MD2895 Sport Unites 2021-22 to 2024-25

1.1.    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 42,000 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. Each social issue – inactivity, mental health, loneliness and isolation, social connectedness, and serious youth violence – had sport or physical activity as the primary means of engagement. 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. This bridge programme was put in place whilst further scoping was carried out into the most appropriate future direction for Sport Unites phase two.

1.2.    The COVID-19 pandemic has had a severe impact on Londoners’ activity levels, adversely affecting their physical health and mental wellbeing. This is especially marked amongst more vulnerable groups such as children and young people, 83 per cent of whom report deterioration in their mental health resulting from prolonged or repeated lockdowns. The work of Sport Unites contributes to the priority outcomes of the London Recovery Board’s 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 
•    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. 

1.3.    In support of the New Deal for Young People mission and the Mayor’s wider commitments to young Londoners, the next phase of Sport Unites will focus on children and young people. The work will build on the work done to date with young Londoners, which gives them the positive opportunities they deserve and invests in community activities and support to help young people fulfil their potential. Partnership discussions have been revisited and reconfirmed following the clarification of this forward focus.

1.4.    This decision: 

•    seeks approval for expenditure of up to £3,670,000 (consisting of £270,000 in 2021-22, £1.4m in 2022-23, £1m in 2023-24, and £1m in 2024-25) for a programme of work for Sport Unites that responds flexibly to the challenges of pandemic recovery; and to the needs of young Londoners and the community sport sector to meet them
•    delegates to the Executive Director of Communities and Skills authority to approve detailed expenditure plans via a decision form for the receipt and expenditure of external funding to scale up Sport Unites Fund work, further details of which can be found in section 2
•    delegates to the Assistant Director of Team London and Community Sport authority to approve, without the need for a further decision form, the redistribution of unused funds within the Supporting Young Londoners in their Communities work expenditure envelope in this form, further details of which can be found in section 2.

1.5.    As detailed within section two of this decision, this expenditure will leverage up to an additional £2.08m over the same period by way of targeted co-investment into the Sport Unites programme by major sport and non-sport organisations on shared priorities focused on vulnerable and at-risk children and young people. The Sport team has worked to develop these relationships since the inception of Sport Unites and especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, as insight and evidence gathered from the community sport and other sectors highlighted the importance of collaboration in rebuilding a more resilient London. Following a number of high-level meetings with the Deputy Mayor for Communities and Social Justice, partners have written to express their intention to invest, pound for pound, in specific initiatives that meet key Sport Unites and recovery mission outcomes. Final financial commitment of external organisations is subject to GLA budget commitments.  

1.6.    Expenditure is profiled as:

2.1.    Phase one of the Sport Unites programme had two overarching objectives: to support Londoners; and to support London’s community sport sector. 

2.2.    The second phase of Sport Unites continues to respond flexibly to an ever-changing situation in respect of the COVID-19 pandemic, whilst incorporating forward-looking work to explore longer-term solutions to ongoing issues and challenges affecting Londoners. It will specifically benefit children and young people by providing them with positive diversionary activity; support for their physical health and mental wellbeing and resilience; and opportunities for personal development, training, education and employment. It is structured to take account of the learnings from phase one of the programme, delivered in 2018-21, together with insight and evidence that is specific to the effect of COVID-19 on young people within local communities and grassroots organisations. These outcomes will align with and contribute directly to the priorities of London’s Recovery Programme and specifically with the Building Strong Communities and New Deal for Young People missions respectively, as set out below:

•    by 2025, all Londoners will have access to a community hub ensuring they can volunteer, get support and build strong community networks
•    by 2024, all young people in need are entitled to a personal mentor and all young Londoners have access to quality youth activities.

Programme Workstreams

Supporting Young Londoners in their Communities: up to £3.175m
Sport Unites Fund

2.3.    MD2777 approved grant funding of up to £595,000 on a bridging programme, the Sport Unites fund for 2021-22, aimed at engaging London’s most vulnerable groups and supporting the effective recovery of the sector. This bridging programme has granted funding to organisations delivering community sport projects between Summer 2021 and Autumn 2022, particularly those reaching specific groups of Londoners who have faced, and continue to face, additional barriers to sport/physical activity as a result of COVID-19. The multi-outcome fund affords other funders working to aligned sport-specific outcomes the opportunity to contribute, maximising the chance of success for applicants and increasing shared learnings for the sport sector. 

