Decisions

This is in line with the strategic priorities set out in the GM Digital Blueprint and GM Strategy, and funding has been agreed with the Dept of Science Innovation & Technology (DSIT) specifically for these purposes.

If we do not accept the funding Greater Manchester will miss out on £1m of additional investment in digital inclusion.

The GMCA should accept a grant of £1M of funding from the Department of Science Innovation & Technology that is to then be provided to localities in support of Digital Inclusion.
Given the funding is provided on the basis that it will be used for the purpose of funding schools (through local authorities) to provide digital participation/inclusion activities, approve the passporting of the money to the Local Authorities for onward transfer to schools.

A report on the current Brownfield Housing Fund Programme was approved by GMCA on 31 January 2025, granting delegated authority to the Group Chief Finance Officer acting in consultation with the Portfolio Lead for Housing First for BHF funding decisions to 31 March 2025.

The purpose of the delegation is to approve new projects for funding and urgent variations to existing funding from the Brownfield Housing Fund (BHF) to manage the year end programme position. The allocations proposed in the appended paper are anticipated to align in-year spend with the funding available for this financial year (£74.9m).

The Brownfield Housing Fund (BHF) funding variations and allocations are approved.

The MA are looking to replicate the event in 2025 with the new ‘charge’ introduced in 2024 and continuing to ensure 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 2024, the event attracted 16 teams from 15 schools from 8 boroughs. Some teams took the part of the CPS and others the Defence.’ 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.

Counter Terrorism Policing is a national network that supports forces
across the country and the North West forces of Cheshire, Cumbria,
Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside form the NW region.
CTPNW comprises around 1,000 staff from across the NW forces who
work with the forces, partners and communities to protect the public
from terrorism

The Deputy Mayor agrees to fund the continuation of 50% contribution
to the post of Chief Officer, Counter Terrorism Policing in the North
West (CTPNW).
In 2024/25 the 50% amounts to £90,969.
Future years will be subject to appropriate inflationary increases and
are estimated as below:
25/26 £103,368.70
26/27 £106,469.76
27/28 £109,663.85

The GMCA have commissioned 4 films from Mother Mountain about different aspects of CCB (based on 15 survivor interviews) and between these films interviewed survivors and experts in this field to give a comprehensive and ‘live’ reporting of what CCB, looks like, how it manifests and its impact on those who experience it. The purpose of this was to train professionals that come into contact with Victim/Survivors of CCB to recognise, understand and therefore support victims and be able to better prosecute perpetrators.624 industry professionals received the VR training including Lawyers, GPs and Police Officers and Social Workers. Method of delivery- MMP crew have delivered hands on directly


Flourish was co designed by victim/ survivors. We wanted to know what would help them “heal” (as far as possible) and build resilience. The final VR experience contained, animations, self-help tips, life coach and a psychologist, meditations and music. The experience was aimed at women who are obtaining support from third sector agencies. The model of delivery was “Train the Trainer”

Flourish has had impact, and feedback has been exceptionally good, however the delivery method has not been as successful as its counterpart Insight: Although the “Train the trainer” method has been successful with agencies such as GMP, the women’s groups struggled to deliver using the model we proposed in our funding- which was self-delivery. However, qualitative feedback has been outstanding and groups keen to participate.

• Staff shortages due to funding cuts – i.e. not enough staff to release to deliver this programme.
• Technology – the Train the trainer model is simply too complex to run by women centre staff.
• Size of recovery groups: groups on average tend to be small and there are more “one to ones”
• Launch- the launch (although mentioning ‘Flourish’) mainly focussed on the press area of interest which was “Insight”. Flourish did not get any press coverage.

Budget provision has been made for this funding to come from the Police and Criminal Justice element of the GBV Budget cost centre 3044.

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime approves funding for a second stage of financial support to underpin the delivery of the Mother Mountain production, ‘FLOURSH’.

Mother Mountain are seeking £30,000 to support final rollout of the program, this phase will learn the lessons from the obstacles encountered in phase one of the project – these funds are available within the GBV budget and subject to approval of this decision notice these funds will be allocated to support this project.

