Decisions

GMCA’s Justice and Rehabilitation Executive has agreed to develop a policy ambition to deliver a Whole-System Approach to Diversion from the Criminal Justice System (WSA2D).

This initiative aims to increase diversionary opportunities and reduce repeat offending in Greater Manchester. One of the key diversionary pathways is through the Greater Manchester Integrated Rehabilitative Services (GMIRS) provision.

GMIRS enables Greater Manchester to commission rehabilitative and resettlement services tailored to local needs, as per the agreement between HMPPS and GMCA under the local devolution agreement.

The Whole-System ambition will build on the current services provided by the GMIRS programme. With GMIRS set to be recommissioned by April 2027, GMCA has the opportunity to redesign these services and potentially establish a 'single front door' for referral, triage, and case management.

Our goal is to establish a 'prime model' facilitated by the creation of a 'single front door' for referral triage and case management. This will enhance service coordination, improve evidence-based practices by tracking data to identify effective strategies, and reduce the demand on the broader criminal justice system. This initiative is strategically aligned with the ongoing Sentencing and Criminal Court Reviews conducted by the Government.

The proposal aims to support GMCA in executing a high-level technical design phase for a 'single front door' for diversion, with GMIRS as a central element of the overall objective.

This will build on the Wellbeing Service as a universal offer. In the longer term, Greater Manchester wants to explore whether a GM service could provide a system-wide Assessment and Referral approach that includes arrest, disposal, sentencing, and release.

Accenture's team will contribute a blend of advanced technical design expertise and extensive criminal justice industry knowledge.

Accenture will conduct a high-level technical design phase for a 'single front door' for diversion, with a particular emphasis on GMIRS as a crucial element of the overall goal, at a cost of £90,000.

Hitch hold the hosting and the domain rights to the I am Greater website via previous commissioning in 2023 & 2024. During Phase 3 (delivered by Agent Marketing) Hitch continued to host the website as Agent Marketing were unable to do so. Phase 4 is being delivered by EY3 Media, and for continuity of service, it has been determined that the most cost-effective way forward is to continue to pay Hitch Marketing this award of £1,020 to continue hosting the I am Greater web domain, as EY3 Media would be required to purchase fresh domain rights which would be less cost effective and more time consuming. This funding award is needed for the website to continue to run effectively.

To award Hitch Marketing £1,020 for the hosting and domain for the I Am Greater website. This is for the period 1st March 2025 – 28th February 2026 inclusive, when the campaign will need to be reviewed.

This decision reflects our commitment to the ongoing support of the training, learning, development, support, and networking of the ICV volunteers.

Lancashire PCC to host the annual Northwest and North Wales ICV Regional Conference – Saturday 11th October 25. The venue (as previous years) will be Haydock Racecourse, including refreshments, 4 speaker PA System and handheld microphones.

Due to Lancashire PCC having the responsibility for hosting, the payment of £5722.56 will be met by them.
The remaining 6 PCC regions – Cheshire, Merseyside, GMCA, Cumbria, North Wales who will then subsequently be invoiced at a cost of £953.76 each

This decision reflects our commitment to the ongoing support of the training, learning, development, support and networking of the ICV volunteers.

GMCA Safer and Stronger Communities Team hosted the annual Northwest and North Wales ICV Regional Conference on Saturday 21st September 24 and paid the conference venue, Haydock Racecourse. However, Cheshire PCC arranged for a speaker to attend and therefore made payment for £1,309.04 for his presentation, accommodation and travel costs.
Divided by the 6 regional PCC offices is £218.17 that GMCA are required to pay.

The reasons for the decision are:

The Hope Collective is a powerful partnership of cross-sector organisations with aligned values and a shared vision; to work together in a spirit of unity to create real change for young people and communities across the UK.
Formed originally to support the 20th anniversary legacy campaign for Damilola Taylor, the Hope Collective is driven by a shared purpose - to establish real change that enables UK's most vulnerable communities to be free from poverty, violence and discrimination. Through activity led by the Hope Collective, young people can discuss their thoughts and solutions on issues that affect them, their lives and their communities. The goal of the Hope Collective is to 'change the narrative' for young people and focus on solutions, not symptoms, and most importantly to focus on their hopes for the future.

The Hope Hack at HMP Forest Bank would be the first of its kind and build on the success of a previous Hope Hack in Werrington YOI. This event is much welcomed by HMP Forest Bank and widely supported by the GM VRU and the Hope Hack collective. This Decision seeks authorisation to award Unity Radio (Northwest Media Ltd) £2000 to facilitate the event and provide coverage to be used on Unity Radio itself, via its broadcast radio function and social media. Unity have been chosen due to their previous work on messaging around violence reduction, knife crime etc. having reached a significant number of our target audience.


The event would take place over a working day in April/May 2025. There will be an opportunity for 80 young adult men to contribute to the workshop and round table session around matters in the CJS which impact and influence them, such as sport, health and wellbeing, community, and broader issues around commissioning services for young adults in a CJS space.

The event will be hosted by HMP Forest Bank resourced by their internal staff with additional expert support being given from Hope Hack and VRU staff, support by Unity Radio facilitation. The payment from the VRU to Unity will cover their role in providing facilitation and media support for the event, including event facilitation, production of media for broadcast on Unity Radio, costs for a guest speaker who is managed by Unity Radio, and ancillary costs such as stationery.

The Greater Manchester Violence Reduction Unit are seeking to make a payment of £2000.00 to Northwest Media Ltd (Unity Radio) covering costs to facilitate the ‘Hope Hack’ event at HMP Forest Bank in Q1 2025/26.

The reasons for the decision are:

The VRU’s Education Lead is managing a commission via the Education Community Partnership to strategically engage all Aps/PRUs across GM in order to progress the education commitments of the Greater Than Violence Strategy. As part of this, a symposium (facilitated by City in the Community, who work with Aps PRUs) is being held on 27th March with the Education Lead leading planning for such. The event will explore how the VRU can better engage the most marginalised young people in education—ensuring it works in their best interests and leads to stronger outcomes.

The VRU’s focus is on young people in Local Authority-designated Pupil Referral Units (PRUs) and Alternative Provisions (APs). Too many of these learners remain outside of mainstream education and, despite the best efforts of those who support them, their opportunities and achievements remain limited. As part of their manifesto commitment, the Mayor and Deputy Mayor have tasked GMCA with designing a pathway and set of experiences to help these young people become MBacc-ready—offering them a future that is both ambitious and achievable.

