FOI - Youth services in Bexley [Jun 2024]

You requested:

As a parent of two children, ages 14 and 11, I am interested to know the full details of all youth services investments made in Bexley in the last 4 years and the full details of what is planned in your next term.

Our response:

Since 2018, the Mayor of London has invested over £700,000 in organisations in Bexley, which has helped to support at least 3,260 young people in Bexley.

This has been delivered through several different programmes, including the Young Londoners Fund and the New Deal for Young People. It’s also been delivered through the Mayor’s Violence Reduction Unit. Further information about these programmes can be found online.

We have included a more detailed breakdown of these programmes at the end of this response. 

As part of his manifesto for a fairer, safer and greener London the Mayor has committed to supporting 250,000 young Londoners to access positive opportunities over the rest of this administration.

It is too early in the administration to provide a plan for further investment in youth funding, which would go through our due process and then published in the future.

Please note that information has been provided from various teams within the GLA.

The Violence Reduction Unit

[See table in attached response letter]

Youth Investment in Bexley – Civil Society and Sport

Youth Social Action

Total investment in YP in Bexley since 2019

£7500 (7 Youth Social Action Grants of £500 per school one enhanced grant of £1000 and 3 Tree Planting grants worth £1000)

Number of positive opportunities provided for young people since 2019 in Bexley.

See table below for details.

List of programmes and organisations that were funded since 2019, including individual investment, the focus of the programme, number of YP supported and the outcomes for YP.

Young Ambassadors is the Mayor’s programme for engaging young people in social action through their schools. The programme encourages and supports young people (aged 8-18 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.

Any other relevant information the relates to Bexley and young people since 2019. – St Catherines school has won two awards since being involved in Young Ambassadors – The Tree Council Learning award (£200 grant) and a Ormiston grant of £5000 for their whole school approach to Youth social action.

List of organisations and focus - 468 young Londoners reached in Bexley.

[See table in attached response letter]

Sport and physical activity

[See table in attached response letter]

Young Londoners Fund

Between 2018 - 2022 the Mayor’s Young Londoners Fund invested £45 million and reached over 150,000 young Londoners. Through investing in over 350 locally delivered projects, young people have accessed positive opportunities and safe spaces, and built trusted relationships, helping them to reach their full potential. 

The fund saw £30 million invested directly to projects in local communities. The remaining £15 million were invested to expand existing projects funded by City Hall that support young Londoners. More information on the impact of the YLF can be found here – Young Londoners Fund | London City Hall

• Total investment in YP in Bexley from October 2018 – December 2022 - £234,972 (this is based on the projects initial anticipated reach)
• Number of positive opportunities provided for young people since 2018 in Bexley 1396  no. of yp supported from Bexley.

The table below shows YLF projects with more than 30% delivery to young people from Bexley  between Ocober 2018 – December 2022:

[See table in attached response letter]

As part of the YLF the GLA also funded YLF Local Networks, match funded by City Bridge Trust, to support the delivery of activities for young people locally, including supporting organisations with training and sustainability.  As part of this Community Links Bromley and Bexley Voluntary Service Council received a grant of £100,000 from 2019 – 2022.  Over this time they supported over 70 youth organisations across both Bromley and Bexley.

New Deal for Young People (NDYP):

Through the New Deal for Young People (NDYP), the Mayor is investing over £34m to deliver on his commitment to increase the quality, quantity and sustainability of the youth sector and provide high quality mentoring to 100,000 disadvantaged young Londoners.   To date over 80,000 young people have had access to mentoring through a unique collaborative approach utilising both directly funded programmes and mentoring delivery provided by teams across City Hall.

Building a trusted and positive relationship over time can help motivate and equip a young person to change their lives; supporting the development of skills, coping strategies and confidence. The skill and drive required to build transformational trusted relationships is a fundamental principle of high-quality youth and community work.  All NDYP funded organisations have committed to reporting on at least one of the outcomes in the VRU Outcomes framework. These include: increased understanding and exhibiting of healthy relationships; increased engagement with support services; increased engagement in education and employment; improved mental health and wellbeing; increased socio-emotional skills and; reducing involvement in harmful/ risky activities, behaviors or situations.

• Total investment in YP in Bexley from September 2020 – March 2024 - £303,037 (this is estimated by the GLA based on the number of boroughs a project delivers over / the total amount of investment)

• Number of positive opportunities provided for young people since 2020 in Bexley - 1396 young people estimated to be reached between 2020 – 2025 (this is based on the total number of yp proposed to be reached / the number of delivery boroughs)

The table below shows NDYP directly funded projects which include delivery to YP from Bexley between 2020 - 2025:

[See table in attached response letter]