Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 7 March 2016 be confirmed subject to the following amendment:

Minute no. 48 Radio Lincolnshire be amended to Lincoln City Radio.

No declarations of interest were received.

Karen Talbot, Assistant Director of Housing

1. presented to committee an end of quarter report on Performance Indicators for the year 2015/16.
   
   
2. advised that there were a total of 23 measures of which 17 were on or exceeding target for the year and 5 measures had not met the target set, there was 1 measure that did not have the data available.
   
   
3. gave an overview of the background of the report as detailed at paragraph 3 of the report.
   
   
4. referred to Appendix A of the report and summarised the performance targets and actual achievements; for comparison purposes each indicator showed performance for the last year, target for current year  (where applicable) and progress made in the current year by quarter for the following areas:
   
   
   • Rents
   • Voids
   • Repairs
   • Decent Homes
   • Anti-social behaviour
   • Percentage of calls answered on time

Members commented that they were pleased to see improvement in many of the performance indicators and asked what systems had been put in place to achieve this.

Karen Talbot, Assistant Director of Housing advised that the following changes had been made:

o   Housing Officers had been encouraged to knock on doors to create more interaction with tenants, it was harder to ignore a situation face to face

o   Encourage more online payments with Housing Officers showing people how to pay rent with smart phones

o   A more balanced approach between enforcing and supporting people with rent arrears had been taken

o   Everyone involved in the voids process across teams met together to work on improving the end to end process as a whole team.

o   Officers were very quick to address any issues and look at ways to improve when there was a blip in performance.

Members extended their thanks and appreciation for the improvements in the performance to staff.

RESOLVED that

1.    the current performance during the financial year 2015/16 be noted.
   

2. a commitment to continue reporting on a quarterly basis be agreed.

Chris Morton, Resident Involvement Manager:

a.    presented an update on the delivery of the tenant involvement and empowerment strategy 2014-2017.

b.    advised that there were a total of 31 actions and the current progress was broken down into:

·         20 actions in progress

·         9 actions completed

·         2 actions not yet started

c.    highlighted the following key areas:

§  Launched mystery shopping

§  Arranged the tenant representative training programme for 2015/16

§  Increased the number of residents involved

§  Began the process of organising the resident involvement roadshow and housing festival

§  Continued to engage with leaseholders

§  Assisted in promoting the community investment scheme and helped residents’ groups to apply

§  Investigated options for engaging younger tenants

§  Recruited two more LTP members to join the Designated Tenants Panel

§  Increased number of likes on Facebook to 76

§  Completed a round of sheltered housing forums and arranged members of the welfare team to attend each one

§  Assisted in St Clements Court bench project.

d.    advised that Eric Jenkinson, Chair of LTP was a finalist in the Colin Smith Award for contributions to resident involvement.

The committee considered the report and asked the following questions and Chris Morton, Resident Involvement Manager responded accordingly:

Question -  What was involved in mystery shopping?

Response –Tenant representatives were making phone calls to customer services with different scenarios, they were also completing exit surveys with customers that had visited reception.

Question – How was the Community Investment Scheme promoted to residents and Councillors?

Response – The Community Investment Scheme was promoted through the Home! magazine.

Question – Referred to Lease Holder engagement and asked how many leaseholders there were and had asked if the number had risen year on year?

Response – The figures for leaseholders would be circulated to Members after the meeting.

Question – How was the Council engaging with younger residents?

Response – A buddy system was being looked at which aimed to integrate new residents into the community, also, there was a volunteer scheme for younger tenants which included an award scheme.

Question -  Referred to page 18 of the report and asked for more information on Estate Inspections.

Response – Area Housing Managers were proposing to re-launch the Estate inspections. The aim of the inspections were to identify any issues on the estates, action the issues, and then invite members back to see what had been done.

Comment – Members commented that Councillors often did not know who the Housing Officer was for their area and suggested that a list of Housing Officers be circulated to Councillors

Response – A list of Housing Officers could be circulated to Members.

Comment – Suggested that the Home magazine be circulated to all Members and a report be added to the work programme for Members to make suggestions.

RESOLVED that the progress made on delivering the tenant involvement and empowerment strategy be 2014-2017 be noted.              

Eric Jenkinson, Chair of Lincoln Tenants’ Panel

a.    presented a report to provide an overview of the activities and achievements of the Lincoln Tenants’ Panel between April 2015 and March 2016

b.    gave an overview of the main activities for the year and highlighted the following:

·         Increased its membership and attended events to promote the work of the panel

·         Attended Housing Scrutiny Sub-Committee meetings

·         Taken part in the anti-social behaviour improvement group

·         Viewed and commented on all housing related Executive reports

·         Attended East Midlands Tenant Participation conferences

·         Reviewed a formal complaint referred to the designated tenants panel

·         Contributed to the tenant scrutiny reviews

·         Undertaken training sessions

c.    advised that over the next 12 months the LTP planned to scrutinise:

·         How the Council deals with anti-social behaviour

·         Void property performance

d.    advised that in relation to the panel’s development the following objections will be focussed on:

·         Ensure new LTP members were fully trained and integrated in to the panel

·         Full membership

·         Continue to publicise their achievements

·         Undertake further scrutiny training

·         Include health and safety in induction training

·         Continue with IT training for LTP members

·         Secure a room to be used as an LTP office

The committee considered the contents of the report and made the following comments:

Comment - LTP members extended their thanks to staff and Councillors for the support that has been provided to LTP.
Comment -  Members further commented that there was excellent work being done by LTP

Question – Members referred to page 24 of the report and asked for more information on the loyalty card scheme.

Response – Members of LTP received points on their loyalty card for attending meetings after they had received so many points they received a £10 gift voucher.

Comment – Suggested that LTP members’ details be circulated to Councillors as they were not in contact with the tenant representatives.

Response – Email addresses and phone numbers of tenant representatives could be circulated to Councillors. Also the Membership and Publicity Group could look how to improve engagement with Councillors.

RESOLVED that the contents of the report be noted.

The Chair

a.    presented the work programme for the Housing Scrutiny Sub Committee for 2016/17 as detailed at appendix A of the report.

b.    advised that this was an opportunity for the committee to suggest other items be included within the work programme.

c.    suggested that the following items be added to the work programme:

·         Housemark Accreditation Scheme

·         Voids

·         Home! Magazine

RESOLVED that the work programme be agreed and updated to include the above.