This will be a high-level discussion, engaging key partners and stakeholders who shape the strategic agenda across Greater Manchester.

The Greater Manchester Violence Reduction Unit are seeking to make a payment of £1500.00 to the Manchester City Football Club to facilitate venue space for a symposium on engaging Alternative Provision (AP) & Pupil Referral Unit as part of the VRU’s Education Strategy group. Manchester City’s charity, City in the Community, are taking part in this symposium.

Further to the two submissions for the advertised EOI, Consultant in Public Health, NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care, Principal and Senior Policy and Partnership officer for Victims and Vulnerability, GMCA have reviewed the documents submitted and agreed that the contract will be awarded to Dr Helen Lowey Consultancy. For the reasons set out below:

• Good understanding of the evidence base and legal requirements relating to domestic abuse provision in health care settings and experience of pulling together literature and evidence reviews in this area.
• Understands the importance of identifying best practice models and applying this to a GM footprint.
• Extensive experience of working on similar programmes/projects at a strategic level and recognises the importance of considering prevention through to treatment and management pathways when supporting victims. Clearly articulates how this programme of work could be undertaken.
• Strong understanding of strategy and commissioning considerations and partnership working including ensuring the voice of victims and survivors is included.
• Worked as a consultant advising and working with similar systems including reviews of domestic abuse provision across Local authority footprints to develop similar products to what is asked for in this EOI.
• Worked with other PCCs and their NHS commissioners on domestic abuse approaches and has experience of working with these partnerships to effect change.
• Has a strong understanding of the GM landscape including its structures, processes and networks/relationships.
• Clearly sets out what she considers to be the key requirements of the business case including the importance of a sustainable funding model and clear roles and responsibilities of the lead partners to ensure organisational responsibilities and outcomes for victims are met.

In February 2025, it was agreed that NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care (NHS GM) would undertake a commissioning review of domestic abuse provision within health care settings in Greater Manchester and this would be facilitated through seeking expressions of interest in this regard.

Following receipt of two Expressions of Interest, it has been agreed that this will be awarded to Dr Helen Lowey Consultancy to commence in April 2025 at a cost of £49,999.

The following outcomes are expected as a minimum from this work:

1. A summary of the evidence base and legal requirements for health services to identify and support victims of GBV
2. A review of good practice for provision of support to GBV victims in healthcare settings across the UK and identify how these pathways are funded
3. A review of funding and commissioning models for provision of pathways for victims across Greater Manchester in different health care settings including community, specialist (sexual health and maternity) and acute settings. (Updating information collated in 2023 mapping exercise)
4. Identify variation in pathways, hidden harm and consider ROI to implement dedicated referral pathways and advocacy support (health and justice outcomes)
5. Develop a business case outlining funding, the change required and commissioning options within the agreed timescales
6. A roadmap for NHS GMs future commitments and ambitions in relation to the GM GBV Strategy

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 £49,965 (+vat) is due on 1st April 2025 will be paid to the APCC.

APACE membership brings together collective skills, knowledge and experience of Chief Executives from around the country to develop advice and guidance on a wide range of issues.

To subscribe to the annual APACE membership subscription for 2024/25 to the value of £1000

Annual Membership (July 2024 to July 2025) £1000 + VAT

Due to an office refurbishment and exhausted all other option at 2PP and Manchester One, The Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce offered a Member Rate for room hire for our team meeting.

Meeting is to discuss in person, the results of the Directorate B-heard survey and to decide on better ways of working to help the team going forward.

to fund 1 x room hire, The Boardroom @ GM Chamber of Commerce for the Directorate B-Heard Survey meeting

The cost of the room hire is £465.00 + VAT member rate.

GMCA wishes to continue the annual hosting of the Greater Manchester CSE campaign website.
https://www.greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk/what-we-do/safer-and-stronger-communities/tackling-child-sexual-exploitation

GMCA Complex Safeguarding wishes to pay £360 from the Complex Safeguarding Budget to pay for the annual hosting fee for

The GMCA Complex Safeguarding hub wishes for Research in Practice to continue to support with the implementation of the revised approach to peer reviews in Greater Manchester. This is perfectly aligned to the interim suggestions for improvement made by inspectors as part of the review into CSE

GMCA Complex Safeguarding wishes to pay £2,200.62 from the Complex Safeguarding Budget to commission continued support from Research in Practice to implement their Tackling Child Exploitation (TCE) partnership self-assessment tool as part of the revised peer review methodology.

The GMCA Complex Safeguarding hub wishes to upskill frontline staff around neurodiversity and the ways in which this affects vulnerability to exploitation, following an analysis of training gaps. The links between neurodiversity and substance misuse has not been explored previously by training providers. This is a unique opportunity to I AM to share their expertise in this area to better support children who are victims of exploitation, as well as to create innovative pathways between specialist organisations in Greater Manchester.

GMCA Complex Safeguarding wishes to pay £900 from the Complex Safeguarding Budget to pay for I AM to deliver a workshop on the topic of “Exploring the relationship between young people who are neurodiverse, substance misuse and exploitation” on March 20th, 2025, as part of the GM Week of Action professional development offer.

In 2024 the then Home Secretary Suella Braverman agreed to fund a Proof of Concept for a police MHCL in 2024. (Both fire and ambulance services already have their own line.)

This was set up in the Northeast region and commenced service in June 2024. The evaluation has been positive.

The National Police Wellbeing Service (NPWS) has taken the decision to roll out the service on a national basis. The estimated annual cost is in the order of £150k per annum and there is an agreement in principle to fund this via the Comprehensive Spending Review from April 2026, and it is being included in the NPCC’s submission.

However, there is an urgent need to establish this before this date and as soon as possible to provide the support to officers and staff who are at crisis point. The lack of crisis support has also been highlighted following a recent coroner’s inquest and the issuing of a S28 Prevention of Future Deaths. If funding is available in 2025/26, a provider to deliver a national service can be selected and the roll out commenced as soon as possible in 2025.

NPWS have asked for a contribution of £4k per force to be able to do this. In GM it has been agreed this will be funded via the Deputy Mayor’ PCC budgets.

£4k is provided to Lancashire Police as contributory funding towards the Police Mental Health Crisis Line (MHCL).

This forms part of the National Police Wellbeing Service.

