MD3168 Civil Society and Sport programmes 2023-24

1.1.    The Civil Society and Sport unit works to make London a stronger and more resilient city, in which Londoners play an active role. The programmes create the building blocks for stronger and more resilient communities, to enable those delivering community work to connect and share best practice, to enhance opportunities for Londoners to volunteer, to sustain organisations that tackle inequalities and other social issues, help Londoners develop skills and get into work, and use sport to make London an active and socially integrated city.
1.2.    Recent years have seen the unit working within two of the missions set out by the London Recovery Board:
•    Building Strong Communities (BSC) – which works towards the Mayor’s pledge that by 2025, all Londoners will have access to a community hub ensuring they can volunteer, get support and build strong community networks
•    New Deal for Young People – ensuring all young Londoners have access to quality local youth activities in order to support their mental health, aspirations and employment opportunities, and empowering them to shape and lead with stronger relationships with parents, teachers, youth practitioners and peers.
1.3.    In 2022-23 key achievements included:
•    funding over 100 community-led projects through the Building Strong Communities (BSC) micro-grants. 
•    engaging 2,014 volunteers through opportunities provided by the Volunteering team for events such as the London Marathon, Black History Month, Eid in the square and Diwali in the square. In addition to this, 1,599 volunteers supported Londoners through the events surrounding the funeral of HM Queen Elizabeth II
•    collaborating with London civil society organisations to produce the London’s Lifelines website which highlights the diversity and scope of volunteering in London, and signposts the sector to the most helpful information at times of key demand such as the current food security and cost of living challenges
•    empowering marginalised young Londoners to address local issues and amplify their voices through youth social action projects, such as
o    Young Ambassadors, which connects young people to their communities through alternative provision and school-based social action and has supported over 4538 young people, including those at risk of exclusion and with special educational needs, with over 70 grants awarded to schools for community projects focusing on equalities
o    HeadStart Action engaging 14-18-year-olds in youth-led community social action, offering employability and training opportunities and supporting 720 marginalised young people through capacity-building support to grassroots organisations in 13 London boroughs.
1.4.    MD2854 approved expenditure of up to £1.988m in 2021-22 and 2022-23 for work that included the BSC grant programme. MD3033 approved expenditure of up to £205,000 in 2022-23 for programmes supporting Londoners and civil society through projects convening the sector, promoting volunteering, and enhancing opportunities for all Londoners to volunteer. For unit youth work, in 2020-21 MD2885 approved expenditure of £900,000 for HeadStart Action, a youth social action programme and in 2022-23 MD2990 approved the receipt of £652,000 from The National Lottery and expenditure of £182,000 of GLA funding in order to deliver the Young Ambassadors and scale up the HeadStart programmes and engage young people in social action, employability training and opportunities.
1.5.    This Decision requests approval for expenditure of up to £578,000 to continue and take forward programmes supporting Londoners and civil society through projects convening the sector, promoting volunteering, supporting youth social action and enhancing opportunities for all Londoners to volunteer, as set out in the table below and in section two. Noting the growing roster of events through the year, it also requests a delegation to the Assistant Director, Civil Society and Sport to seek, receive and spend any external funding as a contribution towards expenses related to the Major Events and Visitor Welcome workstrands (without the need for a further decision form). These will be recorded appropriately to ensure transparency of decision making. Finally, it requests an exemption from the requirements of the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code so that London Funders membership may be directly procured in the amount of £33,000 on the basis of a complete absence of competition, as set out in detail at paragraph 2.5.
1.6.    Expenditure profile:

Civil society

2.1.    Civil society is comprised of a huge range of organisations which vary in size and scope from grassroot unincorporated associations to social enterprises to regional charities with multi-million-pound incomes. These organisations work together in the interests of the good of society. By supporting the civil society sector as set out below, the GLA will work towards:
•    removing barriers that prevent the most marginalised Londoners from actively participating in life in the capital
•    ensuring representation of these communities in policy and decision making
•    supporting Londoners to engage in civic and civil life
•    ensuring Londoners have access to the vital skills they need to thrive.

