Issue details

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.