Greater Manchester is one of the few areas in the country who provide immediate accommodation for potential victims of modern slavery at point of identification. This allows individuals to be placed into the place of safety where they can have their immediate needs met and be allowed the time to be empowered and decide what is the next best course of action for them.

It enables immediate hygiene, and nutrition needs to be met, and provides a safe, warm and comfortable environment for what may be the first time in years. Clean clothes are provided, and each victim is able to leave with a bag of possessions, which again they may not have had for a number of years.

The funding covers the cost of providing utilities to the accommodation, as well as toiletries, clothes and food for all victims who use the accommodation for a 12-month period.

In 2023/24, safe and immediate support through the place of safety was provided to 28 victims, and between 1st Apil 2024 – 31st December 2024, to a further 21 victims.

Up to £5,000 will be provided to GMP to cover the costs of providing the Greater Manchester place of safety for victims of modern slavery from April 2024 to March 2025.

The Youth Justice Plan is due to be renewed and the sessions on 25th March & 16th April 2025 will be in-person sessions to support the development of the next Plan and allow all stakeholders to come together.

March 2025:
£321.25 is used for a room booking is made at Friends meeting house for a session with Youth Justice stakeholders to continue to develop the next Youth Justice Plan.

Room booking £195
Refreshments £2.65 pp for 25 = £66.25
Digital projector £60

Total £321.25

April 2025
£300 is used for a room booking at HOME for a session with Youth Justice stakeholders to continue to develop the next Youth Justice Plan.

Room booking £300
Refreshments for 30 people = £93

Total £393

The GMCA has responsibility under The Police (Conduct) (Amendment) Regulations 2024 for the attendance at Police Misconduct Panels of a Legally Qualified Person (LQP) and Independent Panel member (IPM).

The LQP’s role is to sit on the Panel in an advisory capacity. This is not a decision-making role, but they will be responsible for providing legal or procedural advice.

The IPMs provide independent and impartial views at the misconduct panel.

Concerns have arisen regarding the indemnification of the then LQCs and now LQPs involved in the misconduct process, which provides LQPs 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 then 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 appointments until this matter has been resolved nationally and specifically worded indemnity is provided by PCCs to its members.

As a result, the majority 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.

To provide Indemnity to Legally Qualified Persons and Independent Panel Members for Police Misconduct Panel arranged thus far for 2025/26 in accordance with the 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 Person (“LQP”)/ 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 LQP/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 of Safer and Stronger Communities of the GMCA of the nature and extent of the issue/matter giving rise to a claim under it.

Microsoft is one of the key components of GMP’s technology estate, including user licences, SQL server licences and Azure cloud consumption. Microsoft do not contract directly for licences, Instead this is contracted through a Large Account Reseller (LAR) which in GMP’s case is Phoenix. However, Microsoft do not contract support through its resellers, but only deal direct. Due to GMP’s reliance on Microsoft products, it is a critical support contract for GMP.

We are recommending a 3 year contract over the normal annual contract with Microsoft as it gives us some cost certainty going forward and provides a saving of £35K per annum over a one year contract.

The Deputy Mayor approves a Direct Award of a 3 year contract for Microsoft Unified Support to Microsoft Corporation using the suppliers Terms and Conditions. The likely value of the 3 years spend would be circa £1 million.

Procurement legislation requires GMP to tender for these goods and services and a tender was completed by Yorkshire Purchasing Organisation (YPO) on behalf of Forces in the Northern Police Consortium (NPC).
The suppliers listed above were the winning bidders for GMP in each
respective category.

The Deputy Mayor approves the award of a 3-year
contract for insurance services, to
• Commercial Combined – Maven
• Fidelity Guarantee - Zurich Mutual
• Personal Accident / Travel – Maven
• Engineering Inspection and Insurance – RMP/HSB
with the option to extend for a further 2 years. The likely value of 5 years spend would be circa £900k.

GMP have used Chorus software for a number of years and indeed it was initially a joint development between GMP and Chorus Intelligence Limited. In August 2024, GMP issued a Prior Information Notice to understand whether any supplier could provide additional capabilities beyond the current software capabilities. GMP received presentations from several organisations, but there were no products available and whilst suppliers were willing to develop tools, this was at considerable cost to GMP. Only Chorus offered to enhance existing functionality for free and at no cost\risk to GMP.

A short contract is recommended to understand whether Chorus Intelligence Limited can deliver the required capabilities, but also because future costs are unknown. Licence costs will be stable, but the Artificial Intelligence being developed may incur costly processing charges. Whilst Chorus will bear these costs for the initial development period, GMP need to understand if the resultant product will be value for money.

The Deputy Mayor approves a Direct Award of a 1 year contract for Mobile Phone Analytics Software using Crown Commercial Supplier G-Cloud 14 call-off process, to Chorus Intelligence Limited, with the option to extend for a further 1 year. The likely value of the 2 years spend would be circa £600K

Following a procurement exercise conducted by open tender during 2024, a contract for the provision of Drug and Alcohol Related Deaths Panels for Greater Manchester was awarded to Liverpool John Moores University. The contract started on 15th November 2024.

The previous funding agreement had an expiry date of 31st August 2024. In order to fulfil the agreement between the ten Greater Manchester local authorities and the GMCA to commission DARD services, the previous funding agreement with LJMU requires extending to a new expiration date of 14th November 2024 to ensure there is no break in service delivery.

Drug and alcohol related deaths remain a significant issue at both a local and national level. The most recently available data shows a reduction in drug related death rates in GM compared to the previous period, however between 2020 and 2022 there were 660 recorded drug related deaths across GM, which is a significantly higher rate per 100,000 population than the national average (8.0 GM, 5.2 national).

The Drug and Alcohol Related Deaths Panels enable data and information to be compiled by local authority in the following areas:
• demographics and trends
• substances implicated in toxicology
• cause and verdicts of deaths where available
• common themes such as employment/accommodation/relationship status
• characteristics of deaths

This information will be considered by local panels of professionals across a range of disciplines to help in improving the response to such deaths and assist with delivering the ambition of reducing drug related deaths in Greater Manchester.

The funding agreement with Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) for the provision of Drug and Alcohol Related Deaths (DARD) panels with an expiry date of 31st August 2024, is extended to a new expiry date of 14th November 2024 at a value of £13,225.

GMCA commissions this system on behalf of the ten Greater Manchester local authorities, with the local authorities fully funding the system.