2.4.    In order to continue contributing to London’s Recovery, the Sport Unites fund will be reshaped to meet the needs of Building Strong Communities and New Deal for Young People missions. A budget of up to £1.095m (£95,000 in 2021-22, £500,000 in 2022-23, £250,000 in 2023-24 and £250,000 in 2024-25) will provide grant funding for sport and physical activity-focused projects that are tailored to, and accessible by, children and young people. These initiatives will provide support to young Londoners by engaging them in positive sports-based diversionary activity for improved health and wellbeing, particularly in response to the negative impact of the pandemic on their mental resilience; and building in opportunities for them to develop their life skills, educational attainment and employability to fulfil their potential. 

2.5.    Building on the initial learnings from the 2021-22 pilot fund approved under MD277, and continuing to build on further learnings throughout the award process, this programme will award up to 50 smaller grants to support new projects, and/or a number of larger grants to scale up tried and tested projects, in delivering positive outcomes for young people in their local areas. The grants will be manged by a grant management company, procured in accordance with the GLA Contracts and Funding Code. The ratio and split of awards will change depending on the number and quality of applications received, and the Fund will both benefit from and contribute to learnings related to grant programmes being delivered under the Building Strong Communities and New Deal for Young People missions.

2.6.    The outcomes of this Fund will be as follows:

•    More organisations delivering more effective sport- and physical activity-based projects benefiting children and young people – projects that are rooted in the local community, and tailored and accessible to those most in need, particularly those who are vulnerable and at risk of serious youth violence. These sport organisations act as community hubs, the creation of which is the goal of the Building Strong Communities mission. The projects provided by this fund deliver the quality youth-focused activities that are the goal of the New Deal for Young People mission.
•    Aligned with the Building Strong Communities mission priorities, via sport, young Londoners will be better supported in having a voice to help shape their local communities, feel less isolated and experience a greater sense of belonging and connection to where they live and work.
•    Aligned with the New Deal for Young People mission priorities, via sport, young Londoners most in need will have access to mentoring support and other services to help build their life skills, educational attainment and employability to fulfil their potential.

2.7.    A number of organisations with whom Sport Unites works closely have indicated an interest in granting funding that focuses on children and young people, the priorities of which align with both the Building Strong Communities and New Deal for Young People missions. These organisations are not yet in a position to commit funding, but may potentially wish to grant funding to the GLA in order to scale up this piece of work. Should a firm offer of external funding be made, then further approval will be sought for the receipt and expenditure of this additional funding. This decision requests authority for the Executive Director of Communities and Skills to approve detailed expenditure plans relating to the receipt and expenditure of external funding via a Director’s Decision form.

Further collaboration

2.8.    Under MD2777 the Mayor approved grant funding of up to £85,000 of targeted investment in 2021-22, for collaborations with sport and non-sport organisations to scale up initiatives that tackle one or two of the five Sport Unites strategic issues. This included a grant of £50,000 to the NFL UK, matched by the organisation, to pilot a project supporting at-risk young people through engagement in American flag football with associated mentoring and skills development, tackling serious violence and improving beneficiaries’ mental health and wellbeing. The NFL pilot comprised just one element in wider partnership scoping and development conducted by the GLA Sport team over the first phase of Sport Unites, and especially during the pandemic, which highlighted the increased need for and power of collaborative working. A total of seven major sport and non-sport organisations were involved in high-level strategic discussions with the Deputy Mayor for Communities and Social Justice and other key stakeholders, culminating to date in matched investment proposals over the Mayoral term 2022-25 with the Premier League, the NFL, Laureus Sport for Good and the NBA. 

2.9.    This MD therefore requests approval for grant funding, under the Sport Unites Supporting Young Londoners in their Communities workstream, of up to £2.08m over three years. This will unlock matched investment from partners to deliver work linked specifically to the priority outcomes of the New Deal for Young People recovery mission and the strategic priorities of Sport Unites. Projects and programmes will continue and build on work delivered under Sport Unites’ allocation of the Young Londoners Fund over the first Mayoral term, engaging and supporting children and young people through sport- and physical activity-focused interventions; and providing them with opportunities to improve their health, wellbeing, social connections and life chances.  

