Decisions

The Integrated Rehabilitation Service Accommodation contract was awarded to Ingeus in November 2021 following a formal open tender process.

Since the beginning of the contract, referrals into the GM Accommodation Service have been significantly more than those forecast as part of the tender process. The tender advertised a monthly referral of 170. See the last 6 months data:

Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan-23 Feb-23 Total Projected referrals for 12 months
257 299 320 253 329 266 1724 3448


This has led to oversized keyworker caseloads meaning that cases are not being satisfactorily managed. The staff morale is low with significant periods of absence due to work stress placing further pressure on the service.

We are at increased risk of individuals being released from Prison without the level of support required to access accommodation and therefore increased risk of people leaving prison with no safe accommodation and significantly increased risk of re-offending and recalls.

The proposal is based on the supporting 80% of the projected 12-month referral total. There will be an additional 12.6 staff to reduce the average caseload and significantly increase capacity for community referrals.

The extra capacity will allow greater integration with Probation with keyworkers in Probation Offices with at least weekly outreach at Wellbeing Hubs and Women’s Centres.

Moreover, there will be a specialist recruited to support the CAS-3 move on and the most complex cases i.e. arson and sex offenders. It has also been recognised that there is a need for more strategic capacity and the extra funding will support a local partnerships manager to contribute to regional discussions with GMPS Homeless Prevention Team, GMCA, Prison and LAs in the whole system response to homelessness.

We will work with the Ingeus to develop indicators to measure improvement in the service over the next 6 months.

To increase the 23/24 budget for the Integrated rehabilitation service Accommodation contract by £585,205 to a total of £1,379,729 to increase the capacity of the service based on the ongoing demand.

HMPPS approached GMCA in February 2022 having identified an internal Reducing Reoffending budget underspend. The addendum attached to the original Decision notice ( was agreed and signed on the 24th March 2022which sets out the terms and conditions of this funding.
The Addendum sets out two funding areas to deliver in-year (2021/22)
capital and outcomes targets. The first funding area is to assist reduce women’ re-offending and £1,000,000 was allocated against this target. The second area of spend is specifically limited to GMIRS providers of £400,000 for capital investment to strengthen the offer of these providers for people on probation.
Key stakeholders have agreed the relevant HMPPS departments. These proposals are in line with Greater Manchester’s ambition to increase the alignment of services to avoid fragmented delivery and to improve support for people on probation by recognising and supporting voluntary and community assets that already
exist within Greater Manchester.
HMPPS have identified an underspend and have approached regions to identify resource and capital spend and GM is one of the three identified areas to receive funding.
The allocation is in-year funding for 2021-22. However, in the case of small and medium sized enterprises (SME) providers we have secured agreement that capital investments can be purchased after this date and then reconciled to this financial year through the MOU and addendum with specific terms and conditions. GMCA finance representative have been involved in all stages.
The funding conditions set out in the addendum cover two areas; Reducing Women’s Reoffending and GMIRS Providers Capital Investment.
Reducing reoffending allows for:-
• On-site support
• Emotional regulation that includes but is not limited to, Dependency
and recovery, health improvement offers for women and the broader
reducing reoffending landscape including restorative justice,
analytics, drugs early warning system.
• Off-site support
An asset register will be maintained to ensure all spend is against agreed decisions and a final reconciliation can be undertaken once the provider has purchased the items.
A senior governance board for GMIRS oversees and scrutinises the overall programme of work, including this spending plan.

It has been agreed to support specific projects with capital spend relating to the original decision notice, Allocation of a one off payment of £11,000 to CLI towards rental for office space to support extra capacity built throughout the contract.

The GMCA Complex Safeguarding hub received training in March 2023 from the Reign Collective in the form of two online workshops for the members of staff within GMCA. The topics of these workshops covered the Grooming and Disclosure process, each being delivered from the victim's perspective. Two hours were given to each of these training events and took place via Teams, open to all staff from a complex safeguarding background.

GMCA Complex Safeguarding wish to pay £1200 from the Complex Safeguarding Budget (Deputy Mayor Investment Fund) to pay for x2 workshops that were delivered in March 2023

The reasons for the decision are:

This GBV project is based on the views offered by local voices, young and old. Their message speaks in union about the value of the GM GBVS. For these people, as well as colleagues in the VRU, it is all about building trust, confidence, and respect amongst pupils.
Working together, we are keen that young people recognise the consequences of what they say and do, as this impacts upon how others feel. This means that this project will support positive interactions between groups of pupils – no more so than with those pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. This is relevant too for some individual pupils, who report feelings of isolation or exclusion, often because of some of the comments their peers may make. Throughout this proposal, reference is made to the voice of pupils, teachers, school leaders and those supporting the work in schools across Greater Manchester. Their voices have informed the levers and drivers behind this project. Elements of this project will specifically involve engagement with faith schools, creation of an education strategy to tackle misogyny, and work to support female teachers in relation to channelling negative behaviour of boys when they engage in gender-based dialogue.

The relationship between the VRU/ the GBV Board, schools, their personal development curriculum, and Ofsted.
Headteachers want this approach to professional development. School leaders have responded well to the prospect of this project. The success of a school's personal development curriculum is not just about highlighting risk, recognising risks, and knowing how to avoid these risks. The personal development curriculum is also about drawing on local context issues and showing how the school’s delivery of lessons promotes a strong culture of personal development. Schools that have engaged in content linked to personal development, equality, diversity, and inclusion issues, as well as issues linked to gender-based violence have been written about positively in their Ofsted inspection. This is because their inspection grade for personal development will cover how well pupils, especially those with SEND, are prepared now for adult life. No headteacher ever delivers any curriculum for Ofsted. Indeed, Ofsted want to report on those areas that matter to parents, especially how well a school prepares a pupil for adult life.
The overall grade includes other factors such as careers and advice guidance, compliance with the Baker Clause and how well-prepared pupils are for the next stage in their education, employment, or training. There are strong examples of how VRU funded work in addressing concerns about knife crime has enabled schools to engage pupils to be responsible, aware of their surroundings and others and able to make good choices.

The Deputy Mayor agrees a funding allocation of £246,300 to commission a Partner to co-ordinate an 18-month project that will involve a minimum of four primary / secondary schools across GM and in order to develop a transferrable curriculum that will address prevention of Gender Based Violence.

1. The Serious Violence Duty 2022 came into effect in January 2023 and places a legal obligation on specified authorities (such as Police, Health, Fire & Probation amongst others) to work together to tackle the root causes of Serious Violence. In GM, the VRU has coordinated specified authorities via the creation and monthly coordination of a Task & Finish group to drive lockstep implementation of the duty between specified authorities across GM, a system that earned GM a ‘mature’ rating from the Home Office’s Joint Readiness Assessors, Crest Advisory.

The brief of this event in particular is intended as a launch event for the GM Serious Violence Duty Governance Board, intended to serve as an Exec Board to steer implementation of the Duty across GM and serves as a forum for all specified authorities to ensure collaboration and implementation in lockstep with one another, accountable to the Deputy Mayor. It has been agreed that the first meeting of this board will be in person, hence this event booking, with joint attendance by Crest Advisory and representation from all 10 GM Community Safety Partnerships & other specified authorities.

2. The Violence Reduction Unit intends to run a team away day to unite the wider GM Violence Reduction Partnership (including leads from public agencies across GM including Health, GMP, Probation, Public Health, Youth Justice and Education amongst others) in order to generate a Business Plan for the next 12 months, ensuring that Violence Reduction is at the heart of every stage of the plan. The away day is intended to generate team cohesion and ensure a partnership-wide approach to our core business planning.

1. Lancashire County Cricket Club (Emirates Old Trafford):
A payment to be made of £945.60 to book a room at Lancashire County Cricket Club (Emirates Old Trafford) covering event space for between 35 and 40 attendees well as refreshments (Teas, Coffees, Water and Pastries) covering 40 participants.

2. UA92 (University Academy 92 Ltd)
A payment to be made of £850.00 to book a room & catering at UA92 covering event space for between 25 and 30 attendees, as well as lunch & refreshments (Teas, Coffees, Water, Sandwiches & Crisps) covering 40 participants.

After significant progress was made to reduce Covid-19-related backlogs in the courts, the volume of cases coming into Greater Manchester Magistrates courts has risen significantly in the last year causing the situation at Manchester Magistrates court to be considered a critical incident in March 2023 by the LCJB. This is in the main attributed to a rise in police arrests and the subsequent charges and remands, combined with legal advisor resources, the introduction of common platform and the associated HMCTS strikes, sitting day allocation and the availability of on the day pre-sentence reports.