London Plus:  £70,000
2.2.    London Plus is the infrastructure organisation for London’s civil society. With unique networks and access to the sector intelligence that is invaluable in informing policy making, the organisation is a key partner for GLA civil society work. London Plus played a key role during the Covid-19 pandemic, was a core partner in the Building Strong Communities mission, and continues to work with Volunteer Centres and Councils for Voluntary Services (CVS) in London providing the support needed to convene the voluntary and community and community resilience sectors, lead debate and shape change. A grant of £70,000 to London Plus enables the GLA to support the ongoing costs of this key infrastructure organisation and the work the organisation exists to deliver to London’s civil society. City Bridge Trust and London Councils also support the organisation, in recognition of its key role.
2.3.    The grant will also fund London Plus and their role in the London Volunteering Strategy Group (LVSG). In 2021 London Plus, the GLA, and London Councils convened key regional volunteer involving organisations (VIOs) to establish the LVSG. There was no regional London-wide network that convened partners across the breadth of volunteering issues. All partners were keen to continue the benefits of regional collaboration through the pandemic and so the GLA worked with others to bring together organisations that represent, faith volunteers, environmental volunteers, local infrastructure, young volunteers, local government, mutual aid, LGBTQIA+ volunteers, students and emergency volunteers to support and champion volunteering in London. A national review of volunteering is taking place, funded by DCMS and the LVSG has a crucial role to play in creating a vision for the future of volunteering in London. The proposed funding will focus on:
•    the development of the LVSG, including expanding membership; establishing joint objectives; identifying how the five themes of the national vision for volunteering can be best applied to volunteering in London; and further developing practical collaborative actions to support and champion volunteering in London 
•    a London Vision for Volunteering. The National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) are currently leading a process to develop a national Vision for Volunteering, funded by DCMS. Partners agree on the need for a London-specific vision that can stimulate activity needed to sustain a strong culture of volunteering in London and influence policy
•    the continuation of the London’s Lifelines campaign which raises the profile of volunteering in London and shares best practice and was highlighted by NCVO in volunteer’s week 2023 as regional good practice. This will compliment future work on a vision for volunteering in London and provide a focal point for championing volunteering for the LVSG. 
Convening and supporting the sector: £70,000 
2.4.    The Civil Society and Sport unit have a varied portfolio of stakeholders who are vital in helping to ensure that London remains a resilient city and can tackle the inequalities that exist for so many Londoners, whether in health, employment or education. This decision seeks permission to allocate £70,000 to support engagement with civil society groups, with expenditure executed in accordance with the GLA Contracts and Funding code. This will include: 
•    a stakeholder event to provide stakeholders with information and expertise, networking with other civil society groups, funders and GLA colleagues. This will support positive relationships with stakeholders and provide an opportunity for the GLA to listen to civil society organisations on the issues that matter to them most, enabling Londoners to have a voice in shaping policy and delivery. This will also inform unit work in general, helping us change delivery methods or areas need we target, as well as using feedback for ways of working, for example feedback on GLA reporting needs and how we ask organisations to work with us allows us to use more accessible processes
•    dissemination of BSC Grants programme learning. The programme awarded £915,000 in grant funding over three rounds to over 100 groups. Learning includes the impact on communities of local level funding to grassroots groups, increased understanding of the challenging context for grassroots groups in London and the value that they bring to communities. The key lessons learnt will be shared in the most impactful way with the public and wider partners, including the London Partnership Board and will also be available on the GLA website
•    increasing diversity in volunteering to reduce inequalities in London. The Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Volunteer Managers Forum is a community of practice bringing together volunteer involving organisations to share good practice and learning around EDI in volunteering and offer peer support, and is a partnership between the GLA, Macmillan, English Heritage and Citizens Advice Bureau. Work will continue to enable, encourage, develop, inspire and embed EDI in volunteering. This will contribute towards the reduction of health, employment and other structural inequalities
•    supporting the GLA’s role in convening the voluntary, community and funding sectors, leading debate and change and expanding partnership work. After London moved from Covid-19 crisis response to recovery there was a collective ambition to build on the learning from the collaborative community working during the pandemic. The focus on future collaboration to support London’s recovery led to the development of cross-organisational work including the Collaborative Action for Recovery (CAR – now known as Propel). The GLA Group, through its Group Collaboration Board has been reviewing its own approach to grant giving and the role of the GLA family works across the sector. Work will continue to develop this area, including looking at how the GLA uses convening power and supporting the sector to implement change, and using partnerships to scope new areas of policy intervention.
London Funders membership: £33,000
2.5.    London Funders is the sole membership network for London’s funders and social investors. Membership provides access to a wide portfolio of expertise and resources, including vital opportunities to network and collaborate with 170+ London-based funders across the public, private and social sectors. London Funders oversaw the coordination of the London Community Response (LCR) and is currently convening the work on Propel.  The expenditure of £33,000 funds continued corporate GLA membership, and allows engagement by teams across the GLA and GLA Group including Culture, Children and Young Londoners, Health, Communities and Social Policy, MOPAC and Civil Society and Sport. London Funders are the only organisation of their type, and therefore an exemption from the requirements of the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code is requested so continued London Funders membership may be directly procured in the amount of £33,000 on the basis of a complete absence of competition. The expertise, resource and opportunities gained through membership are vital for the GLA to work towards many of its objectives.
Volunteering
2.6.    Volunteering offers a range of personal, social and wellbeing benefits for both the volunteers and also those benefitting from what the volunteering delivers. Through the volunteering work set out below the GLA will work towards:
•    improving opportunities for Londoners to support each other through volunteering
•    removing barriers that prevent the most marginalised Londoners from actively participating in life in the capital
•    supporting Londoners to engage in civic and civil life
•    ensuring Londoners have access to the vital skills they need to thrive.

