Decisions

The Victim Service Coordinators and Lead role were introduced in Sept 2017, as a pivotal element of the victims of crime assessment and referral Model. They are employed by GMP and fully funded by GMCA. The team are led by the GMP Victim Services Strategic Lead and are responsible for the leadership and oversight of the victim services work at a divisional level, to improve partnership working and align services more effectively to improve pathways for victims.

Following the ongoing review of victim services across Greater Manchester which commenced in 2019/2020, a number of key successes and key challenges / opportunities for the Victims Service Coordinators were identified. This is currently being used to scope options for a redesign of the service, which can be worked into a practical delivery model. Whilst this work is undertaken, an extension of the current service is required to continue key support.

The continuation of the Victim Services Coordinators service over this 6-month duration will also allow consistency of support whilst the newly commissioned co-located victims multi-crime service is mobilised over late 2023 and into 2024.

To extend the funding of the GMP Victim Services Transformation Lead role and 11 Victim Services Coordinators posts, for a further 3 months from 30th September 2023 to 31st March 2024.

Total funding to be approved is for the Victim Services Transformation Lead role and the 11 Victim Services Coordinators is £291,000. The cost of extending the Victim Services Coordinators and Lead role from 30th September 2023 to 31st March 2024 are as follows:

• Victim Services Coordinators x 11 = £260,000
• Victim Services Lead - £ 31,000

TOTAL: £291,00 (6 months)

The extension of the posts will be funded via the annual MOJ Victims Budget allocation for 23/24.

In 2020, the GM VRU appointed Manchester Metropolitan University’s Big Data Centre as the GM VRU’s research and Evaluation Partner for the Serious Violence programme.

To date, MMU have been a vital component in providing research and evaluation for the VRU’s programmes of work and informing the Serious Violence (SV) programme.

Having a dedicated Research and Evaluation Partner has been invaluable to evidencing the success of the GM VRU. The contract will enable the continuation of the independent evaluation of the key VRU funded projects as well as support for wider research and evaluation work into the reduction of serious violence across GM.

Following a legal procurement process, The Greater Manchester Violence Reduction Unit (GM VRU) to award Manchester Metropolitan University’s Big Data Centre (MMU) to provide research and evaluation consultancy support from 1st November 2022 until 31st March 2025. The total contract value is £780,000.

The MoJ confirmed allocations to PCCs based on the needs assessment submitted. Following the change in process and PCCs being given responsibility for allocating the funding we have allocated funding based on the priorities we identified for GM.

Successful bids align to these priorities and will enable us to build capability and capacity across the sector and begin to address gaps in service provision and develop partnership approaches to some of the challenges within the system.

GM’s priorities for SV are development of witness centres; supporting capability, capacity and interoperability between services; increasing diversity of support offers; increasing therapeutic support capacity and ; supporting capacity for complex cases.

GM’s priorities for DA are supporting diversity and inclusion and extending accessibility of services through this; stalking and harassment; coordination support and the interconnectivity between domestic abuse and sexual violence support services; supporting a problem solving approach to risk management and; tackling volume demand within the system, including complex repeats.

3-year funding commitments will enable organisations to recruit and retain staff and deliver more sustainable services over the spending review period.

The decision is that:
In March 2022 the Ministry of Justice confirmed that nationally £147m of funding will be committed to over a multi-year period, until the end of 2024/25 for victim services. The multi-year commitment applies to the funding the MoJ provide PCCs to commission local victim support services – namely, £69.1m ‘core’ funding; £27m ringfenced funding for 700 ISVA/IDVA posts; £15.7m ringfenced funding for domestic abuse and sexual violence support services and a further £3.75m for the recruitment of 300 additional IDVA/ISVA posts by 2024/25.

As part of this additional funding PCCS had been required to submit an updated needs assessment in relation to domestic abuse and sexual violence support services. PCCs were required to undertake an expression of interest exercise and submit all bids to the MoJ for decision. However following submission of these there was a change in process and the MoJ confirmed allocation to PCCs based on the needs assessment.

