £4 billion Affordable Homes Programme for 2021-2026.

• 79,000 new homes from 2021 onwards across the 2021-2026 and 2016-23 AHPs.

• Over 50% of funding for homes set at social rent levels.

• Ensure these homes exhibit high-quality design.

• Deliver affordable specialist and supported housing for older Londoners and older Londoners and adults with disabilities, including through the £43.5 million new funding for his Care and Support Specialist Housing (CASSH) programme in 2021-22.

• Ensure that all victims/survivors of domestic abuse, including children, are able to access and be supported by safe accommodation-based services, tailored to their needs - through the Mayor’s new duties under Part 4 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021.

• Continue to address fuel poverty through the warmer homes advice service and warmer homes grants.

• Continue to fight for an overhaul of legal protections for renters, to increase security, stability and affordability in the private rented sector, and for London to have the powers to establish a system of private sector rent control.

• Continue to lobby government to devolve the power to approve requests from local authorities to introduce landlord licensing schemes, for a national landlord register and for a proper registration scheme for short-lets.

The Mayor will work with London partners including local authorities and central government to:

• Maximise opportunities to reduce health inequalities through the London Recovery programme, particularly the Robust Safety Net Mission.

• Illustrate the potential health impact of opportunities through the Renters Reform Bill, and to highlight good practice in preventing evictions; and

• Increase referrals from the NHS into the Warmer Homes Advice service.

The Mayor will continue to work to work with partners to make rough sleeping in London rare, brief and non-recurrent. He will continue to: 

• Provide leadership/ coordination, in partnership with boroughs, the NHS, charities and other stakeholders, through the refreshed Life off the Streets Core Group and Executive Board. This will include agreeing and overseeing the implementation of a Life off the Streets multi-agency rough sleeping work programme for London. 
• Commission and grant fund Mayoral core pan-London services, aiming to ensure that at least 80 per cent of rough sleepers who engage with Mayoral services exit rough sleeping.
• Take action to meet the aims set out in the London Health and Care Vision, that no rough sleepers die on the street and there is equal and fair access to healthcare for those who are homeless.
• Seek integrated solutions at local, borough ICS and regional geographies.

The Mayor and London partners will work together to:

• Develop the Civic Strength Index as a tool to support boroughs, communities and partners to better understand the mix of civic strength within their areas and across London supporting community engagement and connecting diverse communities to policy makers to ensure their voices are at the heart of the policy and decision-making process – building on the community recovery stories and the Festival of Ideas. (Building Stronger Communities Recovery Mission).

• Continue to work with MOPAC’s commissioned services to ensure that victims and survivors of violence against women and girls (VAWG) and other crimes are able to cope, recover and thrive playing an active role in their communities.

• Support and champion Age Friendly London and bring greater coordination to the GLA’s work supporting older Londoners as well as supporting the involvement and engagement of older people.

• Deliver the Dementia Friendly London programme, working in partnership with Alzheimer’s Society and partners activity, which includes the Dementia Friendly Venue Charter and supporting a best practice network (Healthy Places and Healthy Minds Recovery Missions). Through the commitments of the London Health and Care Vision, partners will work together to support Londoners with dementia to live well.

• Team London programmes, promoting the benefits of volunteering and participation. (Building Stronger Communities Recovery Mission).

• Pilot a Creative Health and Wellbeing Zone with a range of VCSE and health partners to hardwire culture into city life through health, establishing London as the first Creative Health City. Boroughs and their partners will seed creative health and wellbeing programming within the London Borough of Culture’s programme for 2022 (Lewisham) and 2023 (Croydon).

Other pan-London work led by partners includes:

Work led by TfL to:

• improve accessibility of public transport for all Londoners and continue to deliver Healthy Streets that encourage walking and cycling for all, whilst making streets feel safer from crime and collisions through inclusive street design.

• help to tackle hate crime and unwanted sexual behaviour on the network by providing training for TfL staff to deal with incidents accordingly.

• continue to ensure taxis and private hire vehicles are as safe as possible and partner with domestic abuse refuge provider Hestia, to explore how victims of abuse can seek support as part of their regular journeys on London’s transport network. 

• London Fire Brigade will explore further the role of the fire sector can play in health and care partnerships, particularly social care and mental health. This will harness the role of the London Fire Brigade to engage communities in a trusted manner to aid the prevention of fires and harm caused from them, and wider risks including promoting road and water safety. This will include working with partners to identify vulnerable residents who would benefit from fire safety measures.

Activities under this objective also relate to work led by the Mayor and partners to develop and deliver the Key Commitment:

• The London Recovery Board’s Addressing Structural Inequalities sub-group work to develop a vision statement and action plans (to be published in early 2022). This will include a specific focus on Black, Asian and minority ethnic Londoners and equitable delivery of public services, reflecting on the mistrust identified through the pandemic.

