Safer London Foundation funding

Report: 7
Date: 15 December 2011
By: Assistant Commissioner Territorial Policing on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This report on the Safer London Foundation provides a brief overview of past funding history and a proposal to ensure continued support and funding through the Police Property Act Fund for 2012/13.

A. Recommendations

To approve funding for 2012/13 of £0.5m to the Safer London Foundation from the Police Property Act Fund subject to MOPC being content on how the £0.5m in 2011/12 was spent.

B. Supporting information

1. The Police (Property) Act 1897 and the Police (Property) Regulations 1997 enable the surplus from the sale of certain property coming into police possession to be used for ‘charitable purposes’. Money from these sales is placed in the PPAF, which under legislation is the responsibility of the MPA. Funding from the PPAF is available for disbursement when sufficient money has accumulated. Administration of the Fund has been delegated by the MPA to the MPS.

PPAF Grant criteria

2. Disbursements should be to projects that support the MPS Mission and Values in the following objectives:

• tackling crime through safer neighbourhoods
• working together with all MPS citizens
• working together with all MPS partners

3. Safer London Foundation, as the MPS Charity, is going through a transition from primarily being a grant maker to working in partnership with the MPS and others to co-produce, contract and project manage a range of initiatives. In March 2011 a new CEO was appointed to lead the organisation through this change and to bring the charity into much closer strategic alignment with the MPS. Therefore, we believe that the PPAF is an entirely appropriate funding stream for the Safer London Foundation. Without this funding it may compromise their ability to support a number of high profile projects aligned to MPS priorities. (set out later in the report).

4. These funds would provide the infrastructure for SLF enabling other funding streams to implement and deliver programmes. These other funding strands rarely permit core funding.

5. The Safer London Foundation (SLF) was launched in June 2005 as the MPS Charity to support the Safer Neighbourhoods programme in making London a safer place. The SLF works towards MPS priorities by supporting crime prevention/reduction projects with grant funding, working with volunteers from the community and the corporate sector and delivering the Aspire mentoring programme supporting ex-offenders into work.

6. Over 5 years, SLF awarded over £2.2m to 125 projects across London, involving over 16,000 young people, many of them offenders or young people at risk of getting into crime. The grants awarded by SLF addressed a specific concern, such as weapon enabled crime or hate crime and were made to regulated, not for profit organisations which demonstrated links with their local Safer Neighbourhoods Teams.

Previous Funding History

7. An annual donation of £0.5m to the SLF was agreed by the MPA to cover the five financial years 2006/07 to 2010/11. This funding came from Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) seizures and confiscation orders resulting from MPS activity.

8. The SLF received funding for the 5 year period for the disbursement of POCA funds to community groups and initiatives. The SLF was required to provide an auditable process for the disbursement of funds including a recognised governance structure, thereby avoiding the need for the MPA/MPS to put in place its own administrative processes.

9. The PPAF has previously been used in addition to the POCA funding. The MPA agreed total funding of £0.511m from the Police Property Act Fund (PPAF) which was released to the SLF during the three financial years 2006/07 to 2008/09 having demonstrated to the MPA that their initiatives were effectively working at Safer Neighbourhood level.

10. The PPAF funding was to cover the SLF core costs, so that all other money raised by the SLF could be directed to fund or provide support for community projects.

11. The current POCA arrangement is under review with continuing uncertainty about the level of available funding. The Payback Programme Board recommends that any donations are made retrospectively and long term future commitments are not made due to the uncertainty surrounding POCA arrangements going forward. Therefore, now that the five year commitment to provide the SLF with £0.5m per annum has been honoured this avenue of funding is no longer available.

SLF Funding Proposal

12. To replace the level of funding that is no longer available from POCA an alternative source through Police Property Act Fund for 2011/12 was agreed by the MPA Finance and Resources Committee on the 23rd June 2011 with approval for a one off grant of £0.5m. Although the SLF has a strategic aim to diversify its income streams, this renewed proposal for PPAF monies recognises the benefit the SLF brings in managing the disbursement of funds. In particular as the MPS’ official charity and by use of the GLA Oracle approach, better management of outcomes against MPS and MPA priorities can be expected.

13. Taking the current position of the PPAF and estimating income and expenditure streams to year end, the balance of the PPAF at 31 March 2012 is estimated to be £4.6m.