As such GMCA and the LCJB require a detailed understanding of the demand across the system and where the critical pressure points exist and a model that accurately captures:
• the dynamics of the system as it currently operates, demand and flow through the system
• future demand and risk, based on current trajectories if things stay as they are
• the impact of potential future changes to the system, such as impacts from policy changes or changes in workforce numbers or profiles of offending

Crest will also test three scenarios that represent possible changes that could be made to the system to impact throughput and the potential consequences of those choices. A report with recommendations for tactical changes that would have the greatest impact on relieving pressure on the system to improve the efficiency of the criminal justice system in Greater Manchester will be produced.
Crest were identified as a CJ specialist service and that they had previous data sharing agreements with GM CJS partners and understood the systems to allow an approach to be developed at pace due to the urgency of the issue.

Due to the declaration by the GM Local Criminal Justice Board (LCJB) of a critical incident in the GM Magistrates Courts THAT Crest Advisory provide analytical support to understand the demand across the system and where the critical pressure points exist. This is following an increase in GMP arrests and other factors resulting in a rise in
demand, impacting on the Magistrates courts which are at risk of becoming overwhelmed.
It is estimated the cost of the full programme of work to be £49,562 excluding VAT.

ICVA provide an essential service to PCCs around changes/updated legislation, codes of conduct, quality assessment framework, bitesize training courses for ICVs. Relevant training for Managers, provide refresher training around recommendations made from force Custody Inspections

To approve payment of ICVA membership fees for 2023/2024 at a cost of £1000 plus VAT

To ensure the safety of the ICV volunteers during out of hours visits.

To pay Salford City Council for their Out of Hours service in support of ICVs for the period 01.04.22 to 31.3.23 at a cost of £2506.

Also, to approve an estimated budget, based on 22/23 usage of £3000

The Experts by Experience programme is designed to appoint people with lived experience of serious violence to be trained in the skill of Appreciative Inquiry, and to use Appreciative Inquiry to carry out a critical appraisal of the GM VRU’s Community Led Pilots programme and more generally appraise the GM VRU’s Community Led approach. This event in particular is intended as a training day to train the appointed Experts in the skill of Appreciative Inquiry

The Greater Manchester Violence Reduction Unit (reserves budget) are seeking to make the following payment for a VRU hosted training event:

Friends Meeting House:
A payment to be made of £225.83 to book a room at Friends Meeting House, Manchester for the Violence Reduction Experts by Experience Training Programme for people with lived experience of serious violence on Wednesday 10th May 2023 as well as Teas & Coffees for the 15 meeting attendees.

The VRU has previously spent a total of £1314.96 on event space at Friends Meeting House in financial year 22/23. The proposed spend of £1,569.83 will be in financial year 23/24, and will take total spend across both years to £1540.79

Manchester city centre has 1,000 of the 6,000 licensed premises across the city region and therefore the City of Manchester continues to present the highest demand and vulnerability when it comes to the night-time economy. Many residents from across the city region visit the city centre (around 40% are from other parts of Greater Manchester) proving that investment in these schemes benefits all across the city region.

Within the city region the ‘Village’ area continues to be amongst the highest for policing demand and has high levels of vulnerable people who need help on a night out.

Up until 2022/23, the GMCA has contributed via grant funding to the LGBT Foundation for the provision of The Village Safe Haven (‘the Haven’) and the Village Angels scheme operate in the Canal Street ‘Village’ area of Manchester. The Scheme aims to support vulnerable individuals, prevent harm, increase general welfare, and reduce demand on the emergency services during the night time economy.

The primary public service beneficiaries are GMP, Manchester City Council and North West Ambulance Service. Further to this, cost benefits are seen by health and criminal justice services. Licensed premises also benefit.

The newly commissioned service is expected to build on this foundation and further improve partnership working the GMCA, Manchester City Council, Emergency Services and licenced premises in the ‘Village’ area to make it as safe as possible location for people to enjoy.

The GMCA will commission a Night Time Economy Welfare Scheme for the Gay Village ‘Village’ area of Manchester.

The contract will be awarded on a 21 months basis (1st July 2023 to 31st March 2025) + 1 year (2025/26) + 1 year (2026/27) basis.

The cost of the contract will be £135,000 per annum, bringing the total value of the contract to £506,250

Year 1 – 1st July 2023 to 31st March 2024 = £101,250
Year 2 – 1st April 2024 to 31st March 2025 = £135,000
Year 3 – 1st April 2025 to 31st March 2026 = £135,000
Year 4 – 1st April 2026 to 31st March 2027 = £135,000

The GM Victims Services website offers a hub of fundamental information, contact details, signposting and guidance on referral pathways to victims of crime in Greater Manchester. The website is linked/referred to by partner organisations and links into victims services such as those provided by Victim Support and St Mary’s SARC.

The OPCC has lead a commissioning exercise for a Multi Crime Gateway Service for Victims which will include a digital platform and website review. This process will conclude by the second quarter of 2023 with hosting of the current platform required in order that the victims services website can continue to function correctly and be supported until September 2023.

The GM victims service website hosting fees are renewed from 1st April 2023 until September 30th 2023 by Silverchip, the company commissioned as the provider.

The cost of hosting the site minus VAT is £1,100

The reasons for the decision are:

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, this is in line with extensions to the Victim Support Victim referral Assessment centre until 30th June 2023.

The continuation of the Victim Services Coordinators service over this 3 month duration will also allow consistency of support whilst the newly commissioned co-located victims multi-crime service is put in place this summer.

The decision is that:

To extend the funding of the GMP Victim Services Transformation Lead role and 11 Victim Services Coordinators posts, for a further 3 months from 1st April 2023 to June 30th 2023.

Total funding to be approved is for the Victim Services Transformation Lead role and the 11 Victim Services Coordinators is £145,500. The cost of extending the Victim Services Coordinators and Lead role from 1st December 2022 to 31st March 2023 are as follows:

• Victim Services Coordinators x 11 = £130,000
• Victim Services Lead - £ 15,500

TOTAL: £145,500 (3 months)

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

The reasons for the decision are:
In undertaking a review of the uniform for frontline police officers within Greater Manchester Police, consideration has been given to the suitability of each item of clothing for its intended use, to ensure it is fit for purpose. GMP’s Health and Safety Lead has been an integral part of the process recognising that uniform must be both fully functional for the role, and that any improvements in PPE (i.e. body armour) align to current health and safety guidelines. Particular attention has been given to ensure the following:-

• The uniform adopts recent improvements to personal protective equipment giving our operational officers the best protection.
• The uniform is smart and gives a professional image of GMP.
• The wearer is identifiable as being associated to GMP.
• The uniform is robust enough to deal with the daily demand of an operational officer; and
• The uniform is cost effective.

Alongside the issuing of a new uniform, it is equally important to drive ‘Uniform Standards’; therefore, it is proposed that officers receive clear communication on what uniform they should be wearing, and the standards that are expected. This will be outlined through the:-

• GMP Uniform Policy.
• Standards Guide; and
• Internal communication campaign.

The Deputy Mayor is asked to consider and approve the proposal and associated cost in relation to the acquisition and rollout schedule for an enhanced GMP police officer Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and uniform. This includes an urgent requirement to improve and update body armour ensuring that we provide the most effective protection to our staff and officers under Health and Safety guidelines.

The request to the Deputy Mayor is for two key decisions:

1. Agreement to purchase the new PPE and uniform as a one off initial investment of £5.3m (detailed financials below).
2. Agreement to provide one-off funding for the investment requirement outlined above.

To supplement communications to promote and support the delivery of Greater Manchester’s Gender-Based Violence Strategy and work to deliver its public engagement priority, including the current phase of the #IsThisOK? campaign.

GMCA pay Hitch Marketing (main contractor) and EY3 Media (sub-contractor) a maximum of £116,000 (plus VAT) from March 2023 to February/March 2024 to deliver ongoing social and digital media support to supplement both the current #IsThisOK? campaign and wider gender-based violence communications work.

The value of £116,000 includes a guaranteed amount of £48,000 to deliver ongoing work, and up to a maximum of £68,000 to provide a ‘call-on, call-off’ facility to be billed as work is commissioned.

A full breakdown is below:
• £48,000: Ongoing social and digital media management, billed via monthly retainer payments of £4,000. Will include quarterly review points to measure impact.
• Up to £18,000: ‘Call-on, call-off’ advertising spend, to promote messages through media advertising when necessary and useful. To be billed as commissioned.
• Up to £50,000: ‘Call-on, call-off’ content production, including video, photography, asset creation, blogs, and designed content to supplement ongoing messages when necessary. To be billed as commissioned.

This is a niche area of work that can only be delivered by a Primary Care Lead. An invitation for expressions of interest was circulated to PCG’s, however, only one response was received.

The Greater Manchester Combined Authority has been awarded £40,000 by NHS England in 2022/23 to fund a Violence Reduction Project to engage primary care in violence prevention work by identifying and referring on people involved in or at risk of violence, up to a maximum value of £40,000, which will include a range of other primary care prevention activities to compliment this project. Following an Expression of Interest process, West Gorton Medical Practice have been chosen to deliver this work.

