Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 17 June 2019 be confirmed.

The committee discussed the planned works for the oncoming year and explained that the paperwork was usually circulated. Andrew McNeil added that it could be provided on an area basis. Daren Turner agreed to speak to Matt Hillman about how it could be done.

No declarations of interest were received.

Mick Barber Chair of Lincoln Tenants Panel gave the following update:

·         The Housing Minister visited and met with the LTP members regarding building safety and the outcomes were very positive.

·         2 new members had been taken on, 1 for the Birchwood ward and 1 on Newport.

·         The 2 proposals on estate inspections and improvements that were raised previously were being looked into.

Members expressed some confusion around who was covering what patch and the lack of response from Officers.

Over the last few years staffing had been an ongoing issue and it was difficult to manage how staff operated with the resources that were available to them. It was the responsibility of the Team Leaders to contact LTP members.

Question: Who was the new member for Birchwood ward?

Response: Mick Barber agreed to circulate the information to members

Question: members had received complaints about the pollution on ermine area from the A46 bypass, how could it be tackled?

Response: Daren Turner agreed to pick the issue up with Environmental Services.

Members expressed concerns following feedback from residents that the contractors were burning the grass whilst working on the development on Westwick.

Officers informed that the contract with the contractors was up for renewal in 2020.

Andrew McNeill, Assistant Director of Housing Investment and Strategy:

a.    presented the Housing Scrutiny Sub Committee with an end of quarter report on performance for the first quarter of the year 2019/20 (April 2019 –June2019).

b.    advised that of the 21 measures, 15 were on or exceeding targets for the year, 5 had not met the targets set and 1 did not have a required target.

c.    referred to paragraph 4 of the report and highlighted areas of good performance:

·         Percentage of rent collected as a percentage of rent due.

·         Percentage of all repairs carried out within time limits

·         Repairs completed right first time.

d.    further highlighted areas that had not achieved their target and explained the reasons for this:

·         Average re-let period – All dwellings (including major works) days

·         Percentage of calls answered within 60 seconds.

e.    Invited committees questions and comments.

Question: In relation to the average re-let period – all dwellings, should there be a significant difference in the next quarter?

Response: Yes there should be an increase. The reason for the increase in days was due to people leaving and council housing being left empty.

Question: Were Housing Officers aware of someone being allocated a property without it being advertised on the website?

Response: Officers agreed to look into the matter further and asked members to circulate some examples of when this had occurred as some properties were manually allocated.

Question: could electrical safety testing be added onto the Gas Safety Certificate as a performance indicator?

Response: Officer agreed to add it on.

Question: With regards to customer contact, the % of calls answered within 60 seconds was below target. What was the reason for this?

Response: It was due to vacancies which were in the process of being filled and additional training and staff needed.

Question: The statistics were similar throughout the last year, had there been vacancies all year?

Response: Officers agreed to sought this information from Jo Crookes.

Officers also suggested whether it would be useful to invite Jo Crookes to the next Housing Scrutiny meeting. Members were in agreement.

RESOLVED that:

a)    Jo Crookes, Customer Services Manager be invited to the next Housing Scrutiny Sub Committee.

b)    The content of the report be noted.

Andrew McNeil, Assistant Director for Housing and Investment gave an update on the progress made with achieving resident involvement activities for 2019.

a.    highlighted the following objectives and summarised the progress that had been made to deliver them:

·         Update Tenant Involvement Strategy to take into account Housing Green Paper and get agreement from stakeholders.

·         Improve Lincoln Tenants Panel’s (LTP) ability to provide meaningful feedback.

·         Carry out tenant-led scrutiny of services.

·         Get more tenants involved and publicise RI achievements

·         Social media engagement. There is a need to improve our social media and ensure it can be used to effectively involve residents.

·         Get community investment applications in and publicise success

·         Help residents have tidy estates and improve them.

·         Involve residents with fire safety

b.    explained that it was important for the Council to have effective engagement with residents for a number of reasons and these included:

·         Feedback could lead to better service design and the most important issues being tackled.

·         Tenants who felt empowered and have a choice about the service they received were less likely to complain.

·         To meet the regulatory framework published by Homes England.

c.    invited committees questions and comments.

RESOLVED that the progress on delivering the objectives be noted.

The Chair

a.    presented the work programme for the Housing Scrutiny Sub Committee for 2019/20 as detailed at appendix A of the report.

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

RESOLVED that the work programme be noted.