14. Further estimates of the balance of the PPAF in 2012/13 and 2013/14, which includes providing for an annual allocation to boroughs of £0.8m should that level of funding be maintained and approved, indicate that the balance of the fund will increase slightly. This estimated increase indicates that, subject to no other significant demands on the fund, there will be sufficient balances available in the PPAF to provide to the SLF donations of £0.5m in 2012/13.

15. The Safer London Foundation has adopted the GLA Oracle methodology/framework to ensure that funding of potential projects are efficiently and effectively aligned to meet MPS Priorities. This proposal will provide the MPS with a robust monitoring process of how we allocate funding to local projects from the PPAF fund and ensure clearly defined outcomes are achieved.

16. In order to provide continuity and consistency to the Safer London Foundation Members are therefore asked to approve this proposal, subject to the SLF providing in their 2011/12 annual report details of how the donation linked into MPS priorities

17. Should the MPA agree this proposal the funding to the SLF from the PPAF should be allocated for the same purposes as the previous POCA funding, with a percentage top sliced to meet the SLF administration costs.

18. A review of SLF funding will take place during 2013 which will look at the future of PPAF and how advanced the SLF have developed alternative funding streams. It is possible that the SLF may become the preferred method of disbursing PPAF monies if evidenced based outcomes support this. Any future recommendations along this line will be through MOPC.

Safer London Foundation Business plan

19. The Board of Trustees has approved the Safer London’s business plan for 2011-2013 which includes a comprehensive fundraising strategy. The strategy includes raising and matching funds from the private sector, fundraising events, applying for grants from the lottery, public sector, trusts and foundations. This strategy was implemented in August 2011 and Safer London has already raised £1.3m from the GLA to deliver its YOU.matter programme, drawn in the £60,000 Home Office funds to deliver the Hackney young women’s project and raised £22,500 from fundraising activities run by one of its Trustees. A number of bids have been submitted to trusts and the public sector, and Deputy Mayor Kit Malthouse is hosting two business lunches on behalf of Safer London to garner private sector sponsorship. A joint fundraising event with the Lords Taverners is planned for March 2012.

Safer London Foundation Governance Process

20. An independent Board of Trustees is responsible for the governance and overall management of Safer London. They inform its strategic direction and provide expert advice. The current Trustees include Richard Reid, Chairman of KPMG (Chair); a senior MPS representative (currently) Deputy Commissioner ; Cindy Butts, Deputy Chair of the MPA; Steve Burton, Director of Community Safety, Enforcement and Policing at TfL; Lucy Dimes, CEO Alcatel-Lucent UK & Ireland and Sarah Ebanja, former Deputy CEO of the London Development Agency. The MPS Commissioner is the charity’s President.

21. MPA officers monitor SLF’s performance in respect of the £0.5m (2011/12 PPAF) with the Communities Equalities and People Committee receiving an annual report on SLF activity. The monitoring arrangements following the abolition of the MPA will move to the MOPC.

Demonstrating value for money

22. During 2011, Safer London has been working closely with the MPS at a senior officer level to ensure that the charity’s business plan and overall delivery strategy reflects the MPS’s priorities for tackling serious youth violence, including gangs, and violence against women and girls. The Deputy Commissioner, ACTP, TP Commanders, Borough Commanders and SNT officers have all been closely involved in advising on and shaping the charity’s activity for 2011/12 and its plans for the next couple of years.

23. Crime prevention, community safety and victim support are key priorities for the MPS, the Mayor and the Home Office, and are therefore Safer London Foundations priorities.

24. All projects build on existing evidence base and good practice and are measurable and scalable to be rolled out across London. They are designed to Target the communities hardest hit by crime and align to MPS priorities.

Overview of SLF Projects

25. The SLF is currently delivering the following projects with and on behalf of the MPS and other key stakeholders, including the GLA:

• Youth Panels – police engagement and confidence building with young people. Setting up panels in the Operation Connect boroughs comprised of young people involved in or at risk of criminal or gang activity. Panels will consult their peer group on local crime issues to inform SNP priorities and run campaigns that help young people stay safe e.g. apps for Blackberries that enable young people to anonymously report crimes.
• Girls and Gangs - Hackney pilot - Safer London is project managing, on behalf of the Hackney Local Authority and MPS-led Gangs Unit, their Home Office funded project. The project targets high and medium risk young women with links to gangs and at risk of violence and will include a combination of workshop activity, 1-1 support from a trained youth worker and referral to other key agencies as required, e.g. family mediation. The project is being co-delivered with Foundation for Life who are also delivering the MPS Heart programme. Safer London has been invited to participate in the Home Office’s Girls and Gangs Working Group as a result of its direct delivery projects and partnership working.
• Safe and Secure - SLF is project managing an MPS-led, multi agency relocation programme for gang members and victims, including housing and wraparound support services, funded by DCLG. They will raise funds and roll out the project from the current 10 boroughs and 10 people across other priority London locations and for other client groups e.g. Domestic Violence survivors.
• Aspire - Waltham Forest - Enhancing Operation Connect by providing employment coaches and mentors to gang members who have decided to cease their criminal activity and are on the LA’s ‘going the distance’ programme. As a result of its activity, LB Haringey is considering fundraising for SLF to deliver Aspire with ex-gang members from its Operation Connect cohort.
• Safer London Bus – Southwark - Cross-borough education, skills development and police engagement activity delivered on board a bus in the most challenging housing estates and schools in Southwark. The project is being delivered in partnership with Southwark Insights, St John Ambulance and other local voluntary sector organisations.
• YOU.matter - Managing delivery of £1.3m GLA funded pan-London programme to expand adult volunteer and youth participants in uniformed activity in high crime boroughs. Over 3 years 1,200 adult volunteers and 9,500 young people will be recruited.
• Kickz - Safer London has funded the Premier League / MPS sports and development programme to increase its activities in the 12 highest crime boroughs in London. To ensure robust evaluation and impact measurement, SLF is now working much more closely with SNTs, local community groups and other stakeholders to directly deliver activities. All current activities utilise the GLA’s Project Oracle evaluation framework and build on existing good practice.

C. Other organisational and community implications

Equality and Diversity Impact

1. The SLF works with Safer Neighbourhood Teams across London to prevent crime and re offending and to support the victims of crime.

2. SLF is currently delivering work in the five Operation Connect Boroughs and is developing a strategy to support the nine new Connect locations. These are the areas of highest crime and deprivation in London.

3. By working in these boroughs and particularly in the two highest priority wards within each borough, SLF is engaging with some of the most marginalised and under-represented communities.

Consideration of MET Forward

Financial Implications

4. The proposed financial commitment to provide funding of £0.5m for 2012/13 is on the Police Property Act Fund. Current estimates of the balance of the fund indicate that there will be sufficient funds available to make these donations to the SLF without the need to reduce the level of funding currently provided for other causes.

5. Future funding will be conditional on MOPC being satisfied how grants paid are being used by SLF.

Legal Implications

6. The MPA Co-ordination and Policing Committee agreed the grant criteria for the PPAF on 6 February 2004 and the administrative arrangements were approved by the Finance Committee on 19 February 2004.

7. The grant criteria stipulate that in addition to supporting specific projects, grants may also be made to support the general activities of an organisation provided the organisation can demonstrate on-going financial viability which is not dependent on MPA funding.

8. The SLF may not be financially viable without this donation. This should be ascertained but, on the basis that it is financially viable, the donation can be approved in compliance with relevant law and MPA standing orders.

9. In the event that the SLF is not financially viable, then the MPA can exercise its discretion to disapply this criterion in this case or amend the criteria permanently to allow this discretion. In this way, the MPA could approve the donation in accordance with its own guidance.

10. The grant criteria also state that a grant above £50,000 will only be made in exceptional circumstances. The MPA should record its reasoning why these circumstances apply in this case.

11. As the proposed donation is above the delegated limit of £20,000, the MPA’s Finance and Resources Committee (which has replaced the Coordination and Police Committee) must approve the recommendation to donate £0.5M to the SLF. DLS confirms that it can do so lawfully on the basis of the information in this report.

Environmental Implications

12. There are no environmental issues raised by this report

Risk Implications

13. The recommended donation from the Police Property Act Fund that is identified to fund the Safer London Foundation has been determined having considered the current and estimated financial position of the Fund thereby ensuring that the Fund is able to meet all its obligations.

14. A reduction in funding to SLF of £0.5m would have a significant impact on their ability to carry out the shared objectives with the MPS.

D. Background papers

• Appendix 1. Break Down of Safer London Foundation Projects and Costs

E. Contact details

Report authors: Chief Inspector Gary Fryer (Crime & Customer Strategy Command - Safer Neighbourhoods)

For more information contact:

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

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