The aims of the project are to:
• Engage primary care in violence prevention work by identifying and referring on people involved in or at risk of violence
• Particular focus on young people aged 10 to 25 (in line with GMVRU funding)
• Linking in with IRIS and DA work where needed

This will involve:
• Audit of records and development of coding
• Mapping of services and development of pathways
• Development and delivery of training
• Additional funding for VCSE partners for targeted intervention
• Evaluation


The funding covers provision of a Clinical Lead from within Primary Care, Project and Administrative Support, Training Providers and Training Days.

Anticipated duties of the Clinical Lead include:

• Leading on the education and training programme for primary care
• Chairing the steering group
• Attending NHS England and NHS Improvement monthly feedback meetings and associated peer learning sessions (approximately quarterly)
• Identifying opportunities for further development of project e.g. geographical expansion, links into other developments in primary care and the GM Integrated Care System
• Promoting the project and troubleshooting with GP practices (online and in person)
• Linking with VRU’s clinical lead to ensure project is aligned with VRU workstreams and other relevant systems work

The funding will be used for the payment of GP commitment of 1 day / 2 sessions per week for 6 months with remuneration at a rate equivalent to a locum sessional rate in order to backfill their time in their GP surgery.

This is a compliant framework that PDS has tendered nationally on behalf of all UK Police Forces.

The Deputy Mayor approves GMP join the Police Digital Service Framework Agreement for the maximum term of 8 years for the purchase of Airwave radio terminals. Typically GMP spend between £350K and £500K per annum and the maximum likely value if required to be used for the maximum 8 years would be circa £3.5m.

GMP currently have a contract in place for the delivery of digital forensic services, procured via an NCA agreement, however it doesn’t have the capacity to service all of the force’s requirements. Therefore, we require continued additional capacity and to future proof the requirements, by potentially onboarding the NCA work, when that contract lapses

Approval is given to tender the contracts for the supply Digital Forensic Services, via the FCN Digital Forensic Services National DPS.

The contract will be divided into 2 lots, as follows:
• Lot 1a - Digital Data Retrieval - Mobile Device
• Lot 3 - Digital Forensic Investigation & Evaluation

The contracts duration is for an initial period of 3 years, with the option to extend up to a further 2 years on an annual basis.

The indicative spend over the full 5-year period would be circa £1,500,000 for both contracts.

To aid the delivery of ICV Induction Training for eleven new ICVs to be undertaken on 24th April 2023.

Authorisation for the payment of £96.00 to be paid to Manchester City Council, Print and Design Department for the printing of ICVA ICV Induction trainer (x5) and student (x30) manuals.

The Gender-Based Violence Strategy was launched on 24th September 2021 following approval by the full GMCA. £1m funding was ringfenced towards delivery followings its approval – this was to assist with the delivery of the priorities within the strategy.

The strategy is to be delivered over a period of ten years. The strategy contains ten key strategic principles and 209 separate commitments for delivery and consists of the following key chapters:

? Tackling Gender-Based Violence in Greater Manchester.
? Changing the Story.
? Mobilising Greater Manchester.
? Supporting Victims and Survivors.
? Meeting the Needs of Children and Young People.
? Responding Effectively to Perpetrators.
? Improving Policing and Criminal Justice.
? Integrating Health and Social Care.

Further funding in addition to that will need to be drawn down to assist with the implementation of the strategy and the immediate priorities outlined in the delivery plan, as well as any additional areas of focus that are agreed within 2023/24. The current delivery plan priorities are:

• Establish a panel of lived experience;
• Initiate a sustained programme of public engagement;
• Initiate a long-term programme of education aimed at children and young people in schools, colleges and universities;
• Ensure consistent services in all Greater Manchester Communities – focusing on equality, diversity and inclusion; delivering a consistent approach to perpetrators; work with the CJ system to deliver a service that reflects the ethos of the GBV Strategy;
• Focus on whole housing approach to reduce the risk of homelessness; and
• Governance – Recognising the GBV Board’s role in focusing on strategic priorities.

In 2023/24 that a further £500k worth of funding from within the Deputy Mayor’s Investment Fund is ring-fenced and utilised towards delivery of Greater Manchester’s Gender-Based Violence Strategy.

The reasons for the decision are:

The GMCA has responsibility under the Police (Conduct) Regulations 2020 for the attendance at Police Misconduct Panels of a Legally Qualified Chair (LQC) and Independent Panel member (IPM). The LQC’s role is to chair hearings concerning the most serious allegations, where a police officer is at risk of dismissal. The LQC is assisted at the panel by an IPM and a senior police officer. The IPMs provide independent and impartial views at the misconduct panel. Concerns have arisen regarding the indemnification of LQCs involved in the misconduct process, which provides LQCs with security against legal liability, provided they act in good faith during the misconduct panel process. This arises from the potential of a claim for damages against misconduct panel members arising from an Equality Act claim before the Employment Tribunal at present.

On 26th November 2021 the GMCA was informed by the President of the National Association for LQCs (NALQC) that the organisation had informed the Home Secretary, H.M. Government, that the NALQC had advised its members that they should refuse to accept any further LQC appointments until this matter has been resolved nationally and specifically worded indemnity is provided by PCCs to its members.

As a result, the majority of LQCs were refusing to sit on misconduct panels until an agreed form of indemnity was provided.

In October 2022, a further development arose out of an LQC having been summoned by an employment tribunal to give evidence about a Police Misconduct Panel hearing they chaired and the decision they reached.

The previous decision notice refers to the form of wording that was agreed with LQCs at that point in time but is now deemed by LQCs to be insufficiently robust to provide sufficient assurance in the event of legal action being taken against them. The purpose of this decision notice is to seek the approval to adopt the revised wording agreed by the Association of Policing and Crime Chief Executives (APACE), APACE and National Association of LQCs as a form of indemnity which offers LQCs and IPMs assurance that they are covered for damages unless it is shown in a court or similar that they have acted in bad faith. This is similar to the wording of the magistrate’s indemnity set out in the Courts Act 2003. It provides the GMCA with a backstop to ensure that LQCs act professionally in their role as a panel chair. The GMCA has been advised to adopt the indemnity wording that is detailed in this decision notice by the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC). It is recommended that this wording be used until such time that the Home Office agrees an appropriate legislative solution for LQCs and IPMs..

To provide Indemnity to Legally Qualified Chairs and Independent Panel Members for Police Misconduct Panel arranged thus far for 2023/24 in accordance with the additional wording recommended by the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners as follows: -



In respect of the case of ....... which is to be held on ………. the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (the legal entity in which the property, rights and liabilities of Police and Crime Commissioner for the Greater Manchester area are vested) agrees to indemnify you as the Legally Qualified Chair (“LQC”)/ Independent Panel Member (“IPM”) in respect of: -
(i) any liabilities arising (including reasonable costs as agreed with you in connection with responding to or engaging with any legal proceedings or matters arising from the discharge of your functions as an LQC/IPM) for anything done or omitted to be done by you in the discharge of those functions unless, having received representations or submissions by or on your behalf, you are proved in a court of law or other tribunal with appropriate jurisdiction to have acted in bad faith. Furthermore, in the event of your being held to have any liability for anything done or omitted to be done by another member of the Panel of which you are part, the GMCA agrees to indemnify you in full in respect of any such liability.
(ii) any costs you may incur as a consequence of your being in receipt of a witness summons/order (or an application therefor) to give evidence in any court or tribunal of whatever nature concerning and/or relating to your and/or the Panel’s conducting of those proceedings and/or the decisions of the Panel in those proceedings. For the avoidance of doubt, this indemnity includes, but is not limited to, any costs you may incur:


• In seeking legal advice in relation to the receipt of a witness summons/order or an application therefor;
• In relation to the preparation of any representations and/or witness statements in relation to an application for a witness summons/order and/or in relation to an application to set aside the issuing of a witness summons/order;
• In relation to securing legal representation at any hearing of an application for a witness summons/order and/or the hearing of any application to set aside the issuing of a witness summons/order;
• In relation to the costs (including costs of legal representation) of participating in any appeal and/or application for judicial review (and any appeal therefrom) arising as a consequence of your being in receipt of an application for a witness summons/order or an application therefor; and
• In relation to attending a hearing or hearings, including the time spent thereat.

However, save where the issue/matter needs to be addressed by you immediately, no costs to which this indemnity applies should be incurred by you before you have notified the Director Police, Crime, Criminal Justice and Fire of the GMCA of the nature and extent of the issue/matter giving rise to a claim under it.

The strategic aim of VRUs communications plan is to reduce serious
violence by increasing aspirations of young people in Greater Manchester,and reassuring the public that the VRU is working together with partnersand the community to address serious violence and its underlying causes.

The communications objectives are to:

• Raise awareness of how Greater Manchester Violence Reduction
Unit (VRU) is working together with partners and the community to
address serious violence.
• Promote an alternative to violence by showcasing opportunities for
people affected by violence and build aspirations for young people
through campaigns and communications activity.
• Demonstrate the impact of the VRU in reducing serious violence,
especially violence amongst young people.