Background
The Saint Mary’s Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) provides a comprehensive and co-ordinated forensic, medical and aftercare service to men, women and children living in the Greater Manchester area who have experienced rape or sexual assault, whether this has happened recently or in the past.

GMCA and NHSE Greater Manchester (with delegated responsibility for NHSE Health and Justice budgets) jointly commission the SARC service.

Demand for SARC counselling has been increasing steadily over the past 5 years. However, St Mary’s have struggled to recruit additional counselling staff leading to capacity issues with therapeutic support for both adults and CYP and waiting list pressures. Key issues:

• no capacity to regularly monitor waiting lists, to review suitability, assess risk, and refer to more appropriate services where necessary.
• no local protocols in place between SARC and Children’s Services/CAMHS (apart from in Manchester)
• unsuccessful recruitment over the past 2-3 years of counselling staff to permanent roles in St Mary’s SARC team


1) Adult counselling capacity

As of December 2023, 1260 adult clients were awaiting a counselling start date and 348 adult clients awaiting an assessment.

Noting these issues, NHSE Greater Manchester were successful in bidding for emergency nonrecurrent funding in order to introduce measures to mitigate and alleviate pressure in this system. An Investment of £67k has been secured to create a team of Band 6 Bank Counsellors via NHS Professionals, who will support the SARC Adult Counselling team to:

• Undertake a full comprehensive review of the adult counselling waiting list and attempt to contact all clients to determine continuing suitability for SARC counselling, to assess if clients still require/want SARC counselling, to review current risks and needs, to identify the type of counselling required and method of delivery. This will increase the number of counselling starts and reduce the waiting list times
• Complete a comprehensive review of the SARC Counselling Service, to examine current processes and provision and identify opportunities to refine and release efficiencies focused on patient outcomes. This will allow time for review, redesign and establishment of a sustainable counselling service provision with clearly defined pathways of care into SARC and also out of SARC to local support services. This will result in more effective, streamlined process, which will improve access to support and recovery outcomes and ensure counselling wait lists are maintained at a manageable level.

This will require additional 6 WTE Band 6 Counsellors and a band 6 Business Analyst. (working flexibly via NHSP)

• 4 x WTE at Band 6, 37.5 hours per week for 2 months
£31k (Wait List)
• 2x WTE at Band 6, 37.5 hours per week for 2 months
£16k (Business Process Change)
• 1 x WTE at Band 6, 37.5 hours per week for 2 months
£8k (Business Analyst)
• Provision of laptop and homeworker package for bank staff members £12k

Total cost of investment requested: £ 67k

£67k be committed from funding secured by NHSE GM Health & Justice Budget to Increase capacity at St Marys SARC for adult counselling for victims of rape and sexual assault. The additional staff capacity will increase the number of counselling starts and reduce the waiting list times leading to a sustainable counselling service provision with clearly defined pathways of care.

The reasons for the decision are:

MMU are recognised experts in the youth justice policy field and host the world leading Manchester Centre for Youth Studies.

MMU led a previous knowledge transfer partnership which developed the participatory youth practice approach which is central to this project and therefore GMCA and MMU developed a joint bid to Innovate UK for a further Knowledge Transfer Partnership.

The key objective of this project is to develop new policy and practice which foregrounds the 'voice of the child' within justice interventions. This will help to divert children away from entering the Youth Justice System and break the cycle of reoffending, reducing costs and pressure on services across the region.

The main area of focus is developing an evidence-based model for organisational culture and process change that enables a critical system evaluation for service re-design across the five key areas of police custody, out-of-court resolutions, early intervention and prevention, resettlement, and sentencing.

The project will be the first attempt to harness the evidence base regarding embedding and evaluating a child-centred organisational strategy, proposing a model of better practice to transform Youth Justice outcomes.

£150,281 is provided to MMU over a period of 3 years for the delivery of a Knowledge Transfer Partnership. This will fund a Knowledge Transfer Associate who is employed via MMU and seconded to the GMCA to lead the project.

This will be match funded via Innovate UK – who provide funding for the research aspects of the project and the academic supervision.

Bauer Media originally built the VRU website and hold responsibilities for hosting the site on an ongoing basis, as well as the domain name. The VRU pay a small ongoing cost each financial year to ensure the VRU website stays live for the public to view and interact with. Given the new government’s ambitions to halve knife crime and Violence Against Women and Girls in the next decade, it is crucial that our web service is uninterrupted.

The GM VRU is seeking to award Bauer Media £750 to cover ongoing hosting and domain costs for the VRU website. This is a yearly concern.

GM PCC received notification from the Ministry of Justice on 2nd December 2024 of its 2025/26 budget allocation for DA/SV, IDVA, ISVA and Core Grant to support victims of crime on. With 3 months remaining until the start of the next financial year, it is acknowledged that quick decisions around how these victims’ budget should be utilised for 2025/26 were required.

Over the past 18 months, there has been widescale anxiety within the victims of crime support sector due to the lack of clarity and confirmation of ongoing MoJ funding after 31st March 2025 following the end of a 3-year multi-year settlement. This has created a concern that vital support posts such as IDVAs/ISVA’s could start to vacate to seek job security without immediate confirmation that funding will continue.

In order to quickly alleviate this, it was felt that the victims Grant Funding Agreements of which have been in place since 2022 and cover a spectrum of different support posts, should be extended by 12 months. This would stabilise initial concerns within the sector and also allow GM to undertake its own strategic needs assessment to be in a stronger position to make informed commissioning decisions in 2026/27.

It was also deemed timely to collate the anticipated national insurance increase requirements from grant support providers. Other reasonable cost increases to these posts were considered, such as those relating to matching the Real Living Wage which the Mayor has committed to, and meeting other cost of living increases and general pay awards which haven’t been given over the 3-year lifecycle of the grant funding agreements. In many cases, CVS organisations were covering these shortfalls from their own limited resources.



Original allocation of the Core Grant Funding Agreements

In March 2022, the Ministry of Justice confirmed that nationally £147m of funding would be committed over a multi-year period until the end of 2024/25 for victim services.

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

The way that this funding was allocated is a local PCC decision, although all activity and the service provider were required to meet the necessary MoJ criteria, as set out in their original Police and Crime Commissioner Funding Allocation Guidance.