2.10.    Subject to the achievement of positive outcomes of an initial pilot, to the extent outlined in the pilot scope, the GLA will grant fund up to £750,000 (£300,000 in 2022-23, £250,000 in 23-24, and £200,000 in 24-25) to the Premier League, which will be matched over the same period. This funding will be used to support young Londoners aged 11-25 to develop personal and professional skills and positive attitudes to help them into education, training and employment opportunities. The funding will be split across two distinct programmes: a core offer using football and other sporting activities alongside a mix of workshops, talks and placements with local partners; and a more targeted, intensive offer supporting the charitable arms of London’s football clubs to identify and support young people who are most at risk of serious youth violence. This second programme will be delivered over a minimum one-year period, offering football and other sports engagement with intensive support for each young person into education, training or employment. 

2.11.    The Premier League is ideally placed to partner with the GLA on this programme as it holds relationships with London’s football club community organisations (CCOs), which are rooted in their local areas, and can reach and engage young people of high need in their programmes. The organisation has a pan-London reach and is recognisable by and accessible to young people of both genders and from underprivileged backgrounds, reducing barriers to engagement and participation and providing an overarching support offer focused on skills development for better futures.

 
2.12.    The pilot will be run between March and September 2022 to identify the optimum approach to longer-term design and delivery. However, it is anticipated that the split between the two programme offers will be as follows: up to £450,000 on a longer, more targeted offer; up to £200,000 on the core offer; up to £50,000 on the pilot; and up to £50,000 for events and youth summits. The programme is expected to reach up to 2,000 young people at risk and in need, comprised of up to 500 via the targeted offer; and up to 1,500 through the broader offer and events. It is intended to use the core offer as an engagement tool, with a focus on soft skills development, from which cohorts of more vulnerable young people will be selected or signposted to access embedded employability opportunities and outcomes. The overall programme is distinct from the Premier League Kicks programme, in that the football CCOs are likely to deliver unique skills-focused 12-week programmes together with the longer, targeted offer. Both offers will include elements of mentoring aligned with the priority outcomes of the New Deal for Young People mission. The broader offer will have the following outcomes:

•    increased confidence and self-esteem of young Londoners
•    participants have positive experiences
•    new social interaction and social networks established
•    improved life and employability skills.
The targeted offer will additionally enable:
•    increased confidence in identifying and seeking aspirational opportunities
•    increased numbers in education, training or employment
•    feelings of belonging are increased; isolation is decreased.

2.13.    Following the success of the 2021-22 pilot in partnership with the NFL, the GLA will grant further funding to the NFL UK of £530,000 (£30,000 in 2021-22, £250,000 in 2022-23, £150,000 in 2023-24, and £100,000 in 2024-25), which will be matched over the same period. This funding will be used to provide grants supporting 8-12 community groups, awarded through an open application process, over two years to deliver programmes to young Londoners using American flag football and associated activities. The NFL UK is ideally placed to partner with the GLA in this area, offering a tried and tested programme of sport and wraparound support based in flag football. This is a uniquely inclusive activity offering meaningful engagement to young people of both genders, with different skills and at different levels of ability.

2.14.    In addition to the grant awards, funding will enable a festival event featuring American flag football activities alongside focused character development sessions; and an ‘Inspire Change’ Youth Summit bringing together Foundation beneficiaries and senior leaders from business, politics and the third sector, enabling young Londoners to discuss and debate, with major decision-makers, the key issues that are important to them and the changes they see as vital for themselves and their communities. Funded initiatives will have the following outcomes:

•    improved mental health and wellbeing, including specific focus on female-only support
•    reduced serious youth violence
•    reduced youth unemployment
•    young people are empowered and gain a voice through youth advocacy.

2.15.    The GLA will grant fund up to £500,000 (£100,000 in 2022-23, £100,000 in 2023-24, and £300,000 in 2024-25) to the NBA, which will be matched by the organisation over the same period. Outcomes will align with and contribute to the priorities of the Building Strong Communities and New Deal for Young People missions.

