MD3182 No Wrong Door Open Innovation Challenge

1.1.    The objectives and programme delivery approach of the No Wrong Door (NWD) programme were agreed in July 2021 by Mayoral Decision MD2833. The GLA has worked with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), London Councils and the sub regional partnerships (SRPs) to define NWD objectives: 
•    for Londoners, NWD will mean that no matter what their starting point or which service they access first, they will be connected to the right type of support, at the right time, to help them on their journey to good work . The programme has a particular focus on priority groups of Londoners who face systemic barriers in accessing support and opportunities  
•    for service organisations and providers, NWD will mean a clear and shared understanding by all partners of the pathways to good work in their area
•    NWD also aims to build strong partnerships and pathways with other public services in sectors that are critical to residents’ journeys to and through work, including health services, housing, childcare, and voluntary and community sector (VCS) support.
1.2.    Under the cover of MD2916, £500,000 from the UK Community Renewal Fund was awarded to NWD in 2021, and an additional £840,000 of GLA funds was allocated to the programme. This, with the existing budget of £720,000 (approved under cover of MD2833) for 2021-22 and 2022-23, brought the approved value of the programme to £2.060m over its lifetime. 
1.3.    Under cover of DD2624 the total NWD budget was increased to £2.5m spanning the financial years 2021-22 to 2024-25. This included £290,000 for a Research and Innovation programme and £150,000 for a pilot set-up fund to support concept development and prototyping of new practice models or interventions. 
1.4.    The NWD Research and Innovation programme comprises two stages. The first involved commissioning a social research organisation, the Young Foundation, to deliver a programme of research and engagement with Londoners, partners and practitioners (undertaken between March 2021 to December 2022) and culminated in the launch of a report in July 2023.  Through stage one, the Young Foundation identified several inefficiencies in the system that are preventing Londoners from accessing adequate employment support and set out seven opportunity areas (see figure 1 in Appendix A) for improvement for both the GLA and partners to take forward in stage two.
1.5.    The GLA manages an open innovation programme  (see MD2286, which established the initial pilot) that brings innovators together with London’s public, private and third sectors to co-design solutions to the city’s complex challenges. Over 20 challenges have been delivered to date – across priorities such as climate change, community resilience, affordable housing and regeneration. 
1.6.    The open-call approach has been successful in enabling the GLA to shape the direction of innovation. In this way, the GLA can better meet the needs of the city and Londoners, leverage expertise and resources from a diverse range of partners and support new forms of collaboration across sectors and systems, including between community groups, boroughs, innovators and private-sector partners.
1.7.    There is an opportunity to combine the £150k pilot set-up fund (per 1.3) from the NWD budget with the remaining NWD Research and Innovation funds to maximise the impact and reach of the programme through running an Open Innovation Challenge in partnership with Challenge LDN. The Open Innovation Challenge model will enable the NWD programme to respond directly to the challenges set out in the Young Foundation’s research report, building capacity amongst a wide range of partners to better integrate London’s skills and employment system and ensure that Londoners are getting the right support they need to move into good work. 
1.8.    The Young Foundation highlighted the need to work with more frontline delivery, grassroots and community organisations to build their capacity to actively participate in NWD systems change. This would sit alongside the strategic work being undertaken by the Integration Hubs, the GLA, the DWP and London Councils. 
1.9.    The NWD partners (including the Integration Hubs, DWP, SRPs and London Councils) will participate in design workshops led by the GLA Skills and Employment Unit and Challenge LDN team (sitting in the Economic Development Unit) to ensure the Challenge focus is meeting the opportunity areas (see Figure 1 at Appendix A) and aligning, rather than duplicating, with existing NWD initiatives. Partners will also be invited to participate in the Challenge judging panel, which will act as a strategic steering group throughout the Challenge process and judging rounds. Securing buy-in and engagement from NWD partners early on will support the objective of embedding Challenge learnings in Pan London approaches to policy, programmes and integration initiatives, maximising the impact for Londoners and the potential for sustainable solutions. 
 