£964,423.19 be committed to award 12-month extensions 1st April 2025 – 31st March 2026 to the 2022-2025 Core Grant Ministry of Justice Victims of crime grant funding agreements that support victims of crime. These Grant Funding Agreement awards also now includes an increase to cover the raise in national insurance, real living wage and due salary increases.

Background papers include details of organisations and allocations.

GM PCC received notification from the Ministry of Justice of its 2025/26 budget to support victims of crime on 2nd December 2024. With 3 months remaining until the start of the next financial year, it is acknowledged that quick decisions around how the victim’s budget should be utilised for 2025/26 were required.

Over the past 18 months, there has been widescale anxiety within the victims of crime support sector due to the lack of clarity and confirmation of ongoing MoJ funding after 31st March 2025 following the end of a 3-year multi-year settlement. This has created a concern that vital support posts such as IDVAs/ISVA’s could start to vacate to seek job security without immediate confirmation that funding will continue.

In order to quickly alleviate this, it was felt that the victims Grant Funding Agreements of which have been in place since 2022 and cover a spectrum of different support posts, should be extended by 12 months. This would stabilise initial concerns within the sector and also allow GM to undertake its own strategic needs assessment to be in a stronger position to make informed commissioning decisions in 2026/27.

It was also deemed timely to collate the anticipated national insurance increase requirements from grant support providers. Other reasonable cost increases to these posts were considered, such as those relating to matching the Real Living Wage which the Mayor has committed to, and meeting other cost of living increases and general pay awards which haven’t been given over the 3-year lifecycle of the grant funding agreements. In many cases, CVS organisations were covering these shortfalls from their own limited resources.

Original allocation of the DA/SV Grant Funding Agreements

In March 2022, the Ministry of Justice confirmed that nationally £147m of funding would be committed over a multi-year period until the end of 2024/25 for victim services.

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

The way that this funding was allocated is a local PCC decision, although all activity and the service provider were required to meet the necessary MoJ criteria, as set out in their original Police and Crime Commissioner Funding Allocation Guidance. This funding is ringfenced for DA and SV services

£652,888.49 be committed to award 12-month extensions to the 2022-2025 Domestic Abuse/ Sexual Violence (DA/SV) Ministry of Justice Victims of crime grant funding agreements that support victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence. These Grant Funding Agreement (GFA) awards includes an increase to cover national insurance, real living wage and due salary increases.

Background papers include details of organisations and allocations.

GM PCC received notification from the Ministry of Justice on 2nd December 2024 of its 2025/26 budget allocation for DA/SV, IDVA, ISVA and Core Grant to support victims of crime on. With 3 months remaining until the start of the next financial year, it is acknowledged that quick decisions around how these victim budgets should be utilised for 2025/26 were required.

Over the past 18 months, there has been widescale anxiety within the victims of crime support sector due to the lack of clarity and confirmation of ongoing MoJ funding after 31st March 2025 following the end of a 3-year multi-year settlement. This has created a concern that vital support posts such as IDVAs/ISVA’s could start to vacate to seek job security without immediate confirmation that funding will continue.

In order to quickly alleviate this, it was felt that the victims Grant Funding Agreements of which have been in place since 2022 and cover a spectrum of different support posts, should be extended by 12 months. This would stabilise initial concerns within the sector and also allow GM to undertake its own strategic needs assessment to be in a stronger position to make informed commissioning decisions in 2026/27.

It was also deemed timely to collate the anticipated national insurance increase requirements from grant support providers. Other reasonable cost increases to these posts were considered, such as those relating to matching the Real Living Wage which the Mayor has committed to, and meeting other cost of living increases and general pay awards which haven’t been given over the 3-year lifecycle of the grant funding agreements. In many cases, CVS organisations were covering these shortfalls from their own limited resources.


Original allocation of the Core Grant Funding Agreements

In March 2022, the Ministry of Justice confirmed that nationally £147m of funding would be committed over a multi-year period until the end of 2024/25 for victim services.

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

The way that this funding was allocated is a local PCC decision, although all activity and the service provider were required to meet the necessary MoJ criteria, as set out in their original Police and Crime Commissioner Funding Allocation Guidance. This funding has been ringfenced for IDVA/ISVA posts only.

£1,786,287.52 be committed to award 12-month extensions (1st April 2025 – 31st March 2026) to the 2022-2025 IDVA/ISVA Ministry of Justice Victims of crime grant funding agreements that support victims of crime. These Grant Funding Agreement awards also now include an increase to cover the raise in national insurance, real living wage and due salary increases.
See Background document for details of organisations and amounts.

The VRU’s current 3-year funding settlement with the Home Office is due to end on 31st March 2025. The VRU have engaged extensively with the Home Office ever since the new government took power in July 2024 to understand what the landscape for serious violent crime reduction would look like post- March 2025. As a result, all 20 VRUs nationally have been extended, with a new, 1 year funding settlement covering financial year 2025/26 confirmed in a letter to the Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester and the Director of the Greater Manchester VRU from the Minister of State for Policing, Fire & Crime Prevention.

Due to this being only a 12-month funding settlement, it has been agreed that to avoid interruption of the VRU’s programmes for young people most at risk of becoming victims of- or perpetrating- serious violence, time to re-procure services via the open market is not available. Therefore, the GM VRU will maintain its existing contracts via contract variations for each. This will also mitigate the risk of experienced staff leaving both providers and GMCA VRU positions, which would have a detrimental effect on programme provision. In the first instance, the VRU will extend contracts expiring on 31st March 2025 by 3 months through 30th June 2025. This is due to the fact that a grant agreement from the Home Office will not be received until June 2025. The initial 3-month extensions will be underwritten by Greater Manchester Combined Authority capital financing reserves, to cover the highly unlikely eventuality that the grant agreement from government does not come through.

It is a requirement stipulated by the Home Office that VRUs must spend a minimum of 10% of their yearly budget on programme evaluation. The Violence Reduction Unit commissioned ManMet in 2022 to deliver multi-year programme evaluation, and participatory youth framework activity to assist with the creation of the Greater Than Violence strategy. The VRU will continue to require evaluation support in 2025/26, including a potential focus on systems change evaluation to identify and evaluate the impact of the GM VRU across the wider system in which it operates. ManMet continue to have a direct link to GMP Data via its Big Data centre.