 
2.16.    As well as establishing a workforce development and community youth outreach programme, this three-year collaboration between the GLA, the NBA and Basketball England will:

•    facilitate the creation of combined facilities and support that will act as hubs to welcome, engage and support disadvantaged young people during the days and evenings
•    through the NBA and Basketball England funding, support a number of upgraded basketball courts, with GLA funding supporting the workforce development and young people outreach
•    hubs will be set up in different locations across London to enable access by a diverse range of communities from surrounding boroughs
•    support the development of young male and female basketball coaches from disadvantaged backgrounds and/or who are vulnerable and considered to be at risk
•    offer employment opportunities for coaches, from the NBA in collaboration with Basketball England, the national governing body
•    deploy these coaches across London to support further engagement in the sport with associated mentoring for improved access, participation and personal skills development
•    offer free use of the facility for targeted groups of young people in need; organised competitions; Junior NBA practice sessions; and open gym availability.

2.17.    The GLA will grant fund up to £300,000 (£150,000 in 2022-23, £100,000 in 2023-24, and £50,000 in 2024-25) to Laureus Sport for Good, which will be matched over the same period. MD2777 approved expenditure of up to £50,000 to continue delivery into year four of this place-based initiative in collaboration with Laureus and Nike, supporting resident-led coalitions in Barking, Hounslow and Haringey to implement strategies for the use of sport for the benefit of local young people and to tackle social integration challenges. This innovative programme, the first of its kind in the UK, has achieved the following successes in years one to three:

•    three coalitions created in three areas of London
•    25 project grants awarded; 29 capacity-building grants made to local community groups
•    5,121 beneficiaries across the three areas
•    74 per cent of project participants report feeling more active and 70 per cent more confident
•    in 2021-22, a move into sustainability development, creating strategic action plans for the coalitions and recruiting sustainability consultants to guide the coalitions through this transition.

2.18.    Grant funding to delivery organisations will enable training and development opportunities for each coalition to support development in becoming sustainable community hubs that connect, advocate and fundraise for their local communities. Activities will include the establishment of youth panels; workshops; consultancy, events; organisational mentoring and capacity-building; and forums for networking and sharing best practice, including a cross-coalition youth forum to ensure that young people’s voices shape the future of the local area and have an active role in decision-making. By the end of year six a Model City Summit will bring together representatives from Model City from across the globe to showcase impact and learnings. Future investment in Model City London will:

•    be youth-focused and youth-led, engaging young people in decision-making in their local areas as well as direct project activities – youth panels will be established to inform and support the work of coalitions, using Laureus's extensive experience of youth advocacy and engagement across the world
•    enable coalitions to become fully sustainable community hubs that support, connect, advocate and fundraise for their local community
•    promote and strengthen the use of sport in youth development and community cohesion by convening key stakeholders from across London and the world; and building their sport for development capacity. 

2.19.      The overall outcomes of this targeted partnership working will be:

•    aligned to the Building Strong Communities recovery mission: 
o    improved sectoral and cross-sectoral collaboration (services will be joined-up more effectively to meet the needs of young Londoners and maximise the impact of investment through economies of scale and the sharing of expertise; the London Recovery Board has established collaboration as a cross-cutting principle of its mission-based work as the way forwards to rebuilding a more resilient London)
o    sport organisations act as community hubs, the creation of which is the overarching goal of the Building Strong Communities mission; through this workstream, young Londoners will be better supported in having a voice to help shape their local areas, feel less isolated, and experience a greater sense of belonging to where they live and work
•    aligned to the New Deal for Young People recovery mission:
o    improved mental wellbeing
o    improved employability skills
o    improved education, employability and training outcomes
o    young people access high-quality individual and group mentoring, which will meet the quality standards established by the mission under its mentoring confidence framework
o    youth advocacy in London is strengthened
o    young Londoners are supported in building their life skills, educational attainment and employability to fulfil their potential.

2.20.    With the refined focus on positive outcomes for young Londoners over the Mayoral term, discussions have been revisited and in-principle commitment with associated budget confirmed with the respective partner organisations. Should the partner-funding value be lowered for any reason, then the associated GLA funding will be redistributed to another Supporting Young Londoners in their Communities grantee in order to allow them to bolster their outputs and/or outcomes in line with the goals of one or both missions as set out above. This decision requests approval for the Assistant Director of Team London and Community Sport authority to approve, without the need for a further decision form, the redistribution of unused funds within the Supporting Young Londoners in their Communities work expenditure envelope in this form.

