Decisions

The GMCA are one of the key partners and conveners of Programme Challenger, a partnership approach to tackling serious and organised crime in Greater Manchester.

Due to the availability of meeting space within GMCA offices, and the need for meetings to represent a partnership approach independent of a single organisation, external venues may be required for future meetings

Funding of £1000 be made available for costs associated with Challenger Executive Board meetings, including catering and external venues.

To aid the delivery of North Wales and North West Regional ICV Conference 16th September 23.
The region hold a joint ICV conference every year and invite all ICVs, it can accommodate 100 people, we have guest speakers that will be attending.

Authorisation is received for the payment of £785.83 (before tax)

The reasons for the decision are:

The GMCA has held annual DHR learning events. The events in 2020 and 2021 were not held due to covid and therefore we will be holding an event in June 2022 to enable partners to come together to share learning.

This event supports the dissemination of learning and recommendations arising from domestic homicides across Greater Manchester, with the ambition to drive improvement across all agencies in their response to domestic abuse.

An amount of £1500 be provided to support GMCA holding a face-to-face Domestic Homicide Review event. The resource will be used for room hire, refreshments and other associated costs.
Since sign off this cost has now increased to £1807.20
Rationale for this is that we used an external venue for this as we could not find a meeting room in GMCA / GMP which would accommodate the numbers. We wanted this to hold up to 100 people due to the nature of the event and needing to invite a wide range of partners from each local authority, GMP and health and additionally as we have not held a learning event since 2019 and therefore it is essential this takes place. We’ve had good sign up from partners and therefore need to go ahead holding this externally.

In November 2019, The Mayor of Greater Manchester commissioned an independent assurance review into safeguarding practices in the borough of Oldham. The report has been published following a launch on the 20th June 2022.

The total cost of £9765.87 towards the launch of the publication of the CSE Independent Assurance review into safeguarding practices in Oldham report.

At the Annual General Meeting of the National Association of Legally
Qualified Chairs (NALQC) a resolution was passed that all members would be advised not to sit as chairs unless indemnity was strengthened by PCC’s.
It has been the view of most LQCs that the previous wording provided does not give adequate protection and they have sought to take out of the indemnity the words unless the act or omission is shown to have been in bad faith, reckless or is the product of gross and obvious irregularity for which panel members are responsible.
The NALQC Chair and others met with the Home Office on 10 November 2020 to raise the issue. The concerns of the NALQC have also been relayed to other interested parties, such as the APCC, the APACE and the Police Superintendents’ Association. The Home Office is considering legislative change to “cure” the problem, but this will take time. Pending any legislative change, the NALQC has given the advice as described above to its members.
APCC has worked with APACE, Home Office and the National Association of LQCs to develop a pragmatic solution and a form of wording for the indemnity which offers both LQCs and PCCs some reassurance. It offers LQCs 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 magistrates' indemnity set out in the Courts Act 2003). It provides PCCs with a backstop to ensure that LQCs act professionally in their role as panel chair. The agreed wording is set out above.

To provide indemnity to Legally Qualified Chairs and Independent Panel Members of Police Misconduct Hearings arranged thus far for 2022/23 in accordance with the wording negotiated by APCC, APACE, and the National Association of LQCs as follows: -
In respect of the case of ....... which is to be held on ………. 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/ Independent Panel Member in respect of any liabilities arising (including reasonable costs in connection with responding to legal proceedings) for anything done or omitted to be done by you in the discharge of your 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 Greater Manchester Combined Authority agrees to indemnify you in full in respect of any such liability.

This work will be funded through Skills Underspends agreed by GMCA in October 2018, and allocated to develop activity that supports under-represented groups to access apprenticeships and pre-apprenticeship activity leading to improved social mobility for the individual.

3 grants of £25k are paid to LA’s to develop Supported Apprenticeship Programmes.
GMCA, through the Education, Work and Skills Directorate, would like to build on a successful Removing Barriers to Apprenticeships project in Salford that created 15 Supported Apprenticeships for people with SEND / EHCP’s.
LA’s will be invited to submit an EOI, the the 3 that most closely meet the criteria will be allocated funding.
Additional funding is being sought for the remaining LA’s.