Agenda item

To report on the key steps taken since the previous update to the Audit Committee.

A report by the Head of Housing Services setting out the steps taken to date to review the Housing Services’ Business Maintenance Unit was presented for the Committee’s consideration.

The Head of Housing Services reported as follows –

•           A second workshop with staff has been held and individual meetings with staff including Finance and Performance Management Officers have taken place with input from human resources. A comprehensive options appraisal of the future of the Housing Service’s repairs service has been undertaken and was completed in February, 2014. A summary of the options appraisal is included in the report.

•           The results from the appraisal exercise have concluded that a recommended option of retaining the service in-house, but merging the client and contractor teams into one repair service whilst modernising and transforming the service would achieve the highest possible benefits for the service at a reasonable cost.

•           The draft report has been disseminated to the SLT and Executive Members and will be presented to the Corporate Scrutiny Committee on 17th April and thereafter to the Executive.

•           In recommending this option, the Head of Housing Services has specified a number of requirements that must be met in order to give assurance to the Council and its stakeholders that future excellent service levels will be achieved and within a reasonable timeframe. These were set out in section 3 of the report and were elaborated upon in the meeting by the Head of Housing Services.

•           In the period, since the report was drafted and the Audit Committee’s meeting, further work has been undertaken to develop a Business Plan and Business case showing how the service will achieve excellence status.

•           The key features underpinning the recommended option are documented in section 2 of the report.

Members considered the information presented and they raised the following issues on the report –

•           The means by which the target minimum of £250k annual savings would be achieved, whether those savings would be permanent and under which headings would they be realised.

•           Whether seeking to achieve excellence status is necessary when providing a good service is an acceptable objective and whether it will have cost implications.

•           The proportion of the total repair and maintenance budget which £250k represents.

•           The approach taken by other authorities to maintaining the social housing stock and whether there are opportunities for learning therefrom.

•           The need to conduct regular inspections of the housing stock where investments have been made to ensure that the stock is being maintained and that tenants are not allowing properties to fall into disrepair. It was suggested that tenants be informed of the costs incurred by the Council when properties are not properly maintained.

The Head of Housing Services explained in response that it is projected that the sum of £250k will be saved annually for the duration of the 3 year Business Plan and that this will be achieved partly through the engagement of multi-skilling operatives capable of delivering a high level of right first time repairs and partly by savings generated via the procurement process. The service’s staff and managers are keen to provide an excellent service that will place it within the highest quartile and notwithstanding an assessment fee, this ambition will not incur costs for the Council. The Officer said that she wanted to show that the service has moved forwards. The annual Housing Repair and Maintenance budget is approximately £5m. It is also the intention to establish links with authorities in both Wales and England where there is evidence of good practice in the maintenance of social housing. In terms of ensuring that properties are maintained by tenants, the Business Plan provides for the engagement of an Anti-Social Behaviour Officer. Officers also undertake an annual inspection of council houses. It is further intended to present a Rechargeable Repairs Policy through the democratic process in due course which will allow the costs of repairs to be recovered from tenants where appropriate.

It was resolved to accept the report and to note the process followed to review the Housing Service’s Building Maintenance Unit.

ACTION ARISING: Head of Housing Services to include in the Tenants’ Newsletter/Bulletin information regarding the costs incurred by the Council in having to repair council houses that have not been properly maintained.