Greater Manchester has been awarded an additional £731,273.47 p.a. for 2022/23, 2023/24 and 2024/25. The way this funding is allocated is a PCC decision, although all activity and the service provider must meet the necessary MoJ criteria, as set out in their original Police and Crime Commissioner Funding Allocation Guidance. Funding is ringfenced for DA and SV services. Organisations were asked to complete an expression of
interest for this funding. These were assessed against the GM priorities and decisions made to fund based on these and how funding would be best used at a GM level to support our ambitions. The priorities were provided to organisations as part of the bidding process.

Funding will be allocated as follows:

Organisation and funding 2022/23 2023/24 2024/25 Total 3-year commitment
Survivors Manchester – SV comms and engagement post (separate decision notice for detail)
Revised £22,000 (previous £7,000) The additional £15,000 will come out of the funding allocated to comms and engagement (£125,273.47) and is required due to associated on costs and the rise in the cost of living. This will cover 3 financial years (2022/23, 2023/24 and 2024/25).
£32,000 £34,000 £88,000 *£15k out of funding allocated to comms / website development
CAHN £30,000 £32,000 £34,000 £96,000
Olive Pathway £30,000 £32,000 £34,000 £96,000
Development of witness suites - Survivors Lead Provider on behalf of other including but not exclusive to CAHN (Caribbean & African Health Network)
GM Rape Crisis
MASH (Manchester Action on Street Health)
Fortalice £60,000 £62,000 £64,000 £186,000
Additional funding into the multi-crime gateway service (Victim support currently but the provider in future will be successful bidder through the recommissioning process) –additional DA/SV IVAS and CYP Programme Manager £75,000 £175,000 £175,000 £425,000
Victim multi-crime service communications / website redevelopment
£125,273.47

£15,000 of this total amount will be allocated to Survivors Manchester (in the first line) with a figure of £110,273.47 for wider comms / website redevelopment. £0 £0 £110,273.47 *£15k allocated to Survivors and included in overall total above GM Rape Crisis and The Pankhurst Trust (MWA) – developing therapeutic support offer
£100,000 £102,000 £104,000 £306,000
MASIP / Stalking and harassment – lead provider The Pankhurst Trust (MWA) £70,000 £72,000 £74,000 £216,000
Independent Choices / Safety for Sisters – case work NRPF
£78,000 £80,000 £82,000 £240,000
Fort Alice (ISVA)
£40,000 £42,000 £44,000 £126,000
Pankhurst Trust (MWA) Sexual Violence Harm Reduction Post
£31,000 £33,000 £35,000 £99,000
Stockport without Abuse (Male victims’ worker)
£25,000 £34,000 £36,000 £95,000
Advocacy after Fatal Domestic Abuse (AAFDA)
£25,000 £27,000 £29,000 £81,000
WaiYin £35,000 £37,000 £39,000 £111,000

Total
£731,273.47
£760,000
£784,000

All funding to organisations will be covered by a grant agreement. Monitoring takes place on a bi-annual basis through MoJ monitoring returns. We will also provide general oversight of funding and impact of this through the Sexual Violence Harm Reduction Group and the Victims Reassurance and Resilience Forum.

The Brake National Road Victim Service (NRVS) provides national support to victims and families following road traffic incidents. Often this includes bereavement support for family members and as such is considered a bespoke service to those currently provided by the GM Victims Services offer. Nationally, the Department for Transport contribute financially to the running of the NRVS, with Police and Crime Commissioners asked to contribute also.