Working alongside partner agencies and the Pub & Club Network schemes across Greater Manchester we want to ensure that people visiting the area remain safe and enjoy themselves in a responsible manner. Therefore, we are looking at supporting the nighttime economy network across Greater Manchester by providing prevention materials for drink spiking; these will include bottle covers, glass covers and drink test strips.

This will be a joint approach and will include Police and partners providing a presence withing the nighttime economy, handing out crime prevention materials, liaising with licensed premises and carrying out visits with the licensing teams across the local authority and GMP.

The operation is about community engagement and identifying vulnerability ensuring that those visiting have a safe and enjoyable night out and deterring those that seek to cause harm.

With staff dedicated to Op North Star there will be a robust positive policing response to those causing problems before they escalate, to reduce, VAWG, the level of anti-social behaviour, serious acquisitive crime offences, alcohol related disorder and serious violent crime."
. Budget provision has been made for this funding to come from the Police and Criminal Justice element of the GBV Budget cost centre 3044.

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime approves funding for Op North Star which will be supporting the night-time economy during the December month in the response to increased risk of crime and disorder particularly VAWG related offences throughout Greater Manchester.
The cost of this contribution is £3,000.

It is crucial to the ongoing relevance and validity of the GBV Strategy that women’s groups across Greater Manchester feel that they are able to debate, consider and influence the ongoing delivery of the Strategy. Events, such as this conference play an important role in facilitating this involvement and influence

The Safer Stronger Communities Directorate support the delivery of a GM Women’s conference in March 2025 considering issues related to the GM Gender-Based Violence Strategy and the recommendations of the Baird Review. The support offered is £750 towards the costs of hosting the event – these monies are available within the Gender-Based Violence budget code 3044. The Deputy mayor made this commitment in a meeting with the group at the end of last year.

The reasons for the decision are:
The Deputy Mayor is holding a stakeholder roundtable exploring the current and potential strategic relationship between culture and creativity and the Greater Than Violence Strategy on Wednesday 26th February at 2pm - 4:30pm.

The session will bring together key stakeholders from Greater Manchester Combined Authority and the Violence Reduction Unit, the culture sector and others with the aim of exploring how creative practice can support the delivery of GM’s Greater than Violence Strategy which aims to improve lives by preventing violence, supporting victims, families and communities affected, and providing positive opportunities to those at risk of becoming victims, witnesses, or perpetrators.

During the roundtable, we will explore the potential role of the cultural sector in supporting delivery of the strategy, invite the sharing of insights and good practice, identify current challenges and potential solutions to these, and opportunities for collaboration and future working across the city region.

The VRU's exploration into the arts & culture sector over recent months has shown that participating in these activities can positively impact mental health, wellbeing, feelings of safety and building healthy relationships. The discussion further builds on this research and will inform the VRU of strategic next steps to take.

The Safer Stronger Communities team are seeking to make the following payment to Contact Theatre:

Contact Theatre:
A payment to be made of maximum £300.00 to book a room at Manchester Young People’s Theatre (trading as Contact Theatre) for a roundtable chaired by the Deputy Mayor inclusive of refreshments (tea, coffee and water). No space within GMCA is available on this date to accommodate meeting attendees.

The VRU is required to refresh the impact section of its website and produce an Annual Report, to be published online and shared with the Home Office, by 31st March each year. Under this commission, Carbon Creative will provide content and design support with the VRU’s 2024-25 Annual Report. Each year, with buy in from the Home Office, the VRU produces an 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. In addition, the report is built with interactive, intertextual links to other resources that those accessing the report online can access in real time.

The GM VRU is seeking to award Carbon Creative £2,160.00 to provide infographics and design for the VRU’s 2024/25 annual report and website refresh.

In May 2024, The Police (Conduct) (Amendment) Regulations 2024 were introduced. To ensure the effective running of Police Misconduct Hearings under these new regulations, the Northwest Region held two training sessions for LQPs and IPMs.

The first session was a shorter session held online on 9 August 2024 for all those LQPs (then Legally Qualified Chairs) and IPMs who had sat for the Northwest Region under the previous regulations.

