ADD2614 Sport Team Diversion and Prevention Projects 2022/23

1.1 The Mayor has consistently demonstrated his commitment to sport in the capital. Under cover of MD2244 and MD2265 the Mayor approved expenditure of up to £8.8m over four years for Sport Unites, his community sport investment programme for London. Sport Unites 2018-21 delivered more than 300 projects benefiting 50,000 vulnerable, inactive and/or isolated Londoners across all 33 London boroughs. Interventions supported under the programme focused on tackling five key social issues affecting Londoners as set out in the Mayor’s statutory strategy, Sport for All of Us. MD2777 approved expenditure of up to £830,000 from the Sport Unites 2021-22 budget as a bridging programme to enable community sport initiatives that support Londoners physically and mentally, as well as supporting the community sport sector into pandemic recovery.

1.2 Under cover of MD2895 the Mayor approved expenditure of up to £3,670,000 for work contributing to the priority outcomes of London’s recovery missions, including:  Building Strong Communities, with sport organisations acting as community hubs for young Londoners, giving them the opportunity to volunteer, get support and build strong networks, and A New Deal for Young People, with sport as the engagement medium through which young people, and especially those in need, have access to a mentor and to quality youth services.  This financial commitment allowed the GLA to leverage up to an additional £2.08m of targeted co-investment which is being contributed by mutual partners including the National Basketball Association, National Football League and Laureus Sport for Good.

1.3 Launching in early 2023 the new Sport Collaborative Young Peoples Fund will provide grants to organisations delivering sport and physical activity-based interventions specifically for young Londoners to improve outcomes around mental health, skills, and employability, and safety. This £17m fund, approved under cover of MD3034, includes £4m from the GLA, £7.5m from the London Marathon Charitable Trust and £5m from Sport England

1.4 The Mayor’s sport team have worked in partnership with the Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) to deliver sport and physical activity projects which focus on tackling serious youth violence as a key outcome since 2020. With a £500k investment for Summer Activities in 2020 the sport team has provided diversion and prevention opportunities to support vulnerable young people and have continued to collaborate since then, for example though the Serious Youth Violence Steering group.

1.5 In September 2022, under cover of MD3033 the Mayor approved the receipt of £915,000 from the Mayors Office of Policing and Crime (MOPAC) Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) in order to deliver sporting, physical activity, and youth social action activities for young Londoners to improve their physical and mental wellbeing, safety, and educational and employment outcomes. The sport team continue to prioritise at-risk young people and have broadened its ‘Serious Youth Violence’ outcomes in alignment with the VRU’s commitment to ‘fund, support and evaluate community-led organisations across London, to improve outcomes, employability prospects and mental health and well-being of young people at risk or involved in violence’. Outcomes for young Londoners further align with and contribute directly to the priorities of London’s Recovery Programme, particularly New Deal for Young People and Building Strong Communities.

1.6 MD3033 delegated approval to the Assistant Director of Civil Society and Sport to approve the detailed spending plans of this £915,000. These details are as laid out in the following sections.​​​​​​​

Transition Grants Programme:

2.1 This £285,000 programme will allow community sport organisations to apply for grants up to the value of £25,000 in order to deliver a person-centred after-school sports and mentoring programme in a school setting to work with children in years 5 and 6 who are experiencing difficulties within the primary setting and/or may have been excluded in the short term already. The projects will allow children to have access to sports and a trusted adult (mentor) who will boost their self-esteem, self-confidence, and engagement with education. As part of this programme they will also have access to a free healthy meal and discussions around healthy lifestyles and making healthy choices. When the child transfers to secondary school, the project/activity – and crucially, the trusted adult, will remain with them, so that in the year 7 transition they will still have the relationship, familiarity and trust to fall back on as they get used to their new school environment.