Visitor Welcome and major events: £82,000
2.7.    The Civil Society team has delivered an annual Visitor Welcome volunteering programme every summer since 2012, providing accessible and rewarding volunteering opportunities and contributing to London’s reputation as a welcoming city. This programme extends throughout the year to include volunteering for major sporting and cultural events and supporting strategic partnerships (e.g. Formula-e) to promote the city as a global destination. In addition, the programme provides resilience volunteers to London; in the past, it has deployed volunteers to Grenfell and the NHS Nightingale at the ExCeL Centre. This programme continues to be a Mayoral priority in the context of ‘Let’s Do London’ and other work to encourage international and domestic visitors to London, as well as to mobilise volunteers – at short notice – to support city-wide resilience efforts.  
2.8.    To enhance opportunities for all Londoners to support each other and their city through volunteering, a budget of £82,000 will be used for programme delivery and programme management costs. This covers essentials such as external location risk assessments, full volunteer expenses to ensure the programme is accessible and equitable, training events including Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and Dementia-friendly awareness training and customer service specific training and materials and uniform.  Expenditure will also cover an accessibility fund (to cover British Sign Language interpreters/taxis/additional transport) to reduce barriers to participation, temporary staff to deliver at core programme peaks and a specialist volunteer management system. These programme requirements will be procured in accordance with the GLA Contracts and Funding Code. These resources are also being used for the major events programme, through which volunteers support events such as the London Marathon and the New Year’s Eve fireworks, as well as for the deployment of volunteers who support London when incidents require. 
2.9.    This Decision also requests delegation to the Assistant Director, Civil Society and Sport to seek, receive and spend external funding as a contribution towards expenses related to the major events and Visitor Welcome workstrands (without the need for a further decision form). Major events volunteers attend events in London, helping with greeting visitors through to wayfinding and more. Organisers reimburse the GLA for expenses, and events are added throughout the year, meaning the income figure is not static. The volunteering team are also investigating sponsorship for the programme with the aim that working with new organisations can build new partnerships, and attract new volunteers to the programme, for example working with a sports brand on new uniforms would make the programme more attractive to younger audiences. These will be recorded appropriately to ensure transparency of decision making.
Simply Connect volunteer website: £20,000
2.10.    Since 2013, the GLA has been operating a volunteer brokerage website (Team London). After a thorough analysis and evaluation process a decision was made that the Civil Society and Sport unit would not continue to invest in the website as an ongoing offering to London volunteers and organisations. It was felt that there was a responsibility to users (both organisations and the public) to ensure that they are still supported with a community asset that enables high quality volunteer brokerage in London. ADD2561 approved a grant of up to £50,000 to Simply Connect to develop their online offer, London Connect (final operating name to be agreed), into a volunteering brokerage platform for London that would ensure no gap was left by the closing of the Team London site.  This would fund user research, development, testing and launch of a new volunteering brokerage website to replace the current Team London website. Following user research and initial website development, it became clear that a further £11,000 (approved within MD3033) was needed to ensure the new site would provide an improved user experience for service users and make it easier for individual volunteers to connect with volunteering organisations in London. There were also increased costs due to inflationary pressures. As preparations to decommission the Team London website commence, a grant of £20,000 will be awarded to Simply Connect to cover the first year of operational and marketing costs, and encourage new users. This will allow Simply Connect to address any unforeseen technical issues, carry out upgrades and promote the site to secure future income and investment from other funders such as local authorities and funders. 