Sector Support: up to £495,000

2.21.    This decision requests approval for expenditure of up to £495,000 over the Mayoral term for initiatives that provide support to London’s community sport sector, including organisational training and development, and stakeholder engagement as detailed below. It also requests approval for expenditure associated with programme management including the monitoring and evaluation of phase two of the Sport Unites programme. 

2.22.    Due to the pandemic and other factors, such as the already-adverse effect of cuts in public service spending, the community sport sector in London remains under existential threat at a time when communities need and value it the most. Help with funding has been cited as the biggest sectoral need. Sport Unites has of course not been able to meet financial demand but the programme’s in-built leadership, flexibility and capacity-building elements have enabled many individuals and organisations to access different types of support. Approval is sought for expenditure of up to £155,000 enabling initiatives that will continue this work, including, but not limited to the following: 
•    Up to £35,000 in 2021-22 on the development and implementation of a series of ‘Ideas Incubator’ workshops to support unfunded sport and non-sport organisations in exploring the feasibility of their project ideas using sport and physical activity to benefit London and Londoners in one or more of the Sport Unites priority areas. This is a continuation of the organisational capacity-building work linked to the Sport Unites Fund 2021-22 approved under MD2777. Based on the workshop learnings, targeted support will be provided to grassroots groups via a range of training opportunities and the award of microgrants to assist their projects in becoming investment-ready.

•    Based on feasibility work undertaken during the Sport Unites bridging year 2021-22, up to £60,000 to support the development of a high-quality impact report-writing tool for use free of charge by community sport and non-sport organisations. Aligned with ongoing stakeholder work to explore and implement a shared measurement framework for London’s sport for development sector, this tool will assist the GLA in assessing the overall impact of multiple projects, while supporting grassroots organisations to become more sustainable, securing other funding by evidencing the impact they have on the community. The recommended route to market is a contract for services with a third party to adapt an existing tool as the lowest-cost and lowest-risk option. The third-party provider would be procured according to the GLA Contracts and Funding Code.
•    Up to £60,000 on further organisational training and capacity-building for the sector, continuing the work approved under MD2777 to explore and develop a capacity-building workstream that will support the sector in building back to be more resilient and sustainable in response to and beyond the pandemic. The majority of the budget will be issued as grant funding, but there will be associated project costs for events and additional support activities.

2.23.    Stakeholder engagement: collaboration with a diverse range of stakeholders is a cross-cutting principle of the London Recovery Programme. This decision seeks approval to meet costs of up to £50,000 over the Mayoral term for convening up to six events offering sector-wide opportunities for networking, thought leadership, and the sharing of learnings and best practice in the effective delivery of sport for social outcomes. The first of these will take place before the end of the financial year 2021-22 (up to £10,000) to launch and celebrate the Supporting Young Londoners in their Communities work detailed elsewhere in this decision as part of the wider London Recovery Programme and the relevant missions.

2.24.    Research and consultancy: building on the learnings of the Young Londoners Fund allocation to Sport Unites of £3m from 2018 to 2021, and responding to the scoping work of other stakeholders including the Sport and Serious Youth Violence Steering Group, this decision seeks approval for expenditure of up to £110,000 on the procurement of bespoke research/consultancy contributing to an up-to-date evidence base for the Mayor’s work with young Londoners through engagement in sport and physical activity, to best inform the forward work of Sport Unites to ensure it best meets their needs and responds to their circumstances. Up to £60,000 will be spent in 2021-22 on Sport Unites phase two research, thought leadership, and procuring a feasibility study exploring the potential of a shared measurement framework for the community sport sector in London.

2.25.    Programme management, monitoring and evaluation: as per good practice it is essential to monitor and evaluate the Sport Unites programme effectively to be fully accountable, gather learnings, and act on recommendations to ensure both the best value for money for GLA resources, and the provision of optimal services for London and Londoners. It is especially important, due to the ever-changing conditions imposed by the pandemic, and the refined focus of Sport Unites over the Mayoral term 2022-25, that Sport Unites is able to respond flexibly and swiftly to young Londoners’ needs and circumstances, and pivot the priorities of the programme accordingly. Expenditure of up to £180,000 approved under this decision includes budget for the procurement of programme management including monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning of the workstreams, of which £20,000 will be spent in 2021-22.