GMCA Safer & Stronger Communities (Violence Reduction Unit) wish to extend provision of the VRU’s Programme Evaluation contract by 3 months. The current contract end date is 31st March 2025. The new end date would be 30th June 2025. The value of this extension will be £75,000. The extension will be awarded to the existing programme provider, who are Manchester Metropolitan University (ManMet). The total amount of the existing contract is £810,249; the total value once this extension has been completed will be £885,249.

The VRU’s current 3 year funding settlement with the Home Office is due to end on 31st March 2025. The VRU have engaged extensively with the Home Office ever since the new government took power in July 2024 to understand what the landscape for serious violent crime reduction would look like post- March 2025. As a result, all 20 VRUs nationally have been extended, with a new, 1 year funding settlement covering financial year 2025/26 confirmed in a letter to the Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester and the Director of the Greater Manchester VRU from the Minister of State for Policing, Fire & Crime Prevention.

Due to this being only a 12 month funding settlement, it has been agreed that to avoid interruption of the VRU’s programmes for young people most at risk of becoming victims of- or perpetrating- serious violence, time to re-procure services via the open market is not available. Therefore, the GM VRU will maintain its existing contracts via contract variations for each. This will also mitigate the risk of experienced staff leaving both providers and GMCA VRU positions, which would have a detrimental effect on programme provision. In the first instance, the VRU will extend contracts expiring on 31st March 2025 by 3 months through 30th June 2025. This is due to the fact that a grant agreement from the Home Office will not be received until June 2025. The initial 3 month extensions will be underwritten by Greater Manchester Combined Authority capital financing & legal reserves, to cover the highly unlikely eventuality that the grant agreement from government does not come through.

The Navigator programme is the VRU’s flagship tertiary intervention, supporting those who have been victims (and perppetrators) of serious violent crime. The programme works with young people aged 10-25, to help them to cope and recover from their experience of violence and assist with access to local support networks to prevent the potential of further violence.

Initially rolled out in four hospitals across Greater Manchester (Royal Bolton Hospital, Salford Royal Hospital, Manchester Royal Infirmary and Manchester Royal Children’s Hospital), due to the success of the project, scope has been expanded to Wythenshawe Hospital, and to include referrals from North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) and community referrals, whilst a custody navigator programme has now also been launched.

It is vital that Navigators build trust with young people who may not otherwise engage with other services. The Navigator project is completely independent and confidential, young people are entitled to receive support regardless of whether they report an incident to the police or not. The GM Navigator programme has been nationally appraised, with evaluation presented at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health in March 2024 to widespread praise.

GMCA Safer & Stronger Communities (Violence Reduction Unit) wish to extend provision of the VRU’s Navigator programme by 3 months. The current contract end date is 30th June 2025, however this is due to a variation sought in 2024 that added provision for navigators in custody settings. The core provision of the contract, including costs, ends on 31st March 2025 (Pertaining to Navigators in hospital, community and educations ettings) The end date as a result of this decision would remain 30th June 2025, however this Decision seeks authorisation to add £90,000 to the existing contract to retain existing hospital, community and education navigators provision until 30th June 2025.. The extension will be awarded to the existing programme provider, who are Oasis UK. The total amount of the existing contract is £1,435,646. The total value once this extension has been completed will be £1,525,646.

The VRU’s current 3-year funding settlement with the Home Office is due to end on 31st March 2025. The VRU have engaged extensively with the Home Office ever since the new government took power in July 2024 to understand what the landscape for serious violent crime reduction would look like post- March 2025. As a result, all 20 VRUs nationally have been extended, with a new, 1 year funding settlement covering financial year 2025/26 confirmed in a letter to the Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester and the Director of the Greater Manchester VRU from the Minister of State for Policing, Fire & Crime Prevention.

Due to this being only a 12-month funding settlement, it has been agreed that to avoid interruption of the VRU’s programmes for young people most at risk of becoming victims of- or perpetrating- serious violence, time to re-procure services via the open market is not available. Therefore, the GM VRU will maintain its existing contracts via contract variations for each. This will also mitigate the risk of experienced staff leaving both providers and GMCA VRU positions, which would have a detrimental effect on programme provision. In the first instance, the VRU will extend contracts expiring on 31st March 2025 by 3 months through 30th June 2025. This is due to the fact that a grant agreement from the Home Office will not be received until June 2025. The initial 3-month extensions will be underwritten by Greater Manchester Combined Authority capital financing reserves, to cover the highly unlikely eventuality that the grant agreement from government does not come through.

The Community Sports programme is one of the VRU’s flagship interventions. In recognition of the positive impact that sport can have on young people’s experiences, and it’s essential role in helping many young people to avoid negative situations, peer contacts, and routines and help to prevent involvement in youth offending, the VRU originally commissioned StreetgamesUK in 2022 to deliver a programme that enables the VRU Community Sport Lead to continue to explore opportunities to embed the work already developed in partnership with StreetgamesUK, and their community sport analysis tool, as an evidence-based approach to delivering the VRU’s vision for the role of community sport. This approach seeks:

• More sport in more places
• More workforce with more competencies
• More vulnerable young people referred to- and engaged in community sport programmes.

This programme is in the process of being evaluated by Manchester Metropolitan University, as with all VRU flagship programmes. Streetgames have also commissioned a wider systems change evaluation via Loughborough University across several of its programmes, including its VRU funded programme in Greater Manchester.

GMCA Safer & Stronger Communities (Violence Reduction Unit) wish to extend provision of the VRU’s Community Sports programme by 3 months. The current contract end date is 31st March 2025. The new end date would be 30th June 2025. The value of this extension will be £50,000. The extension will be awarded to the existing programme provider, who are Streetgames. The total amount of the existing contract is £600,000; the total value once this extension has been completed will be £650,000.

The VRU’s current 3-year funding settlement with the Home Office is due to end on 31st March 2025. The VRU have engaged extensively with the Home Office ever since the new government took power in July 2024 to understand what the landscape for serious violent crime reduction would look like post- March 2025. As a result, all 20 VRUs nationally have been extended, with a new, 1 year funding settlement covering financial year 2025/26 confirmed in a letter to the Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester and the Director of the Greater Manchester VRU form the Minister of State for Policing, Fire & Crime Prevention.