The second session was a longer session held in-person on 25 September 2024 for all of those LQPs and IPMs who were newly appointed to the Northwest Region.

The total cost came to £21,515.00 and has been divided equally between Lancashire OPCC, Cheshire OPCC, Merseyside OPCC, Cumbria OPCC, and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.

This included:

• LQPs and IPMs time at their daily rate of £511.56/£357.00 respectively
• LQPs and IPMs time at the rate set out above where we organised for them to attend a session with a different region due to them being unable to attend the ones held by the Northwest region
• Travel expenses for those LQPs/IPMs attending the in-person session, and overnight accommodation where required
• The training fees for x2 trainers at the online session and x1 trainer at the in-person session
• Travel expenses for the trainer who attended the in-person session, and overnight accommodation
• Training materials

This cost also includes a fee paid to advertise the LQP post with the Law Society during the recruitment stage.

Where any Northwest Region LQPs/IPMs sit for other regions and chose to attend a training session with them, this cost was covered by that region.

Similarly, where we had LQPs/IPMs from other regions attending either of the Northwest training sessions, we did not cover their costs.

£4303.00 be paid to the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) for Merseyside to cover the costs incurred in relation to two training sessions held for LQPs and IPMs appointed to sit on panels for Police Misconduct Hearings for police forces across the Northwest Region, including Greater Manchester Police.

CIPFA’s Excellence in Policing Finance (EPF) programme works with police forces to build on existing finance capacity, deliver tangible improvements and maximise financial health across the sector.

This continuing programme will support the development of key skills and processes in policing finance.

The Deputy Mayor agrees to part fund the programme with GMP - £20K in total- GMP £10k & GMCA 10k.

This has been a continuing arrangement since 2021/22 and will include appropriate inflationary increases.

ICVA provides an essential service to PCCs and Combined Authorities around changes/updated legislation, codes of conduct, quality assessment framework, bitesize training courses for ICVs. Relevant training for Managers, refresher training around recommendations made from force Custody Inspections.
In 2025/2026 strategy, ICVA have outlined the following:
• New members site; funded by ICVA, and due to be launched in March 2025.
• New e-learning platform for ICVs with new E-Learning packages.
• To develop a national electronic reporting tool for visits, which is a longer-term project.
• Launch of the third Quality Assurance Framework (QAF3).
• Leading of a custody record reviewing pilot with schemes to feed into a high-profile immigration detainee roundtable to establish policy workstreams for a vulnerable group of detainees.
• Providing some more resources alongside of the E-Learning platform throughout the year designed to assist with diverse recruitment and raising the profile of independent custody visiting in our social media.
In addition, it continues to offer a range of benefits to members for our core work

Authorisation for payment of the Independent Custody Visiting Association (ICVA) membership fees for 2025/2026 at a cost of £1750 plus VAT – GMCA and the predecessor OPCC have been members for over twelve years, since its inception and the Deputy Mayor, Kate Green has recently been appointed as a member of the ICVA Board.

In 2018, Greater Manchester Combined Authority led a successful c. £1.2m funding application to the Home Office to enhance the complex
safeguarding offer across Greater Manchester, by embedding
psychologists/psychotherapists into multi-agency complex safeguarding teams in each of the ten districts of GM.
The service is provided by Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust on behalf of the four GM NHS mental health trusts. This collaboration between the four trusts mirrors the arrangement in the GM Resilience Hub, set up to provide advice and support to people affected by the Manchester Arena terrorist attack.
The first psychologists commenced work in four complex safeguarding teams in January 2019 and was rolled out to the remainder of GM in line with the move towards multi-agency, complex safeguarding teams in each of the ten GM districts. The previous contract expires on 31st March 2025, and this Decision seeks to award a new contract covering 1st April 2025-31st March 2028.
The role of the psychologist is to:
• Improve the understanding, knowledge and expertise of a range of
frontline practitioners in the subject of trauma and therapeutic approaches to recovery.
• Add value to the assessments and interventions delivered by key
workers (including social workers) so that they are informed by therapeutic approaches to trauma recovery.
• Embed case formulation into the practice of complex safeguarding
teams, to make sense of young people’s difficulties in the context of their relationships, social circumstances and life events.
• Undertake reflective supervision either individually or with groups of
professionals, to support them with the challenging work that they are
undertaking.
This programme was previously funded as a contract between GMCA & Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust with funding from NHS GM ICB, the 10 GM LA Directors of Children’s Services, and the Deputy Mayor Investment fund.
The new contract that this Decision relates to will be jointly funded by the following organisations:
• NHS GM Integrated Care Board (ICB) whose contribution will be
funded directly from the ICB to Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust.
Their portion of funding will not pass through GMCA at any stage.
• GMCA
• Greater Manchester Police (GMP)
• The 10 GM Local Authority Directors of Children’s Services