The aim of the original contract of work has been to support the above objectives by amplifying the VRUs presence online and reach. The aim of the contract variation is to:
• Continue this work by adding additional resource to ensure the VRU can produce targeted social media content driven by age and location following incidents of serious violence across GM
• Provide content support for the VRU’s 2022-23 Annual Report. The VRU has agreed with the Home Office to produce a shorter, more engaging annual report that intends to engage the public via wider reliance on infographics than long sections of text. This decision allows the VRU to engage professional content creators to amplify the VRU annual report’s presence and online reach whilst fulfilling our obligations to the Home Office. The VRU can also reuse any infographics created across other project areas, maximising value for money

The GM VRU is seeking to vary the existing £75,000 content creation contract between the VRU and EY3 Media by increasing the value by £21,078.76 resulting in a new total contract value of £96,078.76

Since its establishment in 2019, the GM VRU have devolved a large proportion of the Home Office Serious Violence Funding to the 10 GM CSPs, to utilise their existing partnerships and community knowledge to address SV within their local areas.

In the 2022/23, the CSP funded activities resulted in interventions being delivered to over 40,000 Young People across GM. The GM VRU intends to continue funding the positive work being delivered by the CSPs by providing funding for a further 2 years.

Whereas previous funding has only been agreed for a 12-month period, the recent Home Office funding settlement up to March 2025 has enabled us to allocate funding for 2023/24 and 2024/25, which will allow for longer term sustainable interventions and improved evaluation. In addition, the Serious Violence Duty has attracted ‘burden’ funding for the same 2 year period, to be allocated to CSPs (who represent the Specified Authorities in their locality.)

In April 2023, the GM VRU will be writing to the 10GM CSPs to announce that £150,000 funding would be made available (£200,000 for MCC) for each of the 2 years, from the Serious Violence funding, under the condition that a spending plan be completed and submitted, with the endorsement of their respective Directors of Children Services and Public Health, for the approval of the GM VRU. This letter will also include the SVD funding as outlined in the decisions section of this notice.

It is an expectation of the GM VRU that outcomes and activities commissioned by the CSPs should be monitored locally and reported back to the GM VRU. Furthermore, the CSPs were asked to ensure that the programmes and services commissioned for 2023/2024 are in line with the following areas of need which continue to feature within the VRU Strategic Needs Assessment:
Child and adolescent mental health and wellbeing.
Children and young people in Alternative Provision, at risk of exclusion or not accessing education, particularly where violence has been identified as a cause for concern.
Adverse childhood experiences and trauma-responsive activity.
Adolescent early help services, including drugs and alcohol services.
Youth engagement and provision, including community sports.
Support for parents who are concerned about their child becoming a victim or perpetrator of violent crime.
Transition for children and young people between primary schools, secondary schools and further education

As well as the above areas, the GM VRU also expected districts to apply following:
• Be data led by making full use of the GMCA VRU Violence Dashboard and Strategic Needs Assessment.
• Ensure that a minimum of 30% of funding is spent on ‘high impact’ interventions as defined by the Youth Endowment Fund Toolkit.
• Employ the principles of community-led approaches where opportunity presents, including co-designing and planning. Where community-led programmes exist within your area, we would encourage you to consider investing in successful initiatives which are being delivered by grass root organisations.
• Maintain positive and aspirational language in young person campaigns and avoid deterrent-based approaches (such as ‘scared straight’)
• Monitoring reports must be submitted to the VRU by Mid-October 2023 and April 2024 (and replicated for 2024/25) using the proforma requested by the VRU.
• Staff training to support delivery is allowed.
• Whilst funding of posts for violence reduction managers or front-line delivery workers is appropriate, administrative or analytical work should be absorbed within existing structures.
• Consider 15% match funding per intervention and report where achieved.

The reporting for the SVD is similar to the core grant reporting requirements, however with a quarterly frequency. This has been communicated to and agreed by CSPs and respective Specified Authority partners and an appropriate template provided.

The Deputy Mayor agrees to award each Greater Manchester Community Safety Partnership (CSP) the below funding as part of the Devolved 2023/24 and 2024/25 GM Violence Reduction Unit Serious Violence Funding and separate 2023/24 and 2024/25 Serious Violence Duty ‘burden’ funding.

CSP Devolved Funding £1,550,000 (2023/24 AND 2024/25)
The GM VRU has agreed to continue to devolve £150,000 (£200,000 to the City of Manchester) to the 10 CSP areas across GM. The funding will be granted on the condition that the individual CSP plans are aligned to the wider strategic priorities of their authority and partners and are co-signed by Directors of Children’s Services and Population Health.
In addition – Serious Violence Duty ‘burden’ funding as below.
Serious Violence Duty – Labour costs 2023/24 £11,182 & MCC £14,917
2024/25 - £9,858, MCC £13,142
Serious Violence Duty – Non -Labour costs 2023/24, £15,966 &
MCC £21,294
2024/25 £8,098, MCC £10,798

2023/24 Serious Violence total funding amount to be devolved to CSPs: £1,830,543
2024/25 Serious Violence total funding amount to be devolved to CSPs: £1,735,544

The reasons for the decision are:

The below funding to be made available to CSPs for the next three years, subject to current levels of funding made to GMCA. The grants are committed annually at the Police and Crime Panel that takes place as part of the Police Precept setting process.

The payments to district CSPs will be covered by a grant agreement which sets out the purpose of the grant and conditions of spend. The grant agreement states that payments are made in advance and governance of the spend is delegated to the district CSP.

The advance payment and local governance recognises the increasing demands on districts and the desire to reduce bureaucracy where local governance processes already exist.

The decision is that:

The Community Safety grants and amounts as set out below be paid to each of the community safety partnerships as an advance payment in each financial year:

• Community Safety Grant
• Voluntary and Community Sector Grant
• Hate Crime Grant

These payments set out are below are dependent upon:

• Receipt of financial monitoring reports in each year with no unallocated underspends exceeding £15,000 in total.

• District Community Safety Partnership approval of the grant agreement in each year.

• Confirmation of the approval of the spending proposals by the district Community Safety Partnership as part of the local governance process, with quarterly updates, thereafter, shared with the GMCA and a financial report be provided to GMCA in February of each year with actual spend to January and projected spend to March of that financial year.
Community Safety grant, Voluntary and Community sector grant, Hate Crime Grants (Dep Mayor), Hate Crime Grant Police and Crime Panel

Bolton £304,523 100,000 5,000 5,000
Bury £157,973 100,000 5,000 5,000
Manchester £694,584 200,000 5,000 5,000
Oldham £262,287 100,000 5,000 5,000
Rochdale £234,175 100,000 5,000 5,000
Salford £239,306 100,000 5,000 5,000
Stockport 218,973 100,000 5,000 5,000
Tameside £243,900 100,000 5,000 5,000
Trafford £200,800 100,000 5,000 5,000
Wigan £247,614 100,000 5,000 5,000

In addition, the Police, Fire and Crime Panel makes a further £500 available to each districts for the administration of the Hate crime grant.

Dignifi
£22,000 - For further delivery of an additional 12-month contract further to the existing contract due to increased demands for this training which has been positively received, and to extend provision of the training to other Criminal Justice staff including prison and custody officers.

£22,000 - For the further delivery of an additional 12-month contract to provide a support service to national probation service and youth justice care leavers. This is in light of the fact that probation has increased its processing of identifying care leavers within caseloads, and therefore demand for this service.

The GM VRU is to award a contract extension to x2 existing contracts between VRU GMCA and Dignifi out of the GM VRU Criminal Justice Delivery Strand Budget Line.
Value £44,000

The Experts by Experience programme is designed to appoint people with lived experience of serious violence to be trained in the skill of Appreciative Inquiry, and to use Appreciative Inquiry to carry out a critical appraisal of the GM VRU’s Community Led Pilots programme and more generally appraise the GM VRU’s Community Led approach. Big Life Group’s provision of a community worker will provide a vital link between those appointed to lead the evaluation and members of the community the VRU serves.

Big Life Group
A payment to be made of £2400 to Big Life Group to provide a Community Worker & x4 individuals with lived experience of serious violence who will support the VRU’s Experts by Experience programme, a qualitative evaluation of the VRU led by individuals with lived experience of serious violence. The Community Worker will provide ongoing advice and support to the Experts by Experience appointees who will be conducting the community led evaluation. They will also support workshops between January and May 2023, culminating in a final joint event in May 2023 to include senior Decision Makers from the GMCA, including the Mayor of Greater Manchester.

The Greater Manchester Violence Reduction Unit are seeking to make a payment of £2600 to Big Life Group for:

• £1200 for provision of a Community Worker to support the VRU’s Experts by Experience Community Led Evaluation programme
• £1400 for funding of x4 individuals with lived experience of serious violence to support the programme

GMWSA is a registered charity whose vision is to see an approach to women facing multiple unmet needs which emphasises early intervention and prevention, diverting women away from statutory intervention.