Youth offer
2.11.    It is well recognised that young people have been particularly impacted by events in recent years. There have been significant interruptions to their education and employment opportunities due to Covid-19, increasing rates of poor mental health and in addition the cost-of-living crisis affecting their wellbeing and access to support and opportunities. By supporting young people as set out below the GLA will work towards:
•    ensuring young Londoners are supported, empowered, and gain the skills they need to thrive
•    disadvantaged young Londoners will have the support they need for their personal development and to overcome barriers
•    the voices of young Londoners are represented in London
•    improving the mental health and wellbeing of young Londoners so they can lead healthier and happier lives.
2.12.    Young Ambassadors (formerly Team London Young Ambassadors) is the Mayor’s school volunteering programme which connects young Londoners with their communities through social action. The programme encourages and supports young people (aged 8 to 25 years) to tackle local issues that they care about and aims to promote community engagement, active citizenship and social integration, while also having a direct impact on local communities. The programme has developed over the years, with recent iterations delivering provision to support young people from low-income backgrounds and the teachers supporting them, to fund an enhanced programme for Alternative Provision (AP), Pupil Referral Units (PRU) and Special Educational Need and Disability (SEND) schools. The current programme (serving both mainstream and enhanced schools) has completed active delivery and will end in December 2023. Whilst the mainstream youth offer is reviewed the AP, PRU and SEND element will continue and pilot a new element championing mental health with young people with enhanced needs, acknowledging this activity ensures that support is provided for some of the most underserved young people in the city. 
Young Ambassadors (enhanced): £231,000
2.13.    The unit’s youth team are working collaboratively across the GLA, with a shared priority being youth mental health. A grant of £231,000 (consisting of £127,000 from the Civil Society and Sport budget and £104,000 from the Children and Young Londoners budget) will be awarded to Volunteering Matters, to continue supporting young people with enhanced needs in PRUs, Alternative Provision and SEND schools and pilot a targeted campaign championing mental health in young people with enhanced needs.
2.14.    In August 2022, following a competitive process Volunteering Matters were awarded a grant of £218,000 for their proposed work with young Londoners with specialist complex needs across SEND, PRU and APs. Volunteering Matters have a strong track record, expertise and experience in delivering to this target audience and programme has been incredibly well received by young people and acknowledged as invaluable by their teachers. This grant will be extended until March 2024 to allow for continued support. Extending the grant with Volunteering Matters will allow them to use their existing networks and their tried, tested and evolved approach, without a break in the programme and/or additional cost/time implications, all of which would reduce the impact of the programme, particularly as it is a short delivery period. In addition the extension will create a new mental health pilot for 300 young people to champion mental health in young people with tailored training, micro grants, events and resources. Volunteering Matters Engagement Managers are trained to deliver a trauma informed approach in their mental health work, meaning they have the specific skills to work with and adapt to the varied needs of the young people participating in the programme. The extension of this programme will allow more young people with enhanced needs to:
•    get involved in and lead social action mental health initiatives in schools, contribute to their communities and develop a habit of volunteering
•    equip young Londoners with the skills and knowledge, leading to increased social mobility, wellbeing, resilience, sense of belonging and connection
•    offer a train-the-trainer approach to pupils who will deliver mental health ambassadors wellbeing champion training, creating longevity and a whole school approach and access to information and resources to support the school
•    develop a toolkit shaped by the mental health ambassadors to be disseminated in schools across London to better support the mental health of young people in school settings
•    provide teacher engagement and capability to successfully embed youth social action in their schools
•    deliver activities to spread awareness of the campaign including events, roundtables and podcasts
•    build a network of collaborators from schools, local authorities, mental charities and the NHS to share best practice and embed new youth-focused approaches.
Reviewing the Youth offer: £72,000
2.15.    The youth team are entering a review phase to consider and plan for the next stages of support, considering the needs of Young Londoners in the post-pandemic and cost-of-living landscape. Expenditure of up to £72,000 will be used to plan for the next phase of youth focussed work. Evaluation shows the current youth social action programme has served young Londoners well. The current context reinforces the need to ensure the next phase of the Mayoral youth offer responds to the right problems in the right way. Before entering into a new programme of support in the next financial year, the programme will undertake research and pilot work critical for understanding the unique needs, challenges, opportunities and barriers for young people to thrive in all areas of their lives. Procured in accordance with the GLA Contracts and Funding Code, the research will indicate where and how delivery should be tested, and help to design the next responsive and demonstrably impactful phase on the unit youth offer.
 