GMCA Safer & Stronger Communities (Complex Safeguarding) wish to directly award Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust a contract to cover provision of a Psychologist for the GM Resilience Hub Trusted
Relationships programme covering the delivery period 1
st April 2025- 31stMarch 2028. The total value of the contract will be £523,334, however GMCA will only be funding part of this contract. The value of GMCA’s contribution to the contract over the 3-year life of the contract is £123,334.

The reasons for the decision are:

The Greater Manchester Capacity and Capability Fund has two themes of the volunteering element. The first theme is centred around empowering victims to obtain volunteering opportunities within or outside of the sector to support their recovery and the second is increase volunteering capacity within the VCSE organisation. This will not only create a valuable learning platform for volunteers but also allow them to contribute to organisation’s mission and aims. By working in such a critical and sensitive area, volunteers can gain significant experience and develop a unique set of skills which can assist in improving the calibre, experience and expertise of individuals working within the victims' support sector.

It is acknowledged that there is a significant strain that victims' service organisations are currently experiencing. This strain is largely due to the escalating cost of living expenses, which has been driven and exacerbated by inflation which has consistently remained above average over the past two years. Due to the escalating cost of living expenses, victims' face financial pressure that has put a burden on their resources which could potentially impact the quality and extent of the support and opportunities they can receive. In response to this strain, this priority funding theme has been designed to provide financial relief to victims. Funding can be utilised to help victims manage their expenses, thereby allaying some of the financial pressure they are under and alleviating the fear of an impact on the quality of the support and opportunities they can receive.
The grant funding is designed to bolster and enhance the existing services accessed by victims', especially to victims from minority groups or backgrounds. This grant funding serves as a resource for victim services organisations to improve their services and make them more inclusive. By doing so, they can ensure that their services are accessible but also responsive to the needs of the diverse population they serve. This ultimately contributes to a more effective and supportive environment for all victims of crime.
The grant funding provides financial resources that can be utilised for a wide array of both existing and proposed initiatives and programmes. These are specifically designed to incorporate the valuable insights of individuals with lived experience in the process of shaping the services and ensuring support meets the needs of victims. This approach recognises the unique perspective and understanding that these individuals bring to the table.


Their first hand experience with the challenges faced by victims of crime makes them uniquely positioned to contribute to the design and delivery of services. By involving them in the process, services can be tailored more effectively to meet the specific needs of victims.

A fundamental aspect of enhancing services and support available to victims in Greater Manchester lies in fostering increased collaboration and cross-functional practices among the various victim services organisations in the city region. By working together, organisations can share knowledge, resources and best practices, leading to a more comprehensive and effective support system for victims. This collaborative approach creates a comprehensive approach to victim support, where organisations can complement each other’s services to address the diverse needs of victims. Recognising the potential of such collaborative efforts, the Victims Capacity and Capability Fund has identified enhancing collaboration as a priority funding theme. By prioritising collaboration, the fund aims to create a more integrated and efficient victim support network in Greater Manchester which not only improves the quality of services on offer but ensures victims have access to the correct support they need.

To use the funding available from the Police Property Act under the permitted use of the fund:

to make payments of such amounts as the relevant authority may determine for such charitable purposes as they may select.

A total of £900,000 to be allocated for 3-years to the Greater Manchester Victims’ Capability and Capacity Fund. 300k per year for 3 Elements:
1. Small Grants
2. Enhanced scheme to support GM strategy development.
3. VCSE Leadership development.