2.2 This budget includes use of the Skills Builder framework. This framework, which is internationally recognised, breaks eight essential skills down into a sequence of steps, taking individuals from being an absolute beginner through to mastery and includes training and support for staff as well as tools for young people to track their development. In this way participants can see the essential skills they are building through the programme. Skills Builder is the only organisation working in this way and are also working to support the quality mentoring framework that forms part of the New Deal for Young People mission. The organisations and workforce involved will also benefit from the framework and will take part in Group-based training with Skills Builder, this will cost up to £15k.

Outcomes

i. Increased and ongoing participation in sport/physical activity

ii. Enhanced social and other support through ongoing mentoring

iii. Increased confidence of participants in identifying and seeking aspirational opportunities

iv. New social interaction and social networks established

v. Improved behaviours in particular in relation to likelihood to offend or reoffend

vi. Improved life and employability skills

vii. Reducing exclusion rates

Alignment with Missions

i. Increase the number of young Londoners having access to high quality mentoring opportunities in line with the New Deal for Young People Mission

ii. Enable disadvantaged young people to benefit from quality mentoring and youth activities

iii. Increase strategic investment in London’s youth and mentoring activities

iv. Underserved Young Londoners can build and maintain relationships and be active citizens

Workforce capacity building:

2.3 A procurement exercise up to the value of £75,000 will be completed to appoint an organisation to deliver work upskilling the community sport sector workforce, specifically those delivering the Transition Grants Programme. Due to the needs of the young people who will be supported through the Transition Grants Programme, the community sport coaches working with them will be provided with upskilling and support. This will include – mentoring skills, trauma-informed practice, mental health first aid and working with those with mental health concerns, working with young people with clinical mental health challenges, working with those with disabilities, working with young people with previous exclusions, working with young people at risk, tools relating to CBT etc.

Outcomes

i. Relevant and high-quality training provided for the workforce to better deliver community sport and mentoring

ii. Strengthened individual hard and soft skills and increased organisational capacity leading to a more resilient and supported workforce

iii. Networks developed and new connections made

iv. Improved practice and consistent standards across the sector

Alignment with Missions

i. Empower system change and sustainability within the youth and sports sectors

ii. Improve the quality of mentoring by building capacity of the youth and sport sectors.

iii. Community sport organisations can access resources and support to meet new/changed demand and provide essential services.

After-school and School Holiday provision ‘Getting Active’:

A funding agreement will award London Youth up to £200,000 for a programme of school holiday and after school activities. London Youth is the largest, longest-running youth work charity in the capital and are therefore in a unique position to be able to reach large numbers of young people. Currently, there are 623 youth organisations in their network, serving an estimated 588,000 young people. Over half of the young people supported by London Youth organisations live in areas of economic deprivation, over two-thirds are young people of colour. They are in a pivotal position to offer support to those young people most affected by the pandemic and the cost of living crisis, and those facing racial inequality and injustice. Amidst these challenges, London Youth’s ‘Getting Active’ model offers young Londoners a source of hope through regular sport and physical activity.

The funding will contribute to the following outputs:

i. 3,000 young people and 59 organisations to access Summer holiday sport sessions (1,577 attending weekly sessions)

ii. 1000 young people to access three sessions of sport a week over a period of 24 weeks

iii. 1000 young people to access 40 hours of extended summer holiday sport

iv. Professional development for youth workers in the 40 youth organisations taking part, including training and opportunities to share best practice

v. Cost of living payments to support the 40 youth organisations taking part

vi. Cost of living support for young people by offering food alongside sport sessions

Outcomes

i. Young people are physically and emotionally well through improved physical activity and mental health and wellbeing

ii. Young people have skills knowledge and networks to work towards career goals through improved access to opportunities and improved skills

iii. Young people are inspired and enabled to make contributions to communities through improved connections and empowerment to take leadership roles

iv. Capacity building of the youth sector and improved resilience

Alignment with Missions

i. More underserved young Londoners will benefit from quality youth activities

ii. Increasing strategic investment in London’s youth activities.

iii. Increase and sustain strong partnerships between funders and voluntary and community sector organisations

Sport for Serious Youth Violence Steering Group:

2.4 Up to £85,000 will be used by the Sport and Serious Youth Violence steering group to deliver their priorities to inform the GLA and VRU’s work in tackling serious youth violence, through using research, evidence, and pilot projects focused on the role of sport in diverting young people away from crime. In Phase 1 of Sport Unites the Steering Group delivered 3 pilots – safe spaces research, internships within Basketball England and England Boxing, and the Mayor of London Sport Leadership Academy (discussed further below). The aim of the group was to identify solutions that support positive and healthy life choices for young people engaged in sport and at risk of serious youth violence. The group delivered the 3 pilots and also developed key recommendations for the sector moving forwards. The second phase of the role of this group, as part of this funding, will be made up of community sport organisations active in London, young people, and other key stakeholders such as public health and local authority representatives. The groups will continue to advise the sector within this area, to take forward the previous recommendations, and to expand upon the work of the pilots

2.5 A competitive exercise will be completed to appoint a facilitator for the group who will support the group through initial re-design workshops, deliver an up-to-date terms of reference and facilitate the ongoing sharing of learning from projects/organisations/young people, and to support the group to both identify key themes to focus on for the year and to design and deliver pilot work and evaluate the work of the group as a whole. Money will also be used to allow the group to pilot work and support the programme. This may take the form of procured research and evaluation, or a grant towards a programme that will identify solutions that support positive and healthy life choices for young people engaged in sport and at risk of serious youth violence.

2.6 Money will also be used to support the programme through research and evaluation

Outcomes

i. Test and learn with organisations delivering sports activities when and how sport can and should be used in the timeline of a young person’s journey to support positive and healthy life choices.

ii. Gather evidence to inform the future planning and commissioning of GLA sports activities, inform policy and thinking to maximise benefits for young people.

iii. Develop/provide a collaborative framework that maximises the benefit of sport in a young Londoner’s journey. 

Alignment with Missions

i. More underserved young Londoners will benefit from quality youth activities

ii. Increase and sustain strong partnerships between funders and voluntary and community sector organisations

iii. Unheard voices are amplified

Mayor of London Sport Leadership Academy

2.7 Following the success of the pilot of the Mayor of London Sport Leadership Academy, funding of up to £120,000 will be granted to deliver an expansion of the academy. The pilot, which was led by The Change Foundation, successfully supported 15 underserved young people for 3 months with individual mentoring and training, peer-to-peer support, and team leadership skills development. Each participant received 28 hours of training over 3 months and was able to develop their employability skills through the work. The pilot was led by the Change foundation but also included 4 other partners.   The partnership provided clear learnings for this project moving forwards and positive examples for collaborative partnerships like this within the sector.  The expansion will develop this model and use the learnings from the pilot to increase the time young people are engaged, the number of participants, and provide further employability skills in a face-to-face environment. The organisations will be identified through a competitive exercise.

Outcomes

i. To develop the pilot model for the new Mayor of London’s (MOL) Sport Leadership Academy.

ii. To engage up to 100 young people aged 14-25 in the Leadership Academy. We expect that at least 75% of young people will classify as ‘underserved’ (young people who have special education needs, are deaf, or have other physical or learning disabilities; have been or are excluded from school or college; not in education, employment or training; have or are associated with gangs or impact by exploitation; are experiencing or have been impacted by domestic violence and abuse; refugees and asylum seekers; have a social worker; come from low-income families and or those living in poverty; and are less active or inactive) .

iii. To improve collaboration between community sport organisations in London – organisations are able to collaborate and reach young people better under the ‘Mayor of London’ brand.

iv. To improve young people’s access to employment and work experience opportunities, develop transferrable skills, and improve aspirations - Young people are accessing better and relevant employment and education opportunities including paid opportunities in community sport organisations across London

v. To improve understanding of young people’s needs, demands, and how a leadership academy can contribute to achieving these.

vi. More young people equipped with core skills and confidence to progress in learning or earning

vii. Organisations are better able to engage young people in their work through employment, co-creation, etc.