The GMWSA was awarded the contract to deliver the Women’s Support Service as part of the GMIRS commissioning process. As part of the mobilisation and to support the service meeting prescribed vetting and cyber security standards required by HMPPS, it was agreed that the cost of Cyber essential, IASME and BPSS would be borne through GMCA.

In a Decision Notice dated 27th May 2022 (see attached) the Deputy Mayor agreed to the spending plan of £1,071,267.97 from the grant received from HMPPS of £1,400,000. The remaining funds will be allocated via a separate decision notice. This Decision Notice is to account for an additional £20,792 of the unallocated funds to cover the following vetting and IT security costs:

Item Description Cost
BPSS - Staff vetting £3,672
IASME essential - Minimum cyber essentials required for all providers
£11,760
IASME enhanced - Enhanced standard for main data holders
£5,360
Total £20,792

The award of this funding will enable the GMWSA to meet the required HMPPS standards regarding cyber security and vetting while not having to divert any additional resources away from front line key worker support.

As part of mobilisation GMCA have agreed to reimburse the Greater Manchester Women’s Support Alliance (GMWSA) the cost of the IASME, BPSS Vetting and Cyber essentials to the amount of £20,792

The Greater Manchester Strategy recognises that the pandemic has disproportionately impacted our people and places, and acknowledges that recovery will be tough. In Greater Manchester, we will make every effort to ensure that all our people are supported to live a good life, through all ages and stages in their lives. This includes a commitment to supporting our children and young people to be good learners, with any necessary family help, education recovery, wrap-around provision and health and wellbeing needs being met.

As outlined within the GM VRU’s Serious Violence Action Plan our ambition to ‘ensure that families and communities that are affected by serious violence are effectively supported through our place-based offer’ (priority 3) recognising the significant impact that violence of any kind can have on the lives of families. In recognition that families can be both an important protective factor and a deterrent. The VRU are committed to promoting the importance of intervening earlier in Greater Manchester so that families can get help when they need it and not just when they hit crisis point. Working in partnership with national and local research institutes and families themselves to get a better understanding of what families that experience violence need so that we can be smarter and more creative about the services we offer to them.

In June 2021, the VRU in partnership with the Innovation Hub held a Primary School Summit, to address growing anecdotal concerns from primary schools in GM that issues of intergenerational violence and knife carrying appeared to be increasingly prevalent and were affecting children at a younger age than had previously been the case. Of those attendees working in schools 83% indicated that behaviour, particularly in respect to violence or threats of violence, had become worse. There was a notable call for parental education in the context of digital education and positive role modelling in their use of technology and digital interactions. It was agreed that interventions that seek to break the inter-generational concerns should include holistic family approaches for strong, consistent parenting.

The development of the VRU’s Community Led Programmes has found that in many areas of Greater Manchester many families struggle to engage with statutory services and will only engage when they hit a crisis point e.g., when certain behaviours have escalated and are now posing a risk. Parents and carers have welcomed the family support offers available in their areas with one parent who was struggling to get support in place at school with the support of a family worker they would never have known who to go to.

A full competitive tender process has been undertaken, supported and moderated by procurement and Information Governance and Oasis Hub Oldham were the successful bidder, with an excellent offer to deliver this service.

The service will be contract managed by the Children and Young People’s Principal and will be subject to ongoing evaluation by the GMCA evaluation partner.

The Deputy Mayor agrees to the funding allocation of £780,000 of VRU core funding to develop and deliver a programme strength based, trauma informed, support for parents and carers.
£750,000 for the core programme and £30,000 to facilitate co-creation and development with parent and carer stakeholders.

This funding will be delivered across periods 2022/2023, 2023/2024, 2024/2025. The contract will commence from contract award until 31 March 2025.

This amount has been agreed by the Serious Violence Governance Board as well as key stakeholders, including GMCA senior leadership and the relevant Home Office departments.

The APCC offers the following services to members:
• Provides Information on national policing policy issues and legislation.
• Consults PCCs to enable them to develop policy positions and to influence change.
• Facilitates the leadership of PCCs on national governance structures such as the College of Policing, National Crime Agency, other police professional bodies, and fire and rescue bodies.
• Provides a range of opportunities for members to come together to debate and discuss national policing and criminal justice policy and engage with senior stakeholders.
• Assists PCCs to share practice and identify ways to achieve efficiencies through collaboration.
• Support PCCs seeking to take on and fulfil fire and rescue governance responsibilities.

The annual subscription of £38,550 is due on 1st April 2023 will be paid to the APCC.

APCC
A payment of £38,550 to remain subscripted to the APCC.

The reasons for the decision are:
In 2021/22 – GM VRU and Merseyside VRP worked in partnership with StreetDoctors to develop an app-based version of the StreetDoctors lifesaver programme. (Usually delivered face to face in schools but with cost / resource and logistical implications). The app has been tested with learners and teachers in various educational settings and is now ready for roll out. Access per pupil to the app-based modules (a log in) will be £15 (charged by StreetDoctors), and it was always agreed that StreetDoctors would hold the rights and eventually license the product.
As both GM and Merseyside helped to develop this product, we have been given access per pupil of £5, and also 400 free access per area.
Our Navigators have been helping to facilitate the testing of the product (utilising 1 log in for group session), and there is a keen interest from schools / colleges / Princes Trust to deliver this app-based training.
Antony Edkins has agreed to support the roll out with £20,000 from the 2022/23 budget, to further engage educational establishments in the awareness and prevention of violence. This will provide us with a total of 4400 log ins, with no expiry.
We ae now considering how mental health first aid might be developed and delivered in a similar way.

A 2022/23 budget allocation of £20,000 - VRU (Education) budget to fund the StreetDoctors app based learning.

The setting up of a lived experience panel is one of the key commitments within the GM GBV Strategy. We will only be truly successful in our endeavour and delivery of this by having those with lived experience at the very heart of everything we do.
An Expression of Interest (EOI) process was undertaken to appoint an
organisation to deliver this work. There was one application from
partnership of organisations – SAWN and Olive Pathway. An evaluation and scoring process for the EOI was undertaken. The partnership of Olive Pathways and SAWN submission scored well in respect of the overall required criteria, but less well in respect of community reach within the wider sector.
Options were explored and it was recommended that due to the pre-work that had previously taken place with SafeLives, it was proposed at the GBV Board that Safe Lives would be engaged to support Olive Pathway and SAWN to fill the identified gap, which would also develop both organisations. The GBV Board endorsed this proposal. A separate decision notice is in place for this funding.
Olive Pathway and SAWN will work with SafeLives on the delivery of and implementation of the Lived Experience Panel. They will work jointly on recruitment, proposals as to how the panel will work and developing a work programme etc. GMCA will provide oversight of this.

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime approves £100k of funding over 2 years for delivery and implementation of the GBV Lived Experience Panel.
This funding will go to Olive Pathway and Support and Action for Women Network (SAWN).
The total funding over 2 years is £100,000. This amount of funding has been prior approved – this decision seeks to confirm the organisations appointed to deliver it.

The reason for the decision is:

A single expression of interest had been received in respect of the Lived Experience Panel, which was a joint submission from Olive Pathway and SAWN. The submission scored well in respect of the overall required criteria, but less well in respect of community reach within the wider sector.

Options were explored and given the pre-work that had previously taken place with SafeLives, it was proposed that they would be engaged to support Olive Pathway and SAWN fill the identified gap, which would also develop both organisations. The GBV Board endorsed and supported this proposal.

The rational for SafeLives being contracted to deliver the support is as follows:

o They have demonstrable expertise in the field of Lived Experience.
o They have a track record of working with black and minoritized community organisations.
o They understand the ‘landscape’ of GM.
o They are highly regarded both nationally and locally.

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime approves £50k of funding to
SafeLives to partnership with Olive Pathway and SAWN to support development and delivery of the GM GBV Lived Experience Panel. This funding will provide a capacity uplift to these organisations to assist with the delivery of the panel.

The total funding over 2 years is £50,000.

The proposals set out in the GMCA report of January 2023 regarding UKSPF investment in SME Workspace should progress to grant funding agreement without delay, accepting that although the outputs and outcomes are lower than set out in the GMCA report, they do still represent value for money and exceed the volumes set out in the GM UKSPF Investment Plan.

To agree progression to grant funding agreement of LA proposals for SME Workspace funding by UKSPF.

Approval to variation of terms of the loans will maintain GMCA’s support for the developments in line with the strategic objectives of the GMCA to increase the supply of housing in the GM area.

1. To approve variations to the terms of the following GM Housing Investment Loans Fund loans:

BORROWER / SCHEME / DISTRICT /LOAN
Well Built Homes Ltd / Hebron Street / Oldham / £0.810m
Splash Contracts Ltd / Medlock Road / Oldham / £1.600m
GJS (Blade) Investments Ltd / The Blade / Manchester / £32.438m
AH2 Gee Cross Ltd / Rowbotham Street/ Tameside / £2.700m

2. To delegate authority to the GMCA Treasurer acting in conjunction with the GMCA Monitoring Officer to prepare and effect the necessary legal agreements.