This Decision Notice deals with Element 1 Small Grants.

Background
The Police (Property) Act 1897 contains two principal provisions:
• Provides for a magistrates’ court to make an order in respect of property that has come into the possession of the police in connection with the investigation of an offence. (Proceedings to recover the property may be brought by a person claiming to be entitled to possession within six months of the date of the court order).
• The secretary of state is given power under section 2 to make regulations for the disposal of property that has come into the possession of the police in connection with the investigation of an offence, where the owner has not been ascertained and no court order has been made.

The proceeds of all sales under the regulations and any money to which the regulations apply are to be paid to the relevant authority (the local policing

body) and kept in a separate account (the Police Property Act Fund (the Fund)).

The Fund may be invested as the relevant authority thinks fit and the income derived from the investments added to the Fund. The moneys, including income shall be used —
(a) to defray expenses incurred in the conveyance, storage, and safe custody of the property and in connection with its sale and otherwise in executing the regulations.
(b) to pay reasonable compensation, the amount of which shall be fixed by the relevant authority, to persons by whom property has been delivered to the police.
(c) to make payments of such amounts as the relevant authority may determine for such charitable purposes as they may select.

Part 9 of the GMCA Constitution - The Mayor’s PCC Scheme of Delegation – Section 8 says ‘the exercise the powers and duties of the Police (Property) Regulations 1997’ to the Treasurer, as below.


Management of Assets and Risks

Activity Authorising Limit Principal Authoriser Deputy Authoriser
Exercise the Powers and Duties of the Police (Property)
Regulations 1997 All Treasurer to the GMCA Director of Finance (Police and Crime)

The Mayor’s PCC Financial Regulations – contain the following:

The Police (Property) Act 1997 is a fund whereby allocations are received from the sale of recovered stolen goods or property that has been found. If the owners of the recovered items are not traceable then they are sold at auction. The monies from the sale of goods are then redistributed by way of grants or donations to local charitable bodies that support and complement local policing and crime reduction priorities.

The Chief Finance Officer to the Chief Constable is responsible for:
• Approving the sale of recovered stolen goods or property that has been found, in accordance with the authorisation levels and
• Determining those items of crime property which may be retained for police purposes.

The Mayor (insofar as it relates to his PCC functions) is responsible for:

• Approving donations to charitable bodies within the Greater Manchester area in accordance with the requirements of the Police (Property) Act 1997.

The Small Grants will be capped at £124,898.18 this financial year as additional schemes of element 2) enhanced grant for victim’s services to support GM strategy delivery and element 3) victim services leadership development scheme is also in development. The scheme will be opened once each year for the next 3 financial years (including 2024/25). The Small Grants funding is a one-off payment to be spent within 6-12 months.

There will be three discrete elements to the overall fund:
1. Small grants to be awarded to community organisation who support victims (Max £5,000)
Such as - Cost of living grant for victims – to provide personal budgets and personal funding for victims with cost-of-living pressures.
2. Cost of living grant for organisations working with victims (Max
£2,000)
3. Grant to organisations working with victims (Max £10,000) Supporting Community development and collaboration.
With cross cutting themes of:
• Victim access to volunteering to support cope and recovery.
• Increase volunteering capacity within the organisation.
• Impact on the cost of living
• Supporting communities of identity - supporting access to services, improving the understanding of cultural and community needs and tackling racial disparity.
• Supporting lived experience development
• Enabling sector collaboration
• Tackling inequality – improving access and awareness

With a focus on: Increasing the capability and capacity of VCSE victim and survivor services to:
• To fill gaps where there is unmet need and enhance access to existing services.
• Support sustainability of services
• Reduce impact of cost-of-living crisis
• Focusing on supporting victims to cope and recover.
• Protecting and safeguarding vulnerable people
• Involve victims in service delivery and participation opportunities.
• Improvement in Social Capital including volunteering.
• Reduction of vulnerability /people at risk of exploitation


• Increased victim satisfaction and confidence
• Improvement communications and engagement including connectivity across services.
The proposal was agreed at the Victims Strategy Board on 6th August 2024.