The NRVS includes the following aspects:
• An accredited national helpline staffed by professionals and providing one to one, needs-led support planning for victims, safeguarding those who are high risk and vulnerable and providing specialist information and advocacy through the recovery process, including enabling victims to access a pathway to local services in local areas.
• Comprehensive Bereavement Support Information Packs (prepared and regularly reviewed in consultation with statutory agencies including the police). The packs (including translations) provide information and help dealing with emotions, practical issues (including information about the police investigation and the role of police with family liaison duties) and procedural issues such as going to court and many more.
Following consultation with Greater Manchester Police, this NRVS is a critical support mechanism used by the Family Liaison Officers. At present, there is no other such specialist service within Greater Manchester. The NRVS services support around 140 road victims a year in Greater Manchester.
The Department for Transport provided central funding to Brake in 2021/22 – subsequent funding has not been confirmed for 2022/23.
The grant is to be provided for 2022/2023. Work is underway to understand future commissioning options for such support as part of a national roads policing review being undertaken by the Department for Transport and the GM Victim Services review.

Approval is given for a grant of £14,125 to be provided to Brake for the delivery of the National Road Victims Service

Friends Meeting House:
The First Violence Reduction Roundtable, attended by the Mayor, Deputy Mayor , Chief Constable and a range of organisations across GM agreed there should be a second such event later in the year to check progress. The first roundtable was restricted to 36 people, due to space restrictions at the Tootal Building. This venue offers a cost effective alternative to accommodate up to 60 attendees and enable greater opportunity to garner community views.

Party Line Catering:
On Wednesday 28th September 2022, the GMVRU will be Hosting a visit for Martin Griffiths, National Clinical Director for Violence Reduction at NHS England and Clinical Lead for Violence Reduction in NHS London. The event will provide Martin with the opportunity to find out more about the programmes of work delivered by the GMVRU as well as meet the various members of the team.

The Greater Manchester Violence Reduction Unit are to make the following payments for VRU hosted events:

Friends Meeting House:
A payment to be made of £512.50 to book a room at Friends Meeting House, Manchester for the Violence Reduction Roundtable event on Friday 21st October 2022 as well as catering (Teas, coffees and Biscuits) for the 50 meeting attendees.

Party Line Catering:
A payment of £82.50 to be made to party line catering to provide catering for 15 people during Martin Griffith’s visit of the GM VRU on Wednesday 28th September 2022.

There has been significant instability and uncertainty within the GMFRS Principal Officer team during the last two years. Following the completion of the recent appointments to the GMFRS Principal Officer Team the Chief Fire Ofiicer now has confidence in the capability and leadership of the new PO Team.

Key issues for GMFRS in the short term are, publication of Volume 2 of the Manchester Arena Inquiry, scheduled for November 2022, a full round 3 HMICFRS inspection in 2023 and incorporation of Building Safety Legislative Reforms into local arrangements, all of which inextricably link to public safety. Progress being made from a HMICFRS perspective, must not only be maintained, but built upon further during the year ahead

The Chief Fire Officer’s recommendations for the stability, continuity and resilience of the Principal Officer Team are agreed.

Following competition Intec Systems Limited emerged as the preferred supplier.

Due to the high profile nature of the activities this procurement supports, a method statements threshold score of 60 % for quality was implemented to ensure bid responses both exceeded the requirements and to provide GMP with a high level of reassurance that the winning supplier can deliver the services stated.

Intec Systems Limited exceeded this threshold for both lots 1 and 2.

The Deputy Mayor approves the award of a 3 year contract for provision of Party Political Conference and Major Event Support Services to assist the National Accreditation Team (NAT), for Lot 1 and Lot 2, to Intec Systems Limited, with the option to extend for a further 3 years. The likely value of 6 years spend would be circa £1.4 million.

To deliver priority two of the gender-based violence delivery plan: initiate a sustained programme of public engagement to raise awareness of, and tackle, gender-based abuse and violence across the city-region.

GMCA will fund £150,000 to Hitch Marketing Ltd to deliver an insight gathering, communications and PR campaign to run from September 2022 to the end of March 2023.

The campaign will aim to change the behaviour of primarily men and boys to tackle gender-based violence against, primarily, women and girls in Greater Manchester.