GMCA have run a competitive process. In total 36 bids were received across all 4 lots from 31 providers, with 12 in lot one, 7 in lot two, 2 in lot three and 15 in lot 4.

Each bid was sent to a full evaluation panel. GMCA’s Information Governance Team also reviewed each provider’s IG submission to ensure that they were acceptable, and the finances of the bidding company were also checked.

The mini-competition comprised of 2 parts, covering (80%) Quality, (20%) Social Value via the Social Value Portal. The Quality selection process involved evaluating the bidders’ responses on a number of criteria including:
- Evidence of Need
- Programme Content, Design, & Delivery
- Employer Engagement
- Learner Engagement
- Track Record
- Quality & Performance Management
- Financial Value for Money

Following evaluation, the bidders were ranked based on their total score. Contracts will be awarded to the bidders listed above. As there is a limited budget for each lot, GMCA will award contracts up until the point funding is exhausted for that lot.

Following a competitive procurement process using GMCA’s Education Work and Skills Flexible Procurement System, GMCA wishes to award the following contracts:
Lot 1: Skills Bootcamps: Digital, Technology, & Creative Sectors (£2m budget)
IN4.0 Group - £840,000
The Growth Company - £660,000
We Are Digital - £500,000
Lot 2: Skills Bootcamps: Construction Sector & Economy (£1.5m budget)
Groundwork MSSTT - £176,926
Mantra Learning Ltd – £535,584
SB Skills Solutions Ltd – £499,770
The Growth Company – £287,720
Lot 3: Skills Bootcamps - Manufacturing & Engineering Sectors (£0.5m budget)
Rochdale Training – £266,000
Salford City College - £234,000
Lot 4: Skills Bootcamps – Other Sectors including; Logistics, Education, Health, & Social Care, Hospitality, Leisure, & Tourism (£2m budget)
Barfection – £230,112
Hopwood Hall College – £262,250
Realise Learning and Employment – £499,520
Rochdale Training – £250,000
The Growth Company – £396,678
Think Employment Ltd – £361,440

Skills Bootcamps are funded by the Department for Education (DfE) as part of the National Skills Fund, which aims to help business find and hire the workers they need as well as supporting adults to flourish and fulfil their potential through high quality training. GMCA has received £7m of grant funding from DfE to support c2100 residents to undertake skills bootcamps in key sectors with a focus on addressing local priorities.

Contracts will start in the 23-24 financial year initially running until the end of March 24 with the option to extend on a 1+1 basis subject to GMCA receiving further funding.

1. Travel for VRU Programme Manager, VRU Programme Support & VRU Civil Service Placement Colleague - The Home Office’s Violence Reduction programme is a 3 year funding agreement with VRU’s from March 2022-25. This national VRU conference hosted by London VRU will examine community-led aspects of VRU programme delivery and share challenges faced by VRU’s in delivering community-led interventions and explore community-led co-creation of VRU Comms content. This is intended to share best practice across the 20 national VRUs. This event was originally scheduled for 31st March but was recently rebooked, so train tickets could not be purchased more than 2 weeks prior.

2. Travel for VRU Victims Lead & VRU Comms Manager - In 2021/22 – GM VRU and Merseyside VRU worked in partnership with StreetDoctors to develop an app-based version of the StreetDoctors lifesaver programme. (Usually delivered face to face in schools but with cost
/resource and logistical implications). The app has been rolled out across GM, whilst we have awarded additional funding in financial year 22/23 to gain an additional 4400 logins for educational settings across GM. This national conference will help to shape & direct best use of the additional logins and delivery of the Streetdoctors programme in schools and further education establishments across GM.

3. Travel for VRU Victims Champion - The Serious Violence Duty 2022 came into effect in January 2023, placing statutory responsibilities on specified authorities within each PCC area to work together to tackle the root causes of serious violence. This event is intended as a launch to bring together lead officers from VRU’s and specified authorities across the country to dpresent and discuss best practice regarding implementation of the duty. The GM VRU is coordinating the 10 GM CSPs’ implementation of the Seirous Violence Duty as per the Deputy Mayor’s agreement at the February 2023 Violence Reduction Governance Board, and therefore the VRU Victim’s Champion (accompanying the VRU Director & Programme Manager as published in another recent travel Decision Notice) is best placed to attend the event and report on outcomes to the 10 GM CSPs. This Decision Notice covers funding for travel to the event; tickets to the event are free of charge

1. The Greater Manchester Violence Reduction Unit are seeking to make the following payment for Travel to a rescheduled National VRU Event hosted by London VRU:

Click Travel
A payment to be made of £806.65 to book:

• x2 On Peak standard class return train tickets from Manchester to London for the VRU Programme Manager and VRU Civil Service Placement Colleague
• x1 On Peak standard class return ticket from Wigan to London for the VRU Programme Manager and VRU Programme Support.

These are standard fare peak day return tickets.

2. The Greater Manchester Violence Reduction Unit are seeking to make the following payment covering Travel & Accommodation for a national event hosted by Streetdoctors, a programme that the VRU has funded to commission interventions in Greater Manchester:

Click Travel
A payment to be made of £392.78 to cover:

• Return train tickets from Manchester to London for both colleagues (VRU Victim’s Lead & VRU Communications Manager)
• 1 night’s hotel accommodation in London (1 room each for both colleagues).
• Zone 1 Tube passes- each per colleague per day (2 days total)

Travel tickets are standard fare, off peak return tickets whilst rooms are standard rate in chain hotels.

3. The Greater Manchester Violence Reduction Unit are seeking to make the following payment for Travel to a Serious Violence Duty Policing Conference:

Click Travel
A payment to be made of £116.49 to book return train tickets from Manchester to Birmingham and 1 night’s hotel accommodation in Birmingham for the VRU Victims’ Champion. These are standard fare day return tickets.

Established in October 2019, the Greater Manchester VRU is a team of subject leads and experts from Greater Manchester Police (GMP), Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), Greater Manchester National Probation Service, Public Health, NHS, Education, Community Voluntary Sector, Victim’s Voice, Youth Justice and Local Authorities, addressing the underlying causes of violence and working together with communities to prevent it.

To date, the multi-agency partnership working approach has enabled the GM VRU to develop new and existing relationships with partners across a wide range of thematic areas to tackle serious violence in both GM and across the UK. The GM VRU is seeking to continue to fund it’s staff members to continue developing these programmes of work.

The partners will report to a VRU director and Partnership lead who are employed by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.

The GM VRU allocate £ 450,000 in each financial year 2022/23 and 2023/24 for the continued provision of a multi-disciplinary VRU team in accordance with Home Office guidelines and principles of tackling Serious Violence. The make up of the team is set out below:

Internal Staff (GMCA)
Partnership Lead
Programme Support
Victims Champion
Communications Lead
Research Officer

External Staff - managed through secondment agreements
Education Lead (0.4 FTE) to be awarded to the College of Maths for provision from August 2022 onwards and managed through a separate decision for consultancy)
Payment to The Manchester College for the GMVRU’s previous Education lead (April – August 2022)
Youth Justice Lead (0.2 FTE) to be awarded to Positive Steps Oldham
Probation Lead (0.6 FTE) to be awarded to the National Probation Service
Clinical Lead (0.2 FTE) To be awarded to the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust

Total: £900,000 (split at £450,000 for financial year 2022/23 & £450,000 for financial year 2023/24)

We have specifically commissioned these sessions via 1Message by way of delivering an intervention to young people who attend this youth club (Mero’s World), following an incident recently where a young person pulled out a flick knife and threatened another young person during one of the youth club sessions. The youth club is run by one of the VRU’s community alliance partners funded by the VRU’s Community Led Pilots initiative, and Mero’s World approached the VRU to ask what intervention we might be able to immediately deliver in light of this incident to young people who attend the youth club, both as a group, and a 1:1 basis when required. As a result, the VRU have identified that sessions provided by 1Message would be the most appropriate intervention, as the individual who set up 1Message and runs their sessions is an individual with lived experience of serious violence. 1Message will talk to young people at Mero’s World about knife crime, exploitation, youth violence, and other relevant topics.

This commissioned intervention will be evaluated within the wider Community Led Pilots evaluation being undertaken by the VRU’s research partner, MMU.

To award 1Message £4,000 for 12 weeks of provision for Mero’s World youth club in Fallowfield. This will include group sessions and 1:1 mentoring provided by Matthew Norford from 1Message.

To date, the VRU have awarded 1Message £3,200 in financial year 2022-23. The total awarded by the VRU to Media and Digital following this decision will be £7,200

The cards will be given to frontline officers in the Operation Venture team, youth workers, and Navigators working in hospitals and the community to give out to young people who they think might need/be interested in the service. The cards will contain the Navigator and VRU logo, with a very brief description of the service, and a QR code to take people to the referral page.