3.1.    Under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 (“the 2010 Act”), as a public authority, the GLA must have ‘due regard’ to the need to: eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and any conduct that is prohibited by or under the 2010 Act; advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations, between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. Protected characteristics under the Equality Act are age, disability, gender re-assignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, and marriage or civil partnership status (the duty in respect of this last characteristic is to eliminate unlawful discrimination only).

3.2.    The Civil Society and Sport unit previously commissioned research to look at the barriers and challenges involved in enabling Londoners to participate in volunteering. This was to ensure that volunteering and social action programmes are structured in a way that is as appealing and accessible as possible. The programme to support inclusive volunteering builds on this research to strengthen good practice in involving diverse communities in volunteering; and, thus, ensure that volunteering is open to all. The 2019 Survey of Londoners showed that volunteering and social action participation improves social integration. As such, increasing accessibility of programmes will improve rates of social integration experienced by volunteers.  
3.3.    The programmes set out within this Decision will specifically work with, and benefit Londoners who are often the most marginalised in order to advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations, between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. For example the 2021-22 Survey of Londoners reported “Londoners living in the least deprived areas were more likely to have engaged in social action than those living in the most deprived areas (26 per cent compared to 14 per cent respectively)” and “White British Londoners (23 per cent) exhibited the highest rate of social action, while Londoners with an other ethnic group (14 per cent), Asian Londoners (15 per cent), Black Londoners (17 per cent) and White other Londoners (18 per cent) exhibited lower rates.”

3.4.    Projects will improve wellbeing, decrease social isolation and build relationships between Londoners. They will have a specific focus on groups disproportionately impacted by structural inequalities as identified in the Building a Fairer City action plan. The programme will encourage people from protected groups to participate in public life, thus fostering good relationships between those who share protected characteristics and those who do not.

3.5.    The Young Ambassadors programme will work with young people attending Pupil Referral Units and also with special educational needs. It will provide flexibility to those who have access requirements such as a disability or special educational needs. It will allocate enhanced levels of resource to these groups and ensure the content of delivery is adapted to meet different individual needs in the right way. This includes physical access to learning and any other reasonable adjustments required. 
 

