Cross Border Innovations Fund - monitoring update

Report: 6
Date: 3 October 2011
By: Chief Executive

Summary

This report updates members on the progress of the projects supported by the MPA Cross Border Innovations Fund. The fund was signed off by members in 2010/2011 with an agreed budget of £60,000 to enable the development of innovative cross-borough community engagement and crime reduction initiatives. Of the 62 applications received and an internal assessment process six projects were funded.

A. Recommendation

That Members note the content of the report.

B. Supporting information

1. The Cross Border Innovations Fund has been established to support innovative and pioneering community engagement and outreach projects that span across borough boundaries and which target groups that are harder to engage via current methods. The 2008-10 Innovations Funding stream successfully encouraged the development of innovative practice particularly in relation to communities of identity rather than place. However, there were some notable gaps in representation and during this funding round, applications were specifically encouraged to support and develop engagement with deaf and disabled people, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, those suffering with mental health issues and with the business community as groups that were not engaged during the last round of Innovations Fund projects. This did not, however, preclude applications to support projects that engaged with groups other than those stated, which were given equal consideration. Details of the Fund along with guidance and application forms were disseminated through all borough Community Police Engagement Groups (CPEGs), Community Safety Managers, Voluntary and Sector Community (VCS) umbrella organisations and borough Police contacts. The maximum funding available for any individual project was £10,000, but applicants were advised that any bids for the full amount should span at least three different boroughs.

2. Bids were assessed against a range of criteria and the assessors were particularly seeking to ensure that funded projects would be:

• innovative and pioneering or seeking to develop or enhance a currently successful project;
• linked to the borough community safety priorities;
• intended to engage with previously under-represented groups (see paragraph 1);
• intended to support engagement between the Police and local communities, strengthening community Police relations and thereby increasing the community’s trust and confidence in the Police service.

3. In total 62 bids were received and the six successful projects all received funding in January 2011, with some commencing immediately on receipt of funding and others launching their projects in March/April 2011. A brief description of those projects is provided below:

• Ealing Community and Voluntary Service - West London LGBT Hate Crime Support Project (West London sub-region including the boroughs of Brent, Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham, Harrow, Hillingdon and Hounslow). This project aims to develop innovative hate crime engagement initiatives in West London targeted specifically at LGBT communities. The aim is to train community members to act as hate crime advocates who will engage LGBT residents to identify hate crime and community safety issues, provide third party reporting, offer support and increase community engagement.
• Independent Academic Research Studies - Young Women in the Criminal Justice System (Hackney and Tower Hamlets). This project is a 12 month, youth-led programme that will empower 10 young females (aged 16-25) to inform and influence how the police engage with young females with mental health issues within the criminal justice system. The project is being delivered in the London boroughs of Hackney and Tower Hamlets by London based organisation Independent Academic Research Studies (IARS), a youth-led social policy think-tank, and mental health charity Together UK. London-wide learning will be drawn for the MPA and MPS and other criminal justice agencies operating in the Capital.
• Age UK - Opening Doors for Older LGBT (all 20 boroughs in north London and initial strategic scoping work with all 13 boroughs in south London). The project will deliver a series of events and opportunities for the MPA and MPS to engage with older members of LGBT communities across north London. It aims to build upon the success of the existing ‘Opening Doors in Central London’ project which has worked closely with Borough LGBT Liaison Officers in successfully breaking down barriers between older LGBT individuals and the Metropolitan Police.
• L B Lambeth Peer Mentoring Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) and Mental Health (Lambeth, Southwark and Wandsworth). The project aims to develop and implement a peer mentoring support programme with BAME adults with experience of mental health issues and the criminal justice system. This includes training and supporting nine peer mentors and securing volunteering and employment opportunities in the community. The project team will also be working with the Criminal Justice Mental Health Service (CJMHS) to support BAME people involved in the criminal justice system who need to access mental health services at the point of police custody, court intervention or release from prison. Three community outreach workshops will also be held in partnership with local stakeholders (police; mental health services; voluntary and community organisations) to raise awareness and promote a positive understanding of mental health to reduce stigma and discrimination.
• The Haven, Waltham Forest Race Equality Council - Community Witness and Support Scheme (Waltham Forrest, Redbridge and Barking and Dagenham). This project offers an integrated package of community witness and support, advocacy and counseling for LGBT and disabled victims of hate crime and for victims of all forms of sexual abuse. This includes befriending and supporting victims in the community, attending police station and court hearings and providing an experienced counseling service for victims. The project has instigated an awareness raising campaign, which includes the dissemination of publicity materials and conducting seminars in schools, colleges and community groups.
• Merton Chamber of Commerce and Merton Voluntary Service Council - Business Engagement Outreach Project (Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth). This project is being delivered by Merton Chamber of Commerce/southlondon.biz as an agency that specialises in business engagement and who works closely in partnership with Merton Voluntary Service Council and local authorities in South West London. The project focuses on engagement with the local business community, particularly those located in industrial backwaters and small high streets, where the incidences or risk of crime is higher and where communities are harder to engage with than localities that have a higher policing priority and higher footfall – such as larger town centres and major transport hubs. Using a “foot soldier” approach a designated project officer will visit businesses and, using a questionnaire, will review their experience of anti-social behaviour, burglary and crime (for example hate or alcohol related) and provide the businesses with an opportunity to raise any issues and concerns and to feed them back to the police and community safety partners.