2.1.    The Challenge will be delivered in four stages (see figure 2 in Appendix A):
•    a discovery phase (which has already begun) to map London’s landscape of innovators, priorities and growth sectors, in relation to the identified priority groups of Londoners, as defined in the Young Foundation Report 
•    an open call to invite innovators to bring forward their best ideas and collaborate with the GLA, NWD partners and Londoners 
•    a delivery phase for innovators to engage in the co-design, rapid prototyping, testing and iteration of their solutions
•    a growth phase where successful innovation is supported to scale up through access to markets, wider strategic partners and investors.
2.2.    The programme will be project-managed by the Strategy and Governance team in the Skills and Employment Unit and the Challenge LDN team in the Technology and Innovation Unit. An independent evaluation will be commissioned to assess impact during the programme and one year after the end of the Programme.
2.3.    The grant award process will follow best practice in terms of grant-making and project governance. This will be enhanced by the creation of an expert steering group which will be responsible for providing an outside perspective to the programme and the emerging projects. Additionally, they will add value for the innovators participating in the programme by bringing in external expertise, networks, and guidance to support the long-term scale up of the innovations.
2.4.    Final grant award letters will be approved and signed at Assistant Director level in line with the signatory permissions set out in Mayoral Decision Making at the GLA.  
2.5.    The programme will deliver the following outputs:
 

2.6.    The NWD Open Innovation Challenge will achieve the following outcomes:  
•    development of up to 15 pilot products or models using new partnership and funding streams, which can be released back into the wider skills and employment system to address challenges 
•    scale up of two to three winning innovations to create real change to the system and achieve positive outcomes for Londoners from the NWD priority groups
•    creation of a community of practice, supporting organisations, businesses, experts, local authorities and the NWD integration hubs to coordinate their work to improve outcomes for Londoners and build lasting partnerships
•    identification of learnings from the Open Innovation Challenge and the winning innovations that can be embedded into future GLA skills and employment policy and programmes, working alongside the other strands of NWD work to achieve long-lasting systemic change.  
2.7.    These outcomes will aim to achieve the following medium- and long-term impacts for Londoners.  
•    improved experiences for residents in engaging with services  
•    improved multi-agency working  
•    improved knowledge and skills amongst providers 
•    higher-quality referrals for residents from priority groups 
•    improved employment and training outcomes for Londoners from priority groups 
•    improved social outcomes, wages and quality of work for residents from priority groups.
2.8.    Each innovation pilot will be supported to develop frameworks to measure the success, sustainability and impact of their pilots, and an independent evaluator will evaluate the Open Innovation Challenge programme as a whole in relation to the above outcomes.
2.9.    In order to deliver the above benefits, the following expenditure is proposed: 

3.1.    Under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, as a public authority, the Mayor of London must have due regard to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation; and to advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations, between people who have a protected characteristic and those who do not. 
3.2.    The purpose of the challenge is to address the systemic barriers facing Londoners from NWD priority groups, who have been proven to face systemic barriers to access the support they need to move into good work. The Young Foundation’s qualitative research report contains several case studies exploring how Londoners from these groups encounter barriers when seeking opportunities that lead to education and employment. Several of these groups are identified as priority groups in the Mayor’s Skills Roadmap for London. An Equality and Impact Assessment (EQIA) will consider the specific challenges facing groups with protected characteristic and will be completed ahead of the challenge launch (February 2024). 
3.3.    Challenge LDN will ensure that the opportunity to participate in the programme reaches diverse innovators, including those who do not typically participate in this type of activity. The programme will use marketing and communication campaigns that reflect the diversity of London, including through outreach to peer-to-peer networks, as well as through London’s Business Improvement Districts, through local authority and third sector networks. Challenge LDN will ensure that 50 per cent of participating teams and innovators are female, deaf and disabled or Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic-led. 
3.4.    Challenge LDN will work with delivery partners to reach diverse community groups and access harder-to-reach communities, including those with lived experiences of the challenges being addressed. This will enable both the innovation process to be inclusive and the end product to better meet diverse need.
 