2.26.    Through this workstream the GLA will continue to support the sector to be stronger and more resilient by bringing people together and sharing ideas, tools and resources. Community sport organisations will convene around shared challenges and access needs-based development opportunities. This will be linked, where possible, to other capacity-building support that is being made available via either the recovery mission workstreams or other organisations. The offer will be complementary and not duplicative. Outcomes will also include contribution to a robust evidence base to showcase impact and lobby for further investment and resource, to enable London’s sport sector to ‘build back better’; and, with the learnings gained, to sustain itself more independently in the future, moving away from a reliance on grant funding for survival.

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. 
 

Key risks and issues

Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities 

4.1.    The second phase of Sport Unites links to the Mayor’s strategy for sport and physical activity, Sport for All of Us, and extends the Mayor’s community sport investment programme, Sport Unites 2018-21 (approved under MD2244 and under MD2777).

4.2.    It has a specific focus on positive outcomes for children and young people, thus continuing and building on the work under the Mayor’s £45m Young Londoners Fund, of which Sport Unites received a £3m allocation approved under MD2265. 

4.3.    The programme also aligns with and contributes to the London Recovery Board’s mission-based work, in particular (but not limited to) the goals and priority outcomes of the Building Strong Communities and New Deal for Young People missions respectively: 

•    by 2025, all Londoners will have access to a community hub ensuring they can volunteer, get support and build strong community networks
•    by 2024, all young people in need are entitled to a personal mentor and all young Londoners have access to quality youth activities.

Conflicts of interest

4.4.    There has been consideration for any potential conflict of interests, with none found including for those involved in the drafting and clearance of this form. 
 

5.1.    Approval is sought for expenditure of up to £3.67m on the second phase of Sport Unites (the Mayor’s community sport investment programme) spanning over four financial years, as detailed in the table in paragraph 1.6 and summarised below.

5.2.    The programme workstreams being approved within this decision sit within the Building Stronger Communities and New Deal for Young People missions.

5.3.    This decision is requesting funding that is not yet assured for 2023-24 and 2024-25. The GLA may be subject to future funding cuts and the expenditure planned here may not be affordable. To this end, break clauses have been incorporated into contracts to enable future cuts. Officers need to be aware that this programme will not be subject to any more favourable treatment in future funding rounds than programmes that have not yet requested funding for future years, meaning the break clauses may have to be exercised. The funding allocation in future financial years will be subject to the normal annual budget setting process and is subject to change. 
 

6.1.    Sections 1 to 4 of this report indicate that: 

6.2.    the decisions requested of the Mayor concern the exercise of the GLA’s general powers, falling within the GLA’s statutory powers to do such things considered to further or which are facilitative of, conducive or incidental to the promotion of economic development and wealth creation, social development or the promotion of the improvement of the environment in Greater London 

6.3.    in formulating the proposals, in respect of which a decision is sought, officers have complied with the Authority’s related statutory duties to:

•    pay due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people
•    consider how the proposals will promote the improvement of health of persons, health inequalities between persons and to contribute towards the achievement of sustainable development in the United Kingdom
•    consult with appropriate bodies.

    
6.4.    In taking the decisions requested, the Mayor must have due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty; namely the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010, and to advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (race, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity, and gender reassignment) and persons who do not share it and foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it (section 149 of the Equality Act 2010). To this end, the Mayor should have particular regard to section 3 of this report.

   
6.5.    Any works, services or supplies required for the project must be procured in accordance with the Authority’s Contracts and Funding Code (‘the Code’) and in accordance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (‘the Regulations’). Officers must liaise with Transport for London’s commercial team, which will determine the detail of the procurement strategy to be adopted in accordance with the Code and Regulations. 

6.6.    Officers must ensure that appropriate contract documentation is put in place and executed by the successful bidder(s) and the Authority before the commencement of the works, services or supplies. 

6.7.    The foregoing sections of this report indicate that the contribution of funding to the Premier League, the NFL, Laureus Sport for Good (Model City London) and the NBA amount to the provision of grant funding and not payment for services. Officers must ensure that the funding is distributed fairly, transparently, in accordance with the Authority’s equalities policy and in a manner which affords value for money in accordance with the Code.

6.8.    Officers must ensure that appropriate funding agreements are put in place between and executed by the Authority and recipients before any commitment to fund is made.