Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 27 June 2016 be confirmed.

Karen Talbot, Assistant Director of Housing

a.    presented to committee the end of quarter report on Performance Indicators for the first quarter of year 2016/17 (April 2016-June 2017)

b.    advised that there were a total of 23 measures of which 12 were on or exceeding targets for the year and 10 measures have note met the targets set. There was 1 measure that did not have any data available.

c.    gave an overview of the background of the report as detailed at paragraph 3 of the report.

d.    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

The committee considered the report and asked the following questions and Karen Talbot, Assistant Director of Housing responded accordingly:

Question – Have rent arrears increased since Universal Credit has been introduced?

Response – There were a number of factors that affected rent arrears such as the time of year including school holidays and Christmas.

Question – When would family Universal Credit be introduced?

Response – The implementation date has been put back by another year.

Question – How many ASB cases were there in each quarter?

Response – There were 160 open cases in July 2016.

Question -  Were ASB cases automatically closed if there was no further contact from the complainant.

Response -  An ASB case could not be closed until the complainant had confirmed that the issues been resolved.

RESOLVED that

1.    the current performance during the financial year 2016/17 be noted.

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

Debbie Rousseau, Vice Chair of Lincoln Tenants’ Panel advised on the following matters:

·         The membership of LTP has increased

·         Lincoln Housing Roadshow was taking place at:

o   Ermine

o   Moorland

o   Bracebridge and Manse

·         The Tenants Panel Forum was taking place on 18 August 2016

·         Family Fun Day was being held on 30 August 2016 at the Drill Hall

·         The ARCH conference would be held on 22 September 2016 in Leamington Spa and 8 tenant representatives would be attending.

RESOLVED that the update be noted with thanks.

Chris Morton, Resident Involvement Manager

a.    presented a report which set out the details of the annual report to tenants and leaseholders 2015/16 as required by the Homes and Communities Agencies, the regulator for social housing in England.

b.    gave an overview of the annual report and advised that it contains the performance information relating to the councils housing function including:

·         Tenant Involvement and Empowerment

·         Home

·         Neighbourhood and Community

·         Rent

·         Tenancy

c.    advised that the annual report had been developed in consultation with tenant representatives through the Lincoln Tenants’ Panel.

d.    advised that the main content of the report compared the councils performance information between 2014/15 and 2015/16 set against targets.

e.    stated that the report would be published in the week commencing 26 September 2016 and advised that this was an opportunity for Members to comment on the content of the report.

Members of the committee considered the content of the report and commented that they were pleased to see that members of the LTP had written the majority of the report.    

RESOLVED that the contents of the report be noted.

Karen Talbot, Assistant Director of Housing

a.    presented a report to advise committee on how performance improvements in ASB case management within Housing Services was achieved in 2015/16.

b.    referred to paragraph 4 of the report and advised that an open case review had taken place in and highlighted the issues that had been found.

c.    advised that the open case review resulted in the closure of 65 cases, reducing workloads to 40 open cases across the team.

d.    gave an overview of performance reporting and outlined the difference between how the council had determined when a case was resolved and the Housemark guidance. 

e.    outlined the changes that had been made to develop the service:

·         Tenancy Services had received training on the tools and powers available to them in case management from an external provider Resolve

·         Mediation skills training would be taking place

·         A wholesale review of procedures had been completed and a flow chart had been developed in consultation with the Council Solicitor and PPASB team

·         The procedures were reviewed regularly and minor changes were made.

f.     advised on the performance for the end of quarter one as follows:

·         Percentage of closed cases that were resolved – 79.4% (increased from last month)

·         Average number of days to resolve ASB cases – 59.37 (against a target of less than 75 days)

·         Percentage of new cases risk assessed – 88.89% (less than half were this time last year)

·         An increase of 12% in satisfaction with case handling.

The committee expressed their thanks to the team for the improvement to the service and performance.

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.

RESOLVED that the work programme be agreed.

Bob Ledger, Director of Housing

a.    presented a report that set out the details of the progress of the Council’s New Build strategy

b.    outlined the terms for partnership with Waterloo Housing Group, Longhurst Housing Group and Westleigh Homes

c.    presented the detailed business plan for the wholly Council owned company aimed at building quality homes for private rent and sale

d.    gave an overview of the proposed redevelopment options for De Wint Court sheltered housing development

The committee discussed the contents of the report and asked what the conditions were for Right to Buy on new builds?

Bob Ledger, Director of Housing advised that the minimum construction price would have to paid for the first 15 years.

RESOLVED that the contents of the report be noted.