4. To meet the requirements of the service level agreement process, project leads are required to provide quarterly updates on the progress of their projects to ensure agreed objectives are being met. At the end of each project a broader assessment will be conducted to consider whether the objectives have been met and to assess whether the project could be replicated elsewhere and whether it has delivered value for money in community engagement. The table at Appendix 1 provides an overview of the achievements and progress and to date against the agreed objectives for each project. It also highlights any difficulties that have been encountered and the mitigating actions that have been put in place.

5. In conducting the quarterly review meetings with each of the project leads it has become evident that there have been a number of additional benefits and positive developments that had not previously been identified through the initial bidding process. Firstly, a number of projects have been able to augment their original programmes through the addition of in-kind support and/or further funding from other sources. For example, Ealing CVS is currently waiting on the outcome of a funding bid made to Hounslow Local Authority to extend the project further in Hounslow. The IARS Women in the Criminal Justice System project has received further funding from the Metropolitan Police Service and the Greater London Authority. In addition, having been advised by the MPA of the Mayor’s interest in developing a repository of what works in dealing with youth crime through the Project Oracle portal, IARS is currently preparing its project for the Project Oracle framework. Furthermore, following the recent disorder in London in August, as a youth-led social policy think-tank, IARS felt it was their duty to produce thoughtful and measured policy responses to these events. They involved a number of the girls from the CYWCJS in these responses, which were reported in the media and can be found on the IARS website www.iars.org.uk and the 99% website www.99percent.org.uk. Additionally, in response to the negative reporting of young people in the press as a result of the disorder, IARS in partnership with Team London at the Mayor’s Office, Transport for London and the MPS produced a poster promoting a positive image of young people, which is currently being displayed in all London Tube and Overground stations.

6. Further additional benefits to the MPA include an increased pool of people from under-represented groups with whom we can now engage and new communities to consult on the Policing London Business Plan. The funding has also enabled the voluntary sector organisations funded to develop their partnership working capability which has been of benefit to victims, particularly from diverse communities who were previously reluctant to access services or unaware that these services were available to them. For example, The Haven, which runs the community witness and support scheme project, believes that the Cross Border Innovations Fund has encouraged and developed cross-borough partnership working across Waltham Forest, Barking & Dagenham and Redbridge, which has been beneficial to all agencies. As a result of this work more clients from isolated communities are becoming aware of The Haven’s services and can be referred more easily.

7. The bidding and monitoring processes associated with this round of the Cross Border Innovations Fund have provided additional learning for the MPA that can be applied to future funding activities. For example, it has become clear that in some cases the project leads only made contact with partner agencies in one or two of the boroughs in which their projects were to operate, rather than in all relevant boroughs prior to implementation and this has slowed progress. In addition, it has previously been the practice to develop a digest of the funded projects for dissemination to wider partners at the project completion stage, but officers will now be doing more work to promote the funded projects throughout their life. This will mean disseminating information about the projects during the early stages, during the projects as they reach particular milestones and also at the end to provide an overview of the value that has been added through all the funded projects.

C. Other organisational and community implications

Equality and Diversity Impact

1. The range of projects supported through last year’s funding targeted the faith, age, ethnicity and gender equality strands. It was clear from this assessment that no projects specifically focusing on disability or sexual orientation equality groups had directly benefited from this funding. Therefore this round of funding aimed to improve engagement with those communities and to diversify the Authority’s engagement beyond the more easily engaged communities. In order to achieve this aim details of this year’s Cross Border Innovation Fund were circulated through VCS umbrella organisations, as well as through CPEGs, to increase awareness across a more diverse range of organisations and providers.

2. In order to assess applicants’ broader commitment and understanding of equality and diversity, all applicants were asked to demonstrate how equality and diversity issues had been considered throughout the planning of their proposed projects and to consider the potential for adverse impact on any particular group and the appropriate mitigations to manage those risks.

Consideration of Met Forward

3. The Innovations Fund supports the Met Connect strand of Met Forward, which aims to ensure the Authority and the MPS are engaging effectively with London’s communities so that the MPS delivers the service they want and need.

Financial Implications

4. The total budget for the Innovations fund is £60,000, which is contained within existing budgets. The financial management of the successful projects is considered through the quarterly monitoring regime to ensure that the allocated funds are used appropriately and in accordance with the agreed project objectives.

Legal Implications

5. The funded projects will continue into 2012 and possibly into the next financial year (2012/13). The MPA has written funding agreements with the lead organisations, which describe the terms and conditions of the grant and compliance with these is monitored through the quarterly review process. It is anticipated that the MPA will have been abolished by the end of January 2012 and responsibility for managing this funding stream will transfer to the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime as part of the wider organisational transfer scheme.

Environmental Implications

6. None arising from this report

Risk Implications

7. The main risk to the Authority is that the allocated funds are not spent in line with the agreed objectives and terms and conditions of grant and these provide for the Authority to reclaim monies if these are breached. There is a small additional risk in the current climate that the funded organisations will get into financial difficulties and become unviable. The monitoring process has been put in place to mitigate against this risk and at present all projects are progressing to a satisfactory standard and there are no indications that any of the funded organisations are entering into financial difficulties.

8. Further risks have been identified within each of the project bids and further details of these are provided in Appendix 1.

D. Background papers

None

E. Contact details

Report author: Tamsin Kelland, Engagement and Partnership Officer, MPA

For information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

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