The attached decision also provides information on the allocation and organisations for successful applicants:

A total of £124,898.18 to be allocated to the Greater Manchester Victims’ Capability and Capacity Fund element 1 – Small Grants for 2024/25. The Small Grants funding is a one-off payment to be spent within 6-12 months.

GMCA has introduced an Arrest and Custody Detention Scrutiny Panel in order to fulfil several of the recommendations made to the CA by the Baird Inquiry.

Expenses relating to the running of the Panel will serve the purpose of securing the participation of the Panel members by recuperating them for any costs they will incur by attending Panel meetings and events, which is essential given their voluntary participation and in the absence of an allowance.

Participation of Panel members will allow GMCA to fulfil six of the eight recommendations charged to it within the Baird Inquiry Report through the creation and running of the Scrutiny Panel

Funding of £5,000.00 to cover expenses relating to the running of the GM Independent Police Arrest and Custody Detention Scrutiny Panel in the calendar year 2025, covering up to eight meetings/events/engagements. Funding is to be provided from the Safer and Stronger Communities budget.

Estimated costs for the running of the Panel are broken down as follows:

Travel expenses

Panel members will be reimbursed for travel costs for attendance at any in-person Panel meetings, sessions or events. This includes up to six Panel meetings, December 2024 induction event and February 2025 custody suite visit. Panel members are anticipated to claim for fuel (to be paid at GMCA’s standard mileage rate), public transport, parking (if no on-site parking is available or is full) and private transport (should this be required due to accessibility needs/requirements). Exact costs of travel expense claims cannot be known as these will vary between each Panel member and each meeting, therefore a total amount of £3,000.00 has been projected for inclusion within the requested £5,000.00 total.

Catering

Refreshments including drinks and sandwiches will be on offer to Panel members at each Panel meeting due to the length of meetings and the timings that they are anticipated to take place (over lunch or in the evening) A total of £750.00 has been projected to cater for all Panel members in attendance at each meeting. Panel meetings will take place on Greater Manchester Police (GMP) premises, therefore catering will be provided by the services used by GMP. No further associated costs will be incurred.

Relevant Panel member participation costs

The Terms of Reference for the Scrutiny Panel set out that a policing subject matter expert should be included within its membership. GMCA successfully recruited to this role from the College of Policing, and so GMCA anticipates that their time and engagement may be billed. Projected billing costs by the College of Policing of £500.00 have been included within the total £5,000.00 requested.

Unforeseen running costs

The requested £5,000.00 total includes up to £750.00 spend on unforeseen running costs for the Panel. The Panel was launched in December 2024, however the first Panel meeting is yet to take place (scheduled for 05/03/2025) and therefore there may be additional costs identified in the running of the Panel once it commences. This may include costs such as for room hire/utilities, facilities/technical support, or additional spending on travel expenses, catering or Panel member participation costs.

Dr Laura Parker (Public Heath Consultant) is currently seconded to the VRU and conducting research into the impact of exclusion on risky violent behaviour. We are engaged with several alternative provision establishments and the heads are keen to support this programme and have identified a number of young people willing to participate in supervised focus groups. Micky Dacks is CEO of Innit 4 YP (in it for young people) and has a wealth of experience in engaging with this group of young people in a mentoring capacity. (previously commissioned by VRU). This funding will engage Micky in supporting individual / group focus groups, sharing his experience with Laura and also include £100 to provide vouchers to participants.
Dr Parker has agreed a programme of delivery with Innit 4 YP which serves as a contract for delivery and outputs.

The GM VRU is seeking to award £1,000 to Innit 4 YP to help Dr Laura Parker (VRU Public Health) engage with 8 – 10 young people in alternative provision as part of research into the impact of exclusion on young people.

The reasons for the decision are:

As a Local Policing Body, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority are responsible for appointing PAT Chairs from a list of legally qualified individuals managed by the Home Office to handle PATs, and a layperson to sit on the PAT Panel. Independent members may be drawn from the Northwest Region’s list of IPMs to serve as laypeople on PATs. No independent member will be appointed to a tribunal if they have already heard the same case at a misconduct hearing.

