Substitutes are not allowed.

Apologies were received from Councillors Gotch and Henwood.

The Panel also noted apologies from Suzanne Stocking, a member of the Tenant Scrutiny Panel.

None declared.

The Landlord Services Manager introduced the report.  He said that the previous tenant scrutiny regime and structure had been discontinued in November 2012 but that the service had come a long way since then, engaging with the Involvement Strategy.  The Council had recently become the third local authority to achieve a TPAS accreditation.  The Tenant Scrutiny Panel was now much more positive and inclusive and there were plans to further improve and develop the Tenant Involvement service in the months ahead. 

The Panel congratulated officers and tenants for turning the service around over recent years and achieving the TPAS accreditation.  The Panel questioned how tenants were recruited and how the Tenant Scrutiny Panel operated before considering each of the tenant involvement activities in turn.

The Panel heard that tenants were recruited to tenant involvement in various ways and that on occasion, some Councillors had come forward with suggestions.

The Panel heard that the balance of the Tenant Scrutiny Panel membership was broadly proportionate to the total numbers of Council tenants and leaseholders.  Tenants had asked for leaseholder involvement in the Tenants in Touch Editorial Panel and planned to include more content specifically aimed at leaseholders.

The Panel questioned the costs of producing Tenants in Touch and heard that it cost £3k produce approximately 8500 copies of each issue and post these to tenants and leaseholders.  The newsletter was included with rents statements to save postage costs following a tenants’ suggestion.  Other suggestions from tenants included presentational changes and the inclusion of a crossword and a ‘no trick or treat poster’, which had been well received.

The Panel asked whether consideration had been given to including paid advertising in Tenants in Touch in order to cover some of the production costs.  The Panel heard that this had not been considered but a tenant suggested that more could be done to promote local charities and support groups.

The Panel questioned how many people accessed Tenants in Touch online and suggested that it should be easy to access and read using the Council’s mobile app.

A tenant involved in testing the online repairs portal advised that significant changes had been made in response to tenants’ feedback.  A further suggestion was that users should be able to easily report other things when accessing the portal, such as incidents of anti-social behaviour, but clarity was needed as to whether this suggestion was being taken forwards.

In response to a question about systems testing, the Panel heard that the Tenant Involvement Team link in with community-based IT training provision and publicising this training on the portal.  The Panel supported these links, as well as continuing to involve tenants in trialling online services.

The Panel heard that tenant involvement in procurement had raised the bar and provided real empowerment.  The furnished tenancy scheme had enabled tenants to make choices about their living environments.  The same process was followed for the Tower Block Refurbishment Programme, where tenants were involved in choosing questions, interviewing and scoring contractors.  It was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 48.

This is the final Housing Panel meeting of the current Council year. In June the Scrutiny Committee will agree its standing panels and work plan priorities for 2016-17.

The Panel may wish to suggest additional items for inclusion on the 2016/17 scrutiny work plan. The Committee has asked for ideas by 20 May 2016 and a list of suggestions received to date is included for information.

The Panel noted the work plan and agreed that an item on the Council Tax Support scheme should be added to the long-list of topics for consideration in 2016/17.

The Panel said that it considered the following housing items on the long list to be of high priority:

·         Empty Property Strategy

·         Reducing under-occupation

·         Great Estates

For the Panel to agree and note the record of the meeting held on 9 March 2016.

The Panel approved the notes of the meeting held on 9 March 2016.

Meetings are provisionally scheduled as follows:

7 July 2016

5 October 2016

9 November 2016

1 March 2017

3 May 2017

All meetings begin at 5.00pm.

The Panel noted that the Scrutiny Committee will agree its standing panels for the year ahead in June 2016 and that, if continued, the next Housing Panel meeting was provisionally scheduled for 7 July 2016.