Due to this being only a 12-month funding settlement, it has been agreed that to avoid interruption of the VRU’s programmes for young people most at risk of becoming victims of- or perpetrating- serious violence, time to re-procure services via the open market is not available. Therefore, the GM VRU will maintain its existing contracts via contract variations for each. This will also mitigate the risk of experienced staff leaving both providers and GMCA VRU positions, which would have a detrimental effect on programme provision. In the first instance, the VRU will extend contracts expiring on 31st March 2025 by 3 months through 30th June 2025. This is due to the fact that a grant agreement from the Home Office will not be received until June 2025. The initial 3-month extensions will be underwritten by Greater Manchester Combined Authority capital financing reserves, to cover the highly unlikely eventuality that the grant agreement from government does not come through.

To ensure a strong public health approach is adopted across Greater Manchester for Violence Prevention, it is critical to incorporate senior public health expertise and knowledge. Since Helen Lowey Consultancy Ltd was appointed in October 2022, the VRU has reaped multiple benefits, including:

• Provision of sufficient senior expertise to influence and negotiate with District Directors of Public Health and Strategic Health Leads across a range of organisations and settings

• Representing GM wide public health agenda in relation to Police, Fire and Crime to support integration within the developing locality boards and development of an Integrated Care System

• Advising the Mayor and Deputy Mayor regarding opportunities and
approaches to support reducing Youth Violence and Gender Based
Violence

• Representing the Public Health agenda at the GM Violence Reduction Governance Board and provide credible leadership and guidance at a senior level to support systemwide change and improvement.

• Providing oversight of all relevant data and ways to strengthen and
improve the VRU understanding of all factors relating to violence.

• The consultant has overseen the production of two Serious Violence Strategic Needs Assessments during her time with the VRU

The appointment of Helen Lowey Consultancy Ltd has brought added value to the VRU via unpaid Public Health Registrar placements. Whilst the VRU has been in receipt of one placement since Aug 2023 (due to end May 31st, 2024) the qualifications held by Helen Lowey Consultancy Ltd allows the VRU to receive two unpaid Public Health Registrar placements at the same time from August 2024.

GMCA Safer & Stronger Communities (Violence Reduction Unit) wish to extend provision of the VRU’s Public Health Lead contract by 3 months. The current contract end date is 31st March 2025. The new end date would be 30th June 2025. The value of this extension will be £18,000. The extension will be awarded to the existing provider, which is Helen Lowey Consultancy Ltd. The total amount of the existing contract is £208,000; the total value once this extension has been completed will be £226,000.

The VRU’s current 3-year funding settlement with the Home Office is due to end on 31st March 2025. The VRU have engaged extensively with the Home Office ever since the new government took power in July 2024 to understand what the landscape for serious violent crime reduction would look like post- March 2025. As a result, all 20 VRUs nationally have been extended, with a new, 1 year funding settlement covering financial year 2025/26 confirmed in a letter to the Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester and the Director of the Greater Manchester VRU form the Minister of State for Policing, Fire & Crime Prevention.

Due to this being only a 12-month funding settlement, it has been agreed that to avoid interruption of the VRU’s programmes for young people most at risk of becoming victims of- or perpetrating- serious violence, time to re-procure services via the open market is not available. Therefore, the GM VRU will maintain its existing contracts via contract variations for each. This will also mitigate the risk of experienced staff leaving both providers and GMCA VRU positions, which would have a detrimental effect on programme provision. In the first instance, the VRU will extend contracts expiring on 31st March 2025 by 3 months through 30th June 2025. This is due to the fact that a grant agreement from the Home Office will not be received until June 2025. The initial 3-month extensions will be underwritten by Greater Manchester Combined Authority capital financing reserves, to cover the highly unlikely eventuality that the grant agreement from government does not come through.

The 2023 Greater Than Violence strategy contains multiple commitments to work across educational settings over the next decade, particularly concerning pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

In order to progress this work, the VRU needed to appoint an individual who could function at a senior level and invoke the necessary changes across the education system. As such, it appointed an independent education lead via the College of Maths. Since July 2022, the education lead has operated in a complex partnership environment, working with multiple stakeholders to identify best practice, implement strategy and effective intervention measures. The independent education lead was appointed as in order to succeed in this work, it was deemed necessary that the individual would need to have had extensive experience as a headteacher, and was both competent and fully conversant with the business landscape of education, including matters pertaining to national and local policy, through to direct operational delivery.

Building resilience within the school community and general education
setting is vital in order to reduce the risk of young people becoming involved in violence but also addressing the outcomes and factors when violence does occur. This work covers all elements of primary and secondary and further education as well as other specialist education provision. The Education Lead also supports delivery of the Mayor’s manifesto commitments around Mbacc and wider education and employment opportunities for young people more generally.

GMCA Safer & Stronger Communities (Violence Reduction Unit) wish to extend provision of the VRU’s Education Lead contract by 3 months. The current contract end date is 31st March 2025. The new end date would be 30th June 2025. The value of this extension will be £19,000. The extension will be awarded to the existing provider, which is the College of Maths. The total amount of the existing contract is £159,400; the total value once this extension has been completed will be £178,400

The VRU’s current 3-year funding settlement with the Home Office is due to end on 31st March 2025. The VRU have engaged extensively with the Home Office ever since the new government took power in July 2024 to understand what the landscape for serious violent crime reduction would look like post- March 2025. As a result, all 20 VRUs nationally have been extended, with a new, 1 year funding settlement covering financial year 2025/26 confirmed in a letter to the Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester and the Director of the Greater Manchester VRU form the Minister of State for Policing, Fire & Crime Prevention.

Due to this being only a 12-month funding settlement, it has been agreed that to avoid interruption of the VRU’s programmes for young people most at risk of becoming victims of -or perpetrating- serious violence, time to re-procure services via the open market is not available. Therefore, the GM VRU will maintain its existing contracts via contract variations for each. This will also mitigate the risk of experienced staff leaving both providers and GMCA VRU positions, which would have a detrimental effect on programme provision. In the first instance, the VRU will extend contracts expiring on 31st March 2025 by 3 months through 30th June 2025. This is due to the fact that a grant agreement from the Home Office will not be received until June 2025. The initial 3-month extensions will be underwritten by Greater Manchester Combined Authority capital financing reserves, to cover the highly unlikely eventuality that the grant agreement from government does not come through.