The Deputy Mayor will approve a funding envelope of £25,000.00 to renumerate PAT Chairs appointed to undertake PATs and Independent Panel Members (IPMs) appointed to sit on the PAT Panel up until the end of March 2025.

£25,000.00 is an estimated cost based on the costings from previous years.

The £25,000.00 will cover the cost of:

• Daily fee (£511.56 for PAT Chairs & £357.00 for IPMs)
• Preparation and writing fee (£85.00 per hour for PAT Chairs & £25.00 per hour for IPMs)
• Travel expenses/mileage
• Overnight accommodation
• Subsistence
• Any other expenses

In 2023, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority renumerated PAT Chairs/IPMs c. £10,000.00 and in 2024 c. £1000.00. However, the amount for 2024 will increase as one 2024 PAT has just concluded and four are still live.

An additional contingency has been added as it is likely that the number of PATs will increase following the introduction of The Police (Conduct) (Amendment) Regulations 2024 which came into effect in May 2024.

The Youth Justice Plan is due to be renewed. An in-person session was held on 14th November to take stock of progress and to inform the development the next Plan and allow all stakeholders to come together

£435.46 is used for a room booking at Mechanics Institute for the Youth Justice Stocktake session.
This includes the room and refreshments.

Currently our Pupil Referral Units in GM do not have a network to collaborate. This means that when GM VRU is seeking to develop specific programmes, it lacks a strategic pathway to quickly disseminate information or drive engagement. When we look at how we can develop employability skills and provide effective careers support for our young people not in mainstream education, this lack of a network can make the dissemination of this information, and the practical application within settings, more difficult. Through bringing together our 10 PRUs and a selection of AP P Post-16 providers, we can begin an Appreciative Inquiry to discover what is taking place currently and look to consider what could be if we were to work together more effectively in the following areas:

1. What are the current pressures on the provisions?
2. What are the best bets for improving the system from within in relation to the curriculum?
3. How could the M-BACC support the providers?
4. What is currently in place to support the employability needs of the young people and how can we work in tandem to improve this?

This funding from the VRU will specifically purchase the following services from the Education Community partnership:

• Connection and/or visits to the PRUs to understand each of the providers and to prepare for the symposium.
• Planning sessions with the VRU team.
• Preparation for the symposium to take place over a 3-hour period on Thursday 27th March.
• Facilitation of the symposium.
• Post- symposium write-up and dissemination. To include identification of next steps.

At all times, the VRU’s Education Lead will lead on activity with the Education Community Partnership and use the outcome as a springboard from which to drive strategic engagement with all 10 PRUs in ways not currently available to the VRU without this work.

The Greater Manchester Violence Reduction Unit are seeking to make a payment of £4950.00 to the Education Community Partnership to facilitate a symposium on engaging Alternative Provision (AP) & Pupil Referral Units to as part of the VRU’s Education Strategy group.

The reasons for the decision are:

The Policing and Crime Act 2017 makes provisions for Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) to take on additional duties in respect of the oversight of police complaints. As a minimum, PCCs have responsibility for being the relevant review body for certain police complaints. This process includes undertaking a review of how GMP managed the original complaint to ensure the complainant received an appropriate and proportionate outcome.

This is a function that GMCA has carried out since the statutory commencement in February 2020 with a dedicated resource within the GMCA Police, Crime, Criminal Justice and Fire team.

This provision will build in some resilience for both planned and unforeseen absences within the Police Review Team. There would also be capacity to handle any sudden spikes in police complaints due to a high-profile incident and in such circumstances, this will prevent a backlog build up which would lead to a delay in GMCA responses, and so a reduced level of customer service.


If the contract were allowed to lapse and there were absences within the team, the time taken to reinstate the contract, re-issue the IT and complete vetting would inevitably lead to further delays and a significant backlog.

Therefore, this will be a requirement to renew the contract and extend the additional, external support to ensure the team may continue to provide the high level of customer service to deal with the requests being received from the public. Given the specialist knowledge, skill set required and vetted employees with access to the correct IT and GMP systems, it is proposed to carry on seeking support from Sancus, which specialises in conducting reviews for other Police and Crime Commissioners across the country.

