GB-London: SIGCE Facilitator

The LGA's resilience, safety and regulation team has developed a programme of support for councils around a range of issues, including tackling extremism, preventing people from being drawn into radicalisation, and developing cohesive and resilient communities. These can be sensitive areas of work, and present a range of evolving challenges for local government. The LGA is keen to help councils to understand and respond to these challenges, through deepening understanding of current and evolving challenges, activists and their tactics; developing and sharing good practice in strategic and operational delivery at a local level; facilitating learning and mutual support across local authorities (and wider partners).

The LGA's work includes partnering with the Special Interest Group on Countering Extremism (SIGCE); a sector-led local authority network co-chaired by Leeds and Luton councils and funded by the LGA. The SIGCE has been working to support councils and partner agencies since 2018 to respond to extremism issues at a local level, providing a nimble offer to the many evolving challenges from extremism that have emerged over recent years. The network brings local authorities and partners together across England and Wales, to share their learning and experiences, explore common challenges, collaborate, and support each other in their work.

The SIGCE's remit encompasses all forms of extremism and intolerance relevant to councils and their communities, and is shaped by the issues that councils say matter most. Its work to date has included delivering a number of seminars for local authorities on current and emerging extremism issues; establishing regional forums to facilitate peer-to-peer elected member engagement; establishing small task-based action learning groups for councils to work collaboratively on specific shared challenges; and facilitating an online Knowledge Hub platform for officers from councils and partner agencies to exchange resources and ideas.

Additional information: The contracting authority considers that this contract may be suitable for economic operators that are small or medium enterprises (SMEs). However, any selection of tenderers will be based solely on the criteria set out for the procurement.