To date, the multi-agency partnership working approach reflected in its staffing arrangements 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 its 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 are seeking to award the following organisations to continue funding the VRU staff for the first 3 months of financial year 2025-26:

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

External Staff- Secondments from Other Organisations:
Youth Justice Operational Lead (0.2 FTE) to be awarded to Tameside Council
Youth Justice Strategic Lead (0.1 FTE) to be awarded to Wigan Council
Probation Lead (0.4 FTE) to be awarded to the National Probation Service
Clinical Lead (0.2 FTE) To be awarded to the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust

Contracts for Professional Services:

Education Lead (0.4 FTE) - to be awarded to the College of Maths via a separate Decision Notice
Public Health Lead (0.2 FTE)- to be awarded to Helen Lowey Consultancy Ltd via a separate Decision Notice

Total: £88,043.32

The VRU’s current 3-year funding settlement with the Home Office is due to end on 31st March 2025. The VRU have engaged extensively with the Home Office ever since the new government took power in July 2024 to understand what the landscape for serious violent crime reduction would look like post- March 2025. As a result, all 20 VRUs nationally have been extended, with a new, 1 year funding settlement covering financial year 2025/26 confirmed in a letter to the Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester and the Director of the Greater Manchester VRU from the Minister of State for Policing, Fire & Crime Prevention.

Due to this being only a 12-month funding settlement, it has been agreed that to avoid interruption of the VRU’s programmes for young people most at risk of becoming victims of- or perpetrating- serious violence, time to re-procure services via the open market is not available. Therefore, the GM VRU will maintain its existing contracts via contract variations for each.
This will also mitigate the risk of experienced staff leaving both providers and GMCA VRU positions, which would have a detrimental effect on programme provision. In the first instance, the VRU will extend contracts expiring on 31st March 2025 by 3 months through 30th June 2025. This is due to the fact that a grant agreement from the Home Office will not be received until June 2025. The initial 3-month extensions will be underwritten by Greater Manchester Combined Authority capital financing reserves, to cover the highly unlikely eventuality that the grant agreement from government does not come through.

It is a requirement stipulated by the Home Office that VRUs must spend a small proportion of their yearly budget on data sharing agreements and putting data sharing architecture into place. The Violence Reduction Unit commissioned JMU Services Ltd in 2022 to deliver TIIG (Trauma Injury & Intelligence Gathering) data via a multi-year contract to assist wider programme evaluation.

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 charge for delivery in 25/26 (including the first 3 months covered by this Decision) is reflective of the agreed workplan to be delivered by TIIG in 25/26. This is the ‘expanded’ workplan agreed upon in 23/24 and 24/25, following a smaller workplan in 22/23. These include continuing 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.

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.

GMCA Safer & Stronger Communities (Violence Reduction Unit) wish to extend provision of the VRU’s TIIG contract by 3 months. The current contract end date is 31st March 2025. The new end date would be 30th June 2025. The value of this extension will be £12,280. The extension will be awarded to the existing programme provider, who are JMU Services Ltd (Liverpool John Moores University). The total amount of the existing contract is £121,645; the total value once this extension has been completed will be £133,925.

To see attached decision

The Deputy Mayor approves the award of the contract for a new police RMS to Mark 43 for a period of three years with the option to extend for a further year. Total value of the contract circa £21M

GM Complex Safeguarding Peer Reviews have identified “culturally sensitive practice” as a training gap and area for improvement for the local Complex Safeguarding teams. The Roma community in particular faces discrimination and unconscious bias, which impairs the creation of relationships of trust with practitioners and constitutes an obstacle to the safeguarding of children and families from exploitation.

GMCA Complex Safeguarding wishes to pay £300 from the Complex Safeguarding Budget to pay for The Roma Support Group to deliver a workshop on “Supporting Roma Children and Families Facing Exploitation” on March 18th, 2025, as part of GM’s Week of Action professional development offer.

The GMCA Complex Safeguarding hub wishes to upskill frontline staff around understanding how grooming affects young people’s lives, as well as what techniques perpetrators use to make a child feel trapped. The focus on “recovery” is a topic that has been identified by Complex Safeguarding managers as an area for improvement during the GMCS strategy’s consultation process. As a lived experience-led organization, The Reign Collective are best placed to advise on ways in which our practitioners can support long-term recovery from trauma.

GMCA Complex Safeguarding wishes to pay £700 from the Complex Safeguarding Budget to pay for The Reign Collective to deliver a workshop on the topic of “Healing after Grooming” on March 21st, 2025, as part of the GM Week of Action professional development offer.

StreetDoctors has a longstanding partnership with GM VRU, having delivered app-based learning across GM and providing bespoke learning sessions in mainstream and alternative provision learning establishments. Both StreetDoctors and the GM VRU are keen to engage young people who would not normally access learning and have developed a ‘train the trainer’ pilot programme that can be delivered flexibly to a group of 10 young people (age 16/17) over a maximum of 6 weeks. Young people will be subject to Youth Justice intervention due to offending / risky behaviour and be supported to engage in the activity. Those engaged will be trained by StreetDoctors accredited volunteers (mainly junior doctors) and learn about the dangers of risky behaviour and impact of trauma injuries. They will also be trained to deliver basic first aid training to their peers. Following the course, the young people will be accredited by StreetDoctors and StreetDoctors will attend up to 15 sessions to support the young people in delivery of training.

It is anticipated this intervention will raise the confidence and aspirations of those involved. The programme will be evaluated by StreetDoctors and used to support further development and delivery in other CJ settings including Custody. This programme is endorsed by the VRU Criminal Justice group.

The GM VRU is seeking to award £4,999 to fund a bespoke programme to train young people within the CJ system to learn about the impact of trauma injuries and deliver trauma first aid to their peers.

The Annual Fire Conference and Exhibition is a key event in the conference calendar for senior fire officers and members of fire and rescue authorities. The conference provides an opportunity to meet in-person and discuss key strategic and practical developments impacting the fire and rescue sector over the next twelve months.

to fund 1 x delegate to attend the LGA Annual Fire Conference on Tuesday 11 - Wednesday 12 March 2025, Newcastle Gateshead.

The cost of the conference is £495.00 + VAT for a non LGA Member

Following competition Robiquity emerged as the preferred supplier. As G-Cloud 14 was the selected route, a shortlisting exercise was undertaken and clarifications questions sent out to the short-listed suppliers to determine the overall cost to GMP. Robiquity provided the best value to GMP.

The Deputy Mayor approves the tender and award of a 3 year contract for an Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and Hyper-automation partner following a Crown Commercial Supplier G-Cloud 14 call-off process, to Robiquity, with the option to extend for a further 1 year. The likely value of the 4 years spend would be circa £4 million.