The review team has specialist knowledge and there is limited resilience in cases of staff absence or increased demand. Without the Sancus option there would quickly be a backlog. The team is already working at capacity and is able to allocate some of the more lengthy and complex matters to Sancus to allow the team to deal with the volume cases in an expeditious manner, thereby reducing delays and inevitable failure demand.

Most reviews are now completed within 28 days which provides public confidence that the GMCA is carrying out its statutory responsibility effectively and reduces the likelihood of further dissatisfaction.

Sancus will assist in maintaining this position and will provide additional support and specialist advice and training as this is an area with limited alternative sources. They will also cover any period of staff absence and ensure requests from the public can continue to be processed accordingly.

Benefits of retaining Sancus provision:

• Instant resilience and support to the review function in the event of staff absence or spike in demand
• Independence and objectivity in more difficult cases where collusion or corruption is alleged
• Complex cases are handled expeditiously as Sancus do not have other GMCA duties.
• Helps GMCA maintain good level of service provision during staff leave periods
• Reduction in risk of backlogs building up leading to dissatisfaction / failure demand
• Building on achievements made in 2024 and allowing GMCA staff to develop other work in terms of scrutiny of GMP in complaint handling
• Increased confidence in GMCA – assured process in event of Judicial Review requests
• Charged on cases by case basis – GMCA control the workflow
• Expert advice, free training courses and sharing of good practice
• Good value for money given the capacity of work they carry out compared to additional staff costs for GMCA.

To provide funding of £20k (for 2 years) to maintain service provision, resilience cover and ongoing support for the continuation of the Police Complaint Reviews function. The contract will operate on an “as required” basis.

The Deputy Mayor for Police, Crime, Criminal Justice and Fire has a responsibility to provide services for victims of crime, including victims of rape and sexual assault.

In Greater Manchester, these support services are provided at the Sexual Assault Referral Centre, based at the St Mary’s Centre, NHS Manchester University Foundation Trust. The provision is an all-age service which provides support for victims of rape or sexual assault in terms of a forensic examination and crisis support, support for people going through the criminal justice process and therapeutic/counselling support. The service can be accessed by a referral from an agency, including but not exclusive to Greater Manchester Police, or victims can also choose to self-refer. The service currently supports anybody who lives in Greater Manchester in addition to providing support for individuals who were assaulted in Greater Manchester, but do not reside in the area.

Demand
There were 12,114 sexual offences recorded by GMP in 2024, an increase of 6.3% from the previous year. Of these offences, 35% were rape. Around 60% of these offences were committed against adults with the remaining 40% committed against children.

Progress towards agreeing a full Service specification for SARC and Implementing a 3-year contract

Over the course of 2024/25 the GMCA have been working with our internal procurement and legal team to draw up contract and move to an agreed formal contracted position for the SARC which will run until March 31st 2026.

We have been documenting SARCs services based on the segregation of the service into the below 4 pillars:

1. Forensic medical examinations for adults
2. Forensic medical examinations for children / young persons
3. ISVA provision
4. Therapeutic counselling support

We have moved to a position where we have agreed the service specification and fixed price for pillars 1,2 and 3 and are in the process of finalising a formal contract with the Trust for this provision which will run until March 31st 2026.

Pillar 4 The Therapeutic counselling support has inherent complications as demand has stripped capacity at SARC. We will seek procurement advice on meeting commercial compliance regulations with any agreed way forward for this work.

We anticipate finalising this contract as above in the first quarter of FY 2025/26.

To allocate £2,983,276.00, to Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust for the provision of support services by the St Marys Centre to victims of rape and serious sexual offences to cover the period of 1st April 2024 - March 31st, 2025.This encompasses the full and complete costs for the service including quarterly contract payments, baseline of ISVA provision, therapeutic support, and also costs of the Forensic Medical Examinations. The fixed annual price has been pre agreed by the GMCA, NHS Integrated Care and the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust.

The SARC service is jointly funded by Greater Manchester NHS Integrated Care on a 50/50 basis and as such, the amount indicated above is the total SARC budget. The GMCA/PCC contribution is half of this. (£1,491,638).