• The Health Equity Group ensuring that priority actions in the Beyond the Data One Year On review are progressed through partners’ strategies and work programmes. This will include focused work with community, faith and voluntary partners on addressing racism as a public health issue.

• The Mayoral funded ‘community development for health’ masterclasses programme seeking to build capacity for community-centred, asset-based approaches to tackling health inequalities across the city. This will build on the insights and new ways to engage with London’s communities developed during the pandemic. Further community of practice networks will be developed to support Healthy Food and Healthy Weight, Mental Health and Wellbeing and Building Stronger Communities missions.

• The pan-London partnership support for the development and implementation of a London offer to local areas to develop Health Community Champions models.

In addition, the Mayor and London partners will work together to:

• Work through the Violence Reduction Unit with community groups across London, giving them the tools and resources to deliver change in their local areas. Examples include the My Ends targeted place-based interventions, and grants for grassroots groups for violence prevention.

• Remove barriers for migrant Londoners’ health to increase trust and confidence in public institutions and oppose the mobilisation of NHS staff as border guards. This will include working with government, London Strategic Migration Partnership and the Civil Society Forum on access to health, vaccinations and GP registration, establishing cross-agency working, continuing the successful approach developed with the London Asylum Healthcare task and finish group.

• Co-ordinate the essential information resources and translations for migrants, refugees and the most recent Afghan arrivals.

• ICSs continue to work with boroughs and VCSE to ensure meaningful routes to the vaccine, booster and flu jab are available and communicated to Londoners who are not registered with a GP., partners co-ordinate the essential information resources and translations for migrants, refugees and the most recent Afghan arrivals.

• The Refugee Council support GPs providing care for people in the Asylum Process by providing bespoke training in trauma informed care.

• Doctors of the World continue to deliver Safe Surgeries support to GPs practices including hosting a training session for practices supporting people accommodated in temporary Home Office accommodation.

The Mayor and London partners – in particular through the London Social Prescribing Partnership Group - will:

• The Mayor will continue to fund London Plus to deliver the voluntary and community sector Social Prescribing Network to support the sector to play an equal role in social prescribing in London.

• The Mayor will fund activity to support social welfare advice (SWLA) and health collaboration with health justice awareness training for link workers and health partners working with the Mayor’s SWLA partnerships and develop new collaborative funding and commissioning approaches – part of the Robust Safety Net recovery mission.

• Healthy London Partnership will lead a programme of work, championed by London clinical leads, to explore joint funded community chests micro grants to fund FVCS and community development projects for social prescribing activity meeting local needs.

• Healthy London Partnership and NHS London will work together to build the frontline social prescribing workforce, supporting the growth of emerging specialisms, such as SWLA, children and young people and mental health and the introduction of link workers outside of primary care.

• The VRU is funding social prescribing models for young people who are impacted by violence, working with the NHS.

• HLP, GLA, London Plus will work with partners to collaborate and co-ordinate, promote and showcase social prescribing, including an annual Townhall event for partners.

• The Mayor will continue to identify opportunities to improve the way that social prescribing is linked into his wider work programmes – such as adult education, tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG), cultural social prescribing and greening projects and work with other infrastructure umbrella groups including Parks for London and London Arts and Health.

As part of the London Joint Working Group for Hep C Elimination, working with voluntary and community sector, NHS public health and borough partners, the Mayor will:

• Set out a new focus on Hep C with a target of ending all new Hep C infections in London by 2025 working with the NHS and partners to explore how to learn and share good practice from the Fast Track Cities (HIV) model to help step-up our approach to tackling Hep C.

Along with Fast Track Cities, Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, NHS England, London Councils, the voluntary and community sector and other key health system partners, the Mayor will:

• Support the HIV Commission 2020 report and 2030 HIV goals (80% reduction in new HIV transmissions by 2025).

• Work with Thrive LDN to conduct research on the mental health needs of London’s HIV population. This will gather and analyse existing mental health data to support London’s ICSs to understand the needs of people in their populations living with HIV.

• With Thrive LDN incorporate suicide prevention training and materials to different HIV population groups.

• Support work with the NHS to develop an HIV friendly charter and roll out anti-stigma training to NHS staff.

In addition to the above, the Mayor will:

• Fight for PrEP to continue to be free on the NHS to anyone who wants it and work with partners to explore supply and demand issues, to shape the action plan.

• Roll-out anti-stigma training to GLA staff and review the GLA’s HIV policy.

Other pan-London work led by partners includes:

• London’s boroughs will continue to fund the London-wide HIV Prevention Programme to increase HIV testing and promote prevention choices, particularly through the Do It London campaign.