Alignment with Missions

i. More underserved young Londoners will benefit from quality youth activities

ii. Increase and sustain strong partnerships between funders and voluntary and community sector organisations

iii. Unheard voices are amplified

Mayor of London Sport Governing Body Internship Programme

2.8 Following the success of the pilot of the internship programme with sport national governing bodies – England Boxing and Basketball England – funding of up to £150,000 will be provided for an expansion of the programme to utilise the learning from the pilot and engage with further sport National Governing Bodies  (NGBs). A new cohort of interns will be recruited for a paid internship of up to 12 months within an NGB. This programme will seek to work with NGBs who will offer mentoring and peer-to-peer support for their interns (utilising the NDYP quality mentoring framework), the interns will all be underserved young people and will have the opportunity to gain employability skills and experience working in a large national sporting body as well as having access to training opportunities t. This will also allow further support to the mentors of the interns within the programme as one of the key learnings from the pilot was that those responsible for the young people within their roles would receive mentoring training and other relevant tools to better support the young people

Outcomes

i. To develop a model for Sports Governing Bodies and sports organisations to support successful paid internships.

ii. To assist organisations to build/strengthen their ability to support underserved young people in internships.

iii. To support Sports Governing Bodies to strengthen their approach to engaging and supporting young people ‘at risk’ in internships within their organisation.

iv. To share wider learning on how Sports Governing Bodies can engage and successfully support young people at risk of violence in internships.

Alignment with missions

i. Empower system change and sustainability within the youth and sports sectors (Building Strong Communities mission)

ii. Improve the quality of mentoring by building capacity of the youth and sport sectors (New Deal for Young People mission).

3.1 Under Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, as a public authority, the GLA must have ‘due regard’ of the need to: eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation; and advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations, between people who have a protected characteristic and those who do not. 

3.2 Equal opportunities are enshrined within all the projects and programmes delivered against the Mayor’s strategy for sport and physical activity, Sport for All of Us. The Mayor’s investment into community sport aims to ensure that all Londoners can access sport and physical activity opportunities that overcome barriers to active participation; enrich their experiences of living and working in the city; encourage and enable better connection within and across their local communities; and improve physical health and mental wellbeing. Investment over the Mayoral term 2022-25 will focus on achieving those positive strategic outcomes specifically for young Londoners, with a particular focus on improving their life skills, mental health and wellbeing, social connections, and feelings of belonging to where they live and work.  

3.3 In planning the Mayor’s investment into community sport between 2021 and 2025, the Sport team has consulted stakeholders and partners with proven expertise in engaging and supporting children and young people, particularly those who are disadvantaged, considered to be at risk, and/or face additional barriers to positive participation for personal development and improved life chances. Collaboration with partner organisations has been scoped to ensure that as many young Londoners as possible, particularly those with protected characteristics and/or those who have been worst affected by the pandemic, have been considered and will have the chance to be involved in some way, be that through participating, training, project delivery or volunteering. 

3.4 Projects will also prioritise young Londoners who are under-represented in sport and physical activity. This includes those who face additional barriers to active participation, either in relation to a protected characteristic (i.e. age, disability, sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, race, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity, and marriage or civil partnership status), or in relation to circumstance (for example, a person who is a carer, or a person who is isolated and/or lonely, or a person who comes from a lower socio-economic background). 

3.5 Under-representation in sport and physical activity is also heavily influenced by intersectionality and Sport Unites will place particular emphasis on young Londoners facing multiple and intersectional barriers and challenges. 

4.1 Key Risks and issues

Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities

4.2 This programme is designed in line with the strategic objective of Sport Unites in its use of sport to achieve social change, namely to tackle serious youth violence. It also delivers programmes with the workforce and organisation development objective of Sport Unites, supporting the capacity building of the workforce which will lead to greater capacity in London to deliver effective community sport through a more diverse and supported workforce.

4.3 This programme is directly in line with the Children and Young People Recovery Mission for London, A New Deal For Young People, the mission of which is that by 2024, all young people in need are entitled to a personal mentor and all young Londoners have access to quality local youth activities. We will include usage of the quality mentoring framework as part of the conditions for programme delivery.

4.4 The programme also aligns with the Building Stronger Communities Recovery Mission for London which is working towards a number of outcomes including, all communities - particularly the most disadvantaged with the greatest health inequalities - getting the support and services they need, and having more control and choice over those services, sustainable and strong partnerships being built between funders and voluntary and community sector organisations, and Londoners can build and maintain relationships and be active citizens.

Consultations and impact assessments

4.5 The projects described respond to clear challenges shown through research which is defined below:

i. The mental health of children in London has declined in the last 10 years, with 18% of 10-15 year olds having a probable mental disorder. This has increased from 8% in 2009-11. Children begin secondary school at age 11 and therefore this is a key age to ensure that young people have consistent support. The permanent exclusion and suspension rates generally increase with age, and are highest at age 14, early intervention and support for children and young people should help to bring this rate down. Hence the decision to focus on a transition grant programme. (London.gov.uk 2021)

ii. There are 3 main areas of focus when considering the causes for the increasing rise in child exclusion. Away from simply focusing on the child’s behaviour, school policies and socio-cultural factors that can occur outside schools should be considered.

ii.i School environment and policies – considered a microcosm of society and school exclusion mirror wider society.

ii.ii The rigidness of School education systems, processes and cultures

ii.iii Socio-cultural factors are multiple and inter-related.

Factors that are multiple, they also have intersecting vulnerabilities which includes: Mental Health, Special Education Needs, Social Deprivation, Personal Problems, Previous Exclusions/Poor Behaviour and Low Educational Attainment. In addition to this, schools lack the appropriate guidance, resources or capacity to deal with the complex combination of these vulnerabilities. This can result in exclusion that did not fully consider the wider impact of a range of vulnerabilities. A long-term mentoring relationship for those most at risk at this age will support the child and the school to develop solutions to help deal with these vulnerabilities.

The most effective types of interventions for suspension/exclusion were: (1) violence reduction (2) mentoring/monitoring (3) counselling, mental health; and (4) enhancement of academic skills. (Strand et al 2014)

i. Person-focused targeted programmes often include social-emotional learning and/or cognitive behavioural therapy. Cognitive behavioural therapy allows the individual to adopt coping strategies and mechanism to help them navigate difficult periods. Social emotional will aim to improve an array of skills such as self-awareness, self-regulation, social awareness, relationship and communication skills, and decision- making. Although the mentor/coaches will not be trained in CBT they will be trained in tools used within a CBT setting and how to support a young person to work through these tools. (Strand et al 2014)

ii. The After school and holiday provision provided by the GLA previously has been built upon for the London Youth proposed provision. The National Statistics 2022 publication reports that exclusion rates are higher among pupils eligible for free school meal (FSM). The permanent exclusion rate for pupils eligible for FSM is 0.16, compared to 0.04 for those not eligible. The suspension rate is also higher at 9.34 for pupils eligible for FSM, compared to 2.58 for those not eligible. We have included a healthy meal as an aspect of the after-school programme provision to ensure the participants are able to access an evening meal.

Conflicts of Interest

​​​​​​​4.6 Due consideration has been given to the potential conflicts of interest within this project, however, none have been found.

5.1 In September 2022, under cover of MD3033 the Mayor approved the receipt of £915,000 from the Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) to deliver sporting, physical activity, and youth social action activities for young Londoners to improve their physical and mental wellbeing, safety, and educational and employment outcomes, and delegated approval to the Assistant Director of Civil Society and Sport to approve the detailed spending plans of this £915,000

5.2 This decision seeks approval for the expenditure of up to £915,000 to deliver sport and physical activity projects which focus on tackling serious youth violence as a key outcome

5.3 There is sufficient budget in the 2022-23 financial year within the Sport Unites budget to meet this expenditure.