In August 2019, the Mayor announced during the GM Reform Board that GM’s approach to tackling violence would be “community-led” in line with the GMs’ ambitious public service reform programme, which led to the establishment of the GM Community-Led Programme (CLP).

The key focus of the CLP is ensuring that young people and stakeholders in a specific locality or place come together, focussing on a strength based approach in the pilot sites to identify what work is already taking place , what gaps may exist and what the opportunities might be to address these gaps. Key to this approach is harnessing and building on existing strengths and capacity from within the community to develop projects and activities..

The programme is co-ordinated by a VCSE Sector Strategic Lead (Michael Phipps) who is working with Public Sector and VCSE sector partners to deliver the programme and is based within the GM VRU.

The VCSE Sector Strategic Lead is responsible for maximising the contribution of the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector in leading a series of place-based responses to violence affecting young people in those areas most in need of help and in achieving better outcomes for residents in those communities. The VRU Community-Led Delivery Group has been formed to oversee and scrutinise the overall programme of work, including the spending plan.

This programme is about working with communities to find solutions to problems that exist in their area. Investment is important and there is funding available to develop and deliver solutions that communities define and collectively agree on. The key priority is about building trust with communities and acting upon their challenges and ideas through prioritising a range of shared actions.

To date, the CLP is operating at various levels across 8 GM areas;
Manchester
Bolton
Bury
Salford
Oldham
Rochdale
Tameside
Wigan.
The further investment will support the CLP to Identify an additional 2 areas (Trafford and Stockport) as well as provide funding for a further 12 months in Bolton, Salford and Manchester.

The GM VRU has also committed a further £300,000 to enable each programme area to recruit Community-led Coordinator within the VCSE sector, who will support the VCSE Coordinator in the roll out and sustainability of the Community-led programmes.

The GM VRU award to Bolton Community Voluntary Sector (CVS) £875,000, by way of Grant funding, to support in the delivery and administration of the VRU’s Community-Led Pilots Programme on behalf of 10 GM. This further investment in the GM Community-led Programme will fund the following;

Establish Community-led programmes within the remaining two areas (£200,000 in Trafford and Stockport)

Provide £100,000 in funding to Bolton, Salford and Manchester in 2022/23 (£300,000 in total) to enable them to continue to develop their respective Community-led Programmes

£75,000 to fund a VCSE Sector Strategic Lead who’ll be working with Public Sector and VCSE sector partners to deliver the programme and is based within the GM VRU.

Furthermore, the VRU will award £300,000 (£30,000 each) in capacity building funding to enable local areas to recruit a Community-led Coordinator within the VCSE sector, who will support the VCSE Coordinator in the roll out and sustainability of the Community-led programmes.

To date, the GM VRU have awarded Bolton CVS a total of £780,000 from the 2020/21 and 21/22 Serious Violence Funding to support the Community-Led Programme. This will bring the total funding amount to £1,655,000

GMCA have run a competitive process and the three bidders listed above were the only bids received but all were considered good enough quality to proceed to award.

10 submissions were received and sent to a full evaluation panel. The evaluation comprised of 3 parts, covering (80%) Quality, (10%) Social Value and (10%) Value for Money.

The Successful provider’s scores were deemed acceptable and comprehensive throughout their submission and offered the most economically advantageous tenders.

Following a competitive procurement process using GMCA’s Open Procurement Procedures, via The Chest, GMCA wishes to award three contracts as part of the Skills Bootcamps programme to support 196 learners to train into manufacturing roles during 2022/23.
Contracts will be awarded to the following suppliers:
• Salford City College: Industrial Textiles Technician
• Rochdale Training: Welding
• 3D 360 Limited: Introduction to Additive Manufacturing (AM) and 3D Computer Aided Design.

Delivery is expected to start no later than end of October 2022. bootcamps must be no longer than 16 weeks and all delivery must have concluded by the end of March 2023 (with the potential for an extension dependent on good performance), and all contract activity and support must conclude no longer than 6 months after the conclusion of delivery.