The VRU are seeking to award Media and Digital Ltd (MaD) £392 for the purpose of printing a further 10,000 business cards to promote the Navigator service in Greater Manchester.

To date, the VRU have awarded Media and Digital £392 in financial year 2022-23 for the previous printing of an initial run of 10,000 Navigator business cards. The total awarded by the VRU to Media and Digital following this decision will be £784.00

The VRU Education delivery group is committed to the prevention of Gender Based Violence. Transgender Visibility Day provides a forum for the VRU to show its support and work with an experienced charity in delivery of educational activity/resources related to Transgender Visibility. It is proposed to support 3 volunteer schools via The Proud Trust and evaluate the effectiveness of the approach.

As requested by the Mayor of GM, The VRU intends to spend £2000.00 with The Proud Trust from the VRU Education Budget line (2022-23) to fund provision of educational activity/resources relating to Transgender Visibility Day 2023

The reasons for the decision are:

In 2005 police forces in England and Wales agreed, through a Service Level Agreement, to each provide an annual payment for the operation of the national Crimestoppers call centre facility. This consists of a dedicated telephone line and online reporting facility, operating 24 hours a day. This agreement is now managed through an annual contract managed directly by Greater Manchester Police. The payment of £104,500 will be provided to Greater Manchester Police, to make payment directly as the Contracting Authority for the contract.

About the service

After receiving a call or a completed anonymous online form from a member of the public, a report is created that brings together all the information, ensuring that it doesn't contain any information that could identify the individual. The report is then sent to the relevant authority with the legal responsibility to investigate crimes, make arrests and charge people in order to bring them to justice. This could be the local police force or an agency such as the UK Border Agency or HM Revenue & Customs.

Crimestoppers also share advice on how the public can protect themselves from crime and develop local communication and awareness campaigns.

Discussions have been held with the Superintendent within the Force Intelligence Branch to confirm that the Crimestoppers service remains an important source of information for GMP. It provides an additional channel of communication for members of the public to report crime, raise concerns regarding safety or provide intelligence, independent of the police. The anonymity provided will appeal to those who do not wish to contact the police directly but do want to provide information. The service provides the police with intelligence it may otherwise have not received in the fight against crime.

A recent report provided by Crimestoppers indicates the following outcomes in Greater Manchester:
• Over the last three years community intelligence given to Crimstoppers in the North West has risen from 29,063 reports per year between 2018-2019 to 33,101 in 2021/2022. (12,750 reports, increased from 11,041 in Greater Manchester).
• The Crimestoppers website has been viewed over 200,000 times by GM residents in the last 12 months (up from 162,000 the previous year.

Comments have been sought from Greater Manchester Police who value to work of the crimestoppers service and see it as critical in enabling people to report crime and build intelligence.

To provide funding of £104,500 in 2023/24 to allow the continuation of the Crimestoppers 24 hour call centre and online reporting facility for the public to anonymously provide information and intelligence for policing purposes.

In addition, to agree in principle, to the same level of funding in 2024/25 and 2025/26 (totalling £313,500 over the three years), subject to funding availability and annual performance reviews.

The reasons for the decision are:

Previously, Crimestoppers have been able to fund the Regional Manager post through contributions raised through the charity, however as contributions have decreased, PCCs in the North West Region have been approached directly to joint fund the post if they wish to see it continue, as other PCCs do in other regions nationally. North West PCCs jointly funded the post between 2020/23. This funding secures continued funding for the post over the next three years.

The funding is fundamental to continuing the position of the Regional Manager (RM) and implementing the crime reduction strategy. The positive results include:
• Over the last three years community intelligence given to Crimstoppers in the North West has risen from 29,063 reports per year between 2018-2019 to 33,101 in 2021/2022. (12,750 reports, increased from 11,041 in Greater Manchester).
• The Crimestoppers website has been viewed over 200,000 times by GM residents in the last 12 months (up from 162,000 the previous year.
• The RM manages over a number of TV and radio campaigns each year across the region (with a value of around £228,605 – at no cost to police forces or PCCs).

Comments have been sought from Greater Manchester Police who value to work of the post and have plans to develop future work with assistance of the post should funding be approved.

To provide a total of £42,000 (ex VAT) over the next three years to fund the North West Crimestoppers Regional Manager post. The post will be joint funded by North West Police and Crime Commissioners. The Greater Manchester contribution will be as follows: 2023/24: £14,000, 2024/25: £14,000, 2025/26: £14,000.

The reasons for the decision are:

The VRU wishes to enhance the existing GM-wide Trauma Responsive and ACEs programme using additional funding from the VRU Health & Wellbeing budget. Salford Council already hold the existing budgets for this programme of work across GM. Salford City Council Assistant Director of Nursing & Public Health Debbie Blackburn (deputy executive lead for the GM Trauma programme) agreed that Salford will hold the monies and provide support with the contracting/commissioning processes.

The GM VRU is seeking to award Salford City Council an additional £126,835.17 to continue the delivery of the GM Trauma Responsive and ACEs programme.

To date, the GM VRU have awarded Salford City Council £700,885 (£200,000 out of the 2020/21 VRU funding, £225,885 from the Home Office in 2021/22 & £275,000 from the Home Office earlier in 2022/23). To deliver the GM Trauma Responsive and ACEs programme. This will bring the total funding amount to £827,060.17

The reasons for the decision are:

Liverpool John Moores University receive, process, clean and securely store anonymised trauma-related injury data collected by Greater Manchester Emergency Departments. This data is used on a regular basis by a range of VRU staff and partners to support the targeting of services and interventions, strategic planning around need, and problem profiling.
TIIG has been providing services in Greater Manchester for around 15 years, provided throughout that time by Liverpool John Moores University (JMU Services Ltd). TIIG provide a key link with health services and non-police data around violence that cannot be accessed through other means.

This data is used in monitoring core VRU outcomes, evaluating VRU interventions, supporting partner services and local authorities’ analytical capacity, and strategic planning.

The higher charges for financial years 23/24 & 24/25 are reflective of an expanded workplan to be delivered by TIIG in both years. These include a TIIG proposal for an intensive work programme with A&Es to improve the quality of ISTV data. This will also further fund TIIG’s dedicated Data Quality Lead who is experienced in working with organisations to improve data collected. The higher costs in these financial years will additionally support in the provision of other useful datasets to inform the VRU violence dashboard.

Use of this data is embedded in a wide range of VRU work, and discontinuation of the contract would result in significant disruption to the VRU’s ability to deliver interventions, monitor outcomes, and report to the Home Office.

The GM VRU will pay Liverpool John Moores University (JMU Services Ltd) the following per financial year for the provision of the TIIG programme, to be funded out of the VRU’s Health and Wellbeing Delivery Group budget:

• £27,180.00 for 22/23
• £46,535 for 23/24
• £47,930 for 24/25

The Experts by Experience programme is designed to appoint people with lived experience of serious violence to be trained in the skill of Appreciative Inquiry, and to use Appreciative Inquiry to carry out a critical appraisal of the GM VRU’s Community Led Pilots programme and more generally appraise the GM VRU’s Community Led approach. Big Life Group’s provision of a community worker will provide a vital link between those appointed to lead the evaluation and members of the community the VRU serves.

Big Life Group
A payment to be made of £2400 to Big Life Group to provide a Community Worker & x4 individuals with lived experience of serious violence who will support the VRU’s Experts by Experience programme, a qualitative evaluation of the VRU led by individuals with lived experience of serious violence. The Community Worker will provide ongoing advice and support to the Experts by Experience appointees who will be conducting the community led evaluation. They will also support workshops between January and May 2023, culminating in a final joint event in May 2023 to include senior Decision Makers from the GMCA, including the Mayor of Greater Manchester.

The Greater Manchester Violence Reduction Unit are seeking to make a payment of £2600 to Big Life Group for:

• £1200 for provision of a Community Worker to support the VRU’s Experts by Experience Community Led Evaluation programme
• £1400 for funding of x4 individuals with lived experience of serious violence to support the programme

The Magistrates Association are looking to replicate the event this year with a new ‘charge’ and ensuring participation from a broad range of schools across GM, including those who may struggle to cover the costs of transport. The event has previously provided young people with experience of court room process, public speaking and confidence building. We are keen to give young people these experiences as well as opportunity to meet professionals and build aspirations. Which will contribute to the reduction of young people’s involvement with risky behaviours associated with becoming involved with serious violence.

We are seeking to award the Magistrates Association £1,500 in funding to support the running of their year 6 mock trial competition. In 2022, the event attracted 16 teams from 15 schools from 7 boroughs. Some teams took the part of the CPS and others the Defence, the charge was ‘Cyber Bullying.’ 150 young people took part in total with speaking and non-speaking roles – court reporter, court artist etc. GMP, BTP and GMFRS were also present to speak to the young people.

