Agenda and minutes

Venue: Civic Hall, Leeds, LS1 1UR. View directions

Contact: Sharon Guy 0113 3783195  Email: sharon.guy@leeds.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Exempt Information - Possible Exclusion of the Press