4.1.    Key risks and issues

Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities
4.2.    This work aligns with statutory and other Mayoral strategies by:   
•    enhancing how Londoners work together, outside of statutory delivered services, to overcome inequalities & other societal problems. This means improving opportunities for Londoners to volunteer and for communities to connect and share practice. This links to the Mayor of London’s priorities of getting London back on its feet following the Covid-19 pandemic, creating opportunities for young people and the Mayor’s Building a Fairer London Plan 
•    enhancing the ability of Londoners to influence the state to ensure that public policies and services meet their needs. This means improving opportunities for Londoners to influence local, regional and national decision making and supporting organisations dedicated to tackling inequalities and other societal problems. This supports the Mayor’s work to make London a fairer and more equitable city and the aims and objectives set out in the London Recovery Board’s (now London Partnership Board) Structural Inequalities plan  
•    inspiring young people to foster valuable life skills by becoming active citizens in their local area, and bringing communities together in a way that is now more important than ever, building on the recommendations in the skills strategy  
•    deploying volunteers to roles in visitor welcome to support the work of the “Let’s Do London” campaign, thus contributing to the recovery of London’s tourism industry and its global reputation as a welcoming city and links to the Mayor’s priority of getting London back on its feet and creating opportunities for young people.
Consultations and impact assessments
4.3.    The unit programmes have been informed as follows:
•    The national Vision for Volunteering programme, funded by DCMS and led by NCVO, ACEVO and other partners has identified through extensive consultation, five core themes. One of these themes is equity and inclusion. In developing a Vision for Volunteering for London the delivery partner will mirror the five themes and work to ensure that consultation with VCSE groups in London centres on equity and inclusion.
•    The Building Strong Communities grant fund has worked closely with equity partners, Ubele, the Women’s Resource Centre, Inclusion London and Consortium to ensure the fund is as open and accessible as possible. These groups advise on how unit work should take into account the needs of the Londoners they and their colleagues in the sector represent (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Londoners, Women, LGBTQ+, and disabled Londoners). The evaluation of this fund will focus on the outcomes for Londoners from minoritised communities and will learn lessons from working with equity partners to reach grassroots groups. 
•    In designing the civil society stakeholder event, consultation has been undertaken with a range of stakeholders to inform the theme and speakers for the event so that the information shared with the sector is relevant, useful and targeted. In addition accessibility toolkits have been used to ensure access for all participants.
•    The London Volunteering Strategy Group includes VCSE organisations that represent LGBTQ+ people, people of different faiths, young people, people with disabilities and many more. The group has set priorities around working collaboratively to support and champion volunteering in London and the ongoing work with the LVSG and London Plus is designed to facilitate the group to achieve these aims. 
•    In partnership with other organisations the unit has established the Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Volunteer Managers Forum to share good practice and learning around EDI in volunteering and offer peer support. As part of their work to increase diversity in volunteering the unit has completed interviews and surveys with diverse Londoners to learn what barriers they have faced to volunteering, with learnings informing programme design and delivery.

Conflicts of interest
4.4.    Due to his role as a trustee of London Funders, Tunde Olayinka, Executive Director of Communities and Skills has recused himself from, and delegated to Alice Wilcock, Assistant Director Civil Society and Sport his role in the decision making with regards to the London Funders membership expenditure as set out at paragraph 2.5. The Executive Director of Communities and Skills will continue to remove himself from decision making or put appropriate mitigations in place where a potential conflict of interest is identified.  

4.5.    Due consideration has been given to identifying further potential conflicts of interest within this project, however, none have been found, including from those drafting or clearing this Decision Form. During the delivery of work contained within this Decision, declarations of interest will be made where relevant (such as during procurement exercises) and any conflicts of interest will be managed accordingly.
Subsidy control
4.6.    The funding within this programme has been considered in line with the Subsidy Control Act 2022. Officers of the Authority have considered whether programmes will involve the provision of grant funding to enterprises which are likely to receive funding from other public sector organisations, such that these activities have been considered further in light of the subsidy control principles. Those activities are as follows:

•    the award of up to £70,000 to London Plus in relation to the civil society infrastructure programme as described in paragraph 2.2=
•    the award of up to £231,000 to Volunteering Matters in relation to the enhanced Young Ambassadors programme as described in paragraph 2.13 and 2.14.

4.7.    London Plus is the infrastructure organisation for London’s civil society, with no other organisation working across the sector, or with access to the same networks as they do.

4.8.    This funding will allow London Plus to use their unique position to deliver work against shared priorities with both the GLA and the wider sector. This will grow support for civil society groups, as well as supporting particular areas of need, such as food poverty and the cost-of-living crisis which is most impacting London’s underserved communities.

4.9.    Volunteering Matters are an organisation in a unique position to continue reaching large numbers of young people with enhanced needs.

4.10.    Through this funding more underserved young Londoners (particularly those with protected characteristics and enhanced needs) will benefit from quality youth activities, specifically the ability to play an active role in shaping their communities and participate in activities that contribute to the betterment of society and improved mental health outcomes.

4.11.    Having already developed materials, networks and relationships with young people, this grant will enable work to continue with this underserved group of young people without interruption, duplication of expenditure, or repeating testing and evolution of approach and materials. Volunteering Matters are also trained to deliver the mental health elements to young people with enhanced needs.

5.1.    Approval is sought for expenditure of up to £578,000 for programmes supporting Londoners and civil society through projects convening the sector, promoting volunteering, supporting youth social action and enhancing opportunities for all Londoners to volunteer, profiled as set out at paragraph 1.6.
5.2.    The expenditure of £441,000 will be funded by the following Civil Society and Sport unit programme budgets: Civil Society (£100,000), Volunteering & Resilience (£60,000), Visitor Welcome (£82,000) and Youth and Schools (£199,000). The expenditure of £33,000 will be funded from the Communities and Skills Director’s budget. The expenditure of £104,000 will be funded by the Children and Young Londoners’ unit Child Health programme budget.
5.3.    This is in line with the budget allocations for 2023-24 financial year. 
 

Power to undertake the requested decisions
6.1.    The foregoing sections of this report indicate that the decisions requested of the Mayor concern the exercise of the Authority’s general powers and fall within the Authority’s statutory power to do such things considered to further or which are facilitative of, conducive or incidental to the promotion of social development within Greater London and 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.    
6.2.    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 (age; disability; gender reassignment; marriage and civil partnership; pregnancy and maternity; race; religion or belief; sex; sexual orientation) 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 (above) of this report.
Grant funding
6.3.    Decision 1 seeks approval of expenditure of £578,000. The supporting report indicates that this includes grants of £70,000 and £231,000 to London Plus and Volunteering Matters respectively. The proposed grants may be viewed as a conditional gifts rather than contracts for services and supplies.  Section 12 of the Authority’s Contracts and Funding Code (the “Code”) provides that decisions to award grant funding should generally be made on the basis of the outcome of a transparent, competitive application process. To this end, the officers have set out at paragraphs 2.2, and 2.13 and 2.14, above, how this requirement has been met. Furthermore, the officers must ensure that appropriate funding agreements be put in place between the Authority and the recipients before any part of the funding be paid.

    Subsidy control
6.4.    The Subsidy Control Act 2022 requires that grant funding comply with its subsidy control principles.  The officers have set out at paragraphs 4.5 to 4.10, above, how the proposed grants comply with those principles.
    Delegation
6.5.    Any function exercisable by the Mayor on behalf of the Authority may also be exercised by a member of the Authority’s staff albeit subject to any conditions, which the Mayor sees fit to impose. To this end, the Mayor may make the requested delegation to the Assistant Director, Civil Society and Sport if he so chooses.
    Exemption from the Contracts and Funding Code
6.6.    The procurement of the Authority’s membership of London Funders is valued at £33,000. Section 9 of the Code requires that the Authority undertake a formal tender process or make a call off from an accessible framework for procurements with a value between £10,000 and £150,000. However, section 10 of the Code also provides that an exemption from this requirement may be justified on the basis of a complete absence of competition. Officers have set out at paragraph 2.5, above, the reasons why the procurement of the London Funders membership falls within the said exemption.  Accordingly, the Mayor may approve the exemption, if he be so minded.
    Further procurement
6.7.    Officers are reminded that any further procurements to be undertaken in furtherance of the project must be undertaken in compliance with the requirements of the Code.