Risks arising/mitigations

Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities
4.1.    The Mayor’s Skills for Londoners Strategy and his Skills Roadmap for London outline commitments setting the direction of travel for adult education and skills provision in London over the Mayoral term and beyond. In the Skills Roadmap for London, the Mayor commits to fostering a more integrated skills and employment system, including with other public services and support, through establishing the NWD programme. 
4.2.    Economic Development Strategy: the programme meets the Mayor’s Economic Development Strategy objectives to stimulate innovation in response to London’s challenges, to support the adoption of innovation across the economy and society, and to enable the benefits of innovation to be more widely shared. 
4.3.    Smarter London Roadmap: the Smarter London Roadmap has identified six priorities for the current Mayoral term. One of the six priorities is Grand Open Calls. Expertise in open calls allows City Hall to set challenges to the tech sector and anchor institutions. This allows for design thinking, rapid prototyping and innovation in delivery beyond the current capabilities of the public sector. 
4.4.    Community Engagement: the NWD Open Innovation Challenge will directly involve communities impacted by underemployment in designing innovative solutions. Selected innovators will be required to outline their strategy for community engagement, and will be supported to engage in research, co-design and user testing with their communities.
4.5.    The Mayor’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy: the NWD Challenge directly supports objective 8 of the strategy to help Londoners at risk of marginalisation in the labour market to gain the skills and support they need to secure good quality jobs. The Challenge focusses on addressing the barriers preventing Londoners most at risk of marginalisation from getting the support they need to enter and access London’s labour market opportunities. The best solutions identified will be scaled and embedded in GLA policy and programmes. 
4.6.    There are no conflicts of interest to note for any of those involved in the drafting or clearance of the decision.
 

5.1.    Approval is sought for the expenditure of up to £450,000 to launch an Open Innovation Challenge to deliver stage two of the NWD Research and Innovation programme. This is a collaboration between the Skills and Employment Unit and the Economic Development and Programme’s Unit. 
5.2.    £320,000 of the £450,000 would be funded from the NWD programme budget within the Skills and Employment Unit in the Communities and Skills Directorate. The expenditure is profiled as £30,000 in 2023-24 and £290,000 in 2024-25 financial years.
5.3.    £130,000 would be funded from the Economic Development and Programmes Unit’s technology and innovation budget within the Good Growth Directorate. This is expected to all be spent in 2024-25.
5.4.    The table below summarises the estimated project budget across the financial years and across the units:

5.5.    Management and administration costs will be covered by existing staff resource within the Strategy and Governance team (Skills and Employment Unit) and the Technology and Innovation team (Economic Development and Programmes Unit). An additional £5,000 will be reserved for management and administrative costs that are not included in the delivery partner budget relating to costs such as accessibility, events and communications. 
5.6.    There is sufficient budget in 2023-24 within the NWD programme budget to fund the expenditure of £30,000.
5.7.    Funding for future financial years will be subject to the annual budget setting process and is subject to change. The expenditure of £420,000 in 2024-25 financial year is within agreed budgets and will be confirmed as part of the annual budget setting process and may be reviewed following the outcome of the 2024 Mayoral Election.
5.8.    Any contracts that commit the GLA in future financial years are subject to appropriate break clauses.
 

6.1.    The foregoing sections of this report indicate that:
•    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 that are facilitative of, conducive or incidental to the promotion of economic development and wealth creation in Greater London
•    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, and foster good relations, between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (race, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, religion or belief) and persons who do not (section 149 of the Equality Act 2010). To this end, the Mayor should have particular regard to section three (above) of this report.
6.3.    The proposed delegation of the Mayor’s powers is permitted under section 38 (1-2) of the Greater London Authority Act 1999. These provisions provide that the Mayor may delegate the exercise of his powers to any member of GLA staff.
6.4.    If the Mayor is minded to make the decisions sought, officers must ensure that, to the extent that expenditure concerns 
•    the award of grant funding, that it is distributed fairly, transparently, in manner which affords value for money, and in accordance with the requirements of the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code; and that grant funding agreements are put in place between and executed by the GLA and recipients before any commitment to fund is made
•    payment for services: that those services are procured in liaison with TfL Procurement and in accordance with the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code; and that contracts are put in place between and executed by the GLA and contractors before commencement of such services 
•    payment for staffing resourcing at the GLA, if such staffing is to be covered by establishing any new roles, that they comply fully with the GLA’s “establishment control” procedures.
 

7.1.    The project will be delivered according to the timetable outlined below:

Appendix A – NWD opportunity areas and programme delivery phases