The reasons for the decision are:

In October 2021, The Home Office announced funding to be made available to GMP via GMCA to undertake community based work to tackle Western Balkan led criminality in Bury, implementing Prepare, Prevent and Protect objectives to tackle serious and organised crime. For 2022/23, this totals up to £172,000.

This project is part of two wider Home Office programmes – Serious and Organised Crime Community Coordinators, which have operated in 6 other sites across England for the last three or four years, and the Western Balkans programme, which delivers both UK and origin country based interventions to reduce offending, build community resilience and safeguard individuals and communities at risk of being drawn into or affected by serious and organised crime.

The total spend is split between three key budget lines, with the community coordinator staff allocating project spend to the most appropriate activity locally to meet the stated project objectives.

GMCA transfers to GMP up to £172,000 to deliver on 2022/23 requirements for the Home Office funded Western Balkans Serious and Organised Crime Community Coordinator programme in Bury. This is split as per the below:

Staff costs: £42,000 to pay for Community Coordinator costs.

Project costs: £120,000 to deliver projects to prevent and minimise the impact of western Balkan related criminality.

Evaluation costs: £10,000 to evaluate the project delivery over the year

The main objective of the first workshop is to create an open environment for colleagues to share ideas and discuss the opportunities and barriers faced by the rehabilitative services. Outcomes from this workshop will shape the two following events that will take place in May and July.

A series of events will take place with the Greater Manchester Integrated Rehabilitative Services (GMIRS) partnership to allow partners to discuss how services can best work together to support the rehabilitation of people on probation facing multiple challenges.
The first of three workshops will be held at Friends Meeting House, on Monday 13 March 2023 from 10am to 2pm key stakeholders.

Venue and catering £2150.00
Event facilitation up to £2975.00

The reasons for the decision are:

The Criminal Justice delivery group workstream identified, through the multi-agency processes and structures in place, the key areas of focus and priority to deliver on the Serious Violence action plan, namely the 14-25 cohort, and specifically those who are experiencing transitions or significant impacts from experiences such adverse childhood experiences and/or societal experiences of being part of an ethnic minority community or subjected to gender based violence. Talk, Listen, Change have been selected based on their ability to deliver against these priorities.

The aim of this programme will be to help:

• Provide practical and emotional support and where needed advocacy
• Rebuild or establish their role as father, brother, son
• The Young Adult on Probation and their family to move forward and positively out of the Criminal Justice System
• Understand the needs and barriers for this cohort of individuals

Following an Expression of Interest procurement process, the GM VRU within GMCA have commissioned Talk, Listen, Change to deliver a programme to provide a one-to-one specialist support service for Young Adults on Probation (age 20-25) who are a parent or live with/have contact with children or siblings (under the age of 18years old). The total contract value is £49,999 (£40,000 from the GM VRU within GMCA & the remainder of the value match funded by the Ministry of Justice) & will run from April 2023 to October 2023.

The reasons for the decision are:

The Criminal Justice delivery group workstream identified, through the multi-agency processes and structures in place, the key areas of focus and priority to deliver on the Serious Violence action plan, namely the 14-25 cohort, and specifically those who are experiencing transitions or significant impacts from experiences such adverse childhood experiences and/or societal experiences of being part of an ethnic minority community or subjected to gender based violence. Positive Steps have been selected based on their ability to deliver against these priorities.

This service will be responsible for:
• An intervention that is trauma responsive that address the complex needs for girls,young and adult women who are at risk of serious gang related youth violence, sexual exploitation and abuse, and modern slavery.
• A programme that provides a suite of activities to support these vulnerabilities, through one-to-one mentoring and group activity, and if possible leading to nationally recognised accreditations.
• A programme that links in with local statutory services and local community providers. With a focus on relationships, sport and positive activities

Following a legal procurement process, the GMCA have commissioned Positive Steps to deliver a programme of support for girls and women (age 14- 21) who are identified as being at risk of serious gang related youth violence, sexual exploitation and abuse, and modern slavery from 01/04/2023 to 31/03/2024. The total contract value is £88,000.

The reasons for the decision are:
In undertaking a review of the uniform for frontline police officers within Greater Manchester Police, consideration has been given to the suitability of each item of clothing for its intended use, to ensure it is fit for purpose. GMP’s Health and Safety Lead has been an integral part of the process recognising that uniform must be both fully functional for the role, and that any improvements in PPE (i.e. body armour) align to current health and safety guidelines. Particular attention has been given to ensure the following:-

• The uniform adopts recent improvements to personal protective equipment giving our operational officers the best protection.
• The uniform is smart and gives a professional image of GMP.
• The wearer is identifiable as being associated to GMP.
• The uniform is robust enough to deal with the daily demand of an operational officer; and
• The uniform is cost effective.

Alongside the issuing of a new uniform, it is equally important to drive ‘Uniform Standards’; therefore, it is proposed that officers receive clear communication on what uniform they should be wearing, and the standards that are expected. This will be outlined through the:-

• GMP Uniform Policy.
• Standards Guide; and
• Internal communication campaign.

The Deputy Mayor is asked to consider and approve the proposal and associated cost in relation to the acquisition and rollout schedule for an enhanced GMP police officer Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and uniform. This includes an urgent requirement to improve and update body armour ensuring that we provide the most effective protection to our staff and officers under Health and Safety guidelines.

The request to the Deputy Mayor is for two key decisions:

1. Agreement to purchase the new PPE and uniform as a one off initial investment of £5.3m (detailed financials below).
2. Agreement to provide one-off funding for the investment requirement outlined above.

This is a niche area of work that can only be delivered by a Primary Care Lead. An invitation for expressions of interest was circulated to PCG’s, however, only one response was received.

The decision is that:
The Greater Manchester Combined Authority has been awarded £40,000 by NHS England in 2022/23 to fund a Violence Reduction Project to engage primary care in violence prevention work by identifying and referring on people involved in or at risk of violence, up to a maximum value of £40,000, which will include a range of other primary care prevention activities to compliment this project. Following an Expression of Interest process, West Gorton Medical Practice have been chosen to deliver this work.

The aims of the project are to:
• Engage primary care in violence prevention work by identifying and referring on people involved in or at risk of violence
• Particular focus on young people aged 10 to 25 (in line with GMVRU funding)
• Linking in with IRIS and DA work where needed

This will involve:
• Audit of records and development of coding
• Mapping of services and development of pathways
• Development and delivery of training
• Additional funding for VCSE partners for targeted intervention
• Evaluation


The funding covers provision of a Clinical Lead from within Primary Care, Project and Administrative Support, Training Providers and Training Days.

Anticipated duties of the Clinical Lead include:

• Leading on the education and training programme for primary care
• Chairing the steering group
• Attending NHS England and NHS Improvement monthly feedback meetings and associated peer learning sessions (approximately quarterly)
• Identifying opportunities for further development of project e.g. geographical expansion, links into other developments in primary care and the GM Integrated Care System
• Promoting the project and troubleshooting with GP practices (online and in person)
• Linking with VRU’s clinical lead to ensure project is aligned with VRU workstreams and other relevant systems work

The funding will be used for the payment of GP commitment of 1 day / 2 sessions per week for 6 months with remuneration at a rate equivalent to a locum sessional rate in order to backfill their time in their GP surgery.

As at 10th March 2023, 34 sessions have been completed at £350/session totalling £11,900.

The reasons for the decision are:

The Appropriate Adult Service that was formerly provided by the OPCC and previously the Police Authority, was re-commissioned by Local Authorities in 2017, through a collaborative commissioning process and awarded to Child Action North West (CANW) on a yearly spot purchase basis.
GMCA were represented on the Procurement Interview Board.

The service is commissioned and funded, based on usage, by the GM Local Authorities, with Stockport Care Services as lead commissioner.

The contract also includes provision for Appropriate Adult service delivery to detainees held under the Terrorism Act 2000 (and PACE) to GMP CTU.

GMCA have been included in the Evaluation process to award the contract and ongoing contract monitoring through the GM Stakeholder meeting.

GMP CTU are extremely pleased with the service and are in favour of the contract award.

The existing contract was due to end 30th March 2023 and therefore the procurement process commenced through advert on 22nd December 22 and closed on 30th January 23 The evaluation meeting took place on 3rd February 2023, including GMCA.

To fund Child Action North West (CANW) £1,234.08 for 2022/23 for Appropriate Adult services to CTU as part of the collaborative GM Appropriate Adult contract.

In preparation for the end of the existing GM Appropriate Adult service in March 2023, Stockport Care Services, as lead commissioner on behalf of other GM Local authorities, have completed the procurement process and the contract is to be awarded to CANW.

This contract will also include provision of Appropriate Adult services to GMP CTU.

The projected cost of this element to the GMCA is approximately £4,000 per annum over four years a total of up to £16,000. Costs are finalised at the end of each year based on levels of use.

The contract will run to April 2026, with a further one year until 31st March 2027.