• Through the London Health and Care Vision, partners have committed to ensure that improving services and prevention for HIV and other STIs remains a priority.

The Mayor and MOPAC working with MPS, Violence Reduction Unit, Health, care and voluntary and community sector partners will:

• The new Mayor’s Police and Crime Plan (to be published in spring 2022) will restate the commitment to reducing and preventing violence and preventing hate crime.

• MOPAC will monitor and report on progress including on the 2021 Transparency, Accountability and Trust in Policing action plan.

• MOPAC, MPS, VRU and partners across the health and care system will work together to develop and implement the refreshed London’s Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy - combining effective action against perpetrators; high quality support for victims and survivors; and taking a public health approach to identify and address the underlying causes of VAWG. Consultation with Londoners, partner agencies and survivors of VAWG is now underway, with the final document published spring 2022.

• Tackle and reduce violence through the London’s Violence Reduction Unit’s (VRU). The VRU will act as a leader for collaborative action across system partners, investing and incubating new and promising practice in violence reduction. Taking a public health approach, the work programmes are focused on people, partnerships and places, convening across different sectors including, local authorities, policing, probation, education and youth services, health, and the VCS.

• MOPAC will continue to fund the Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) programme for community groups to continue to fight against hate, extremism and radicalisation.

• MPS, continue to work with the communities most affected by hate crime both on- and off-line, including through its Independent Advisory Groups, to increase the percentage of hate crimes solved and improve the satisfaction of victims. The MPS will work to identify and eliminate barriers to reporting, improve training and awareness of hate crime issues and improve justice outcomes.

Other pan-London work led by partners includes:

• Through the London Health and Care Vision partners have committed to ensure that reducing violence remains a priority, including innovative work with young people impacted by violence in emergency departments, as well as providing positive opportunities for young people across London.

The Mayor will deliver the following working with TfL, NHS and boroughs:

• Ensure by 2041 through the Healthy Streets Approach London has better public spaces, safer streets and more walking and cycling-friendly streets so Londoners will do at least the twenty minutes of active travel each day (e.g. walking, cycling) they need to stay healthy.

• Work with London boroughs to use the Healthy Streets Approach to improve health by enabling more people to walk, cycle and use public transport rather than travel by car, targeting the most inactive Londoners. This will include expanding the reach of the cycleway network and schemes such as Liveable and Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, Safer Junctions and the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), as well as lowering speed limits and more residential cycle parking.

• Support all Londoners to walk and cycle through projects such as cycling training for adults and children, STARS (school travel), grassroots community grants and digital walking maps.

The Mayor and London Recovery Board partners, Health and Social Care partnership partners, including NHS, VCS, will deliver the following:

• Support and fund food partnerships across London through the Food Roots Incubator programme offering incubator support and small grants to 10 new and existing strategic food partnerships to support food partnerships across London to grow, diversify and become sustainable in order to support strategic and long-term solutions to food insecurity.

• Scope a programme to increase uptake of Healthy Start (children’s food vouchers) working with health and social care partners and London wide networks of health professionals (Robust Safety Net Recovery mission).

Other pan-London work led by partners includes:

• Increasing healthier food choices through the Healthier Catering Commitment for London. Run by the London Boroughs with support from the Mayor and the Association of Environmental Health Mangers (Alehm) the scheme accredits businesses that commit to reducing the levels of saturated fat, salt and sugar in the food they sell and making smaller portions available on request.

The Mayor, working through MOPAC and with OHID and local authorities will:

• Establish a London Drugs Commission to review evidence and make policy recommendations, particularly on cannabis.

• Work with justice partners to develop a new regional substance misuse and crime governance structure, giving renewed impetus and leadership to offender health improvement and crime reduction in London.

• Continue to work closely together to improve pathways to health treatment for those in contact with the criminal justice service, with a focus on drug use which drives crime, helping to reduce offending and the wider harms caused by drugs.

• Work with OHID and other partners to address the needs of the most complex alcohol and drug users requiring enhanced detoxification support.

• Support London’s partners to maximise their share of government’s £80m funding for those released from prison to continue to access drug and alcohol treatment.

• Convene a workshop with partners to relaunch London’s Tobacco Control Alliance, which aims to integrate and amplify the work of local authority, health and voluntary sector organisations in order to achieve the aspiration.

• Work with partners across the system to consider the inequalities associated with drugs and alcohol, with particular reference to the need for substance misuse support for health inclusion groups.

Through the London Health and Care Vision:

• Health care providers have committed to implement the Ottawa Model for Smoking Cessation – ensuring that all patients have their smoking status recorded plus stop smoking support provided to them if they choose to quit (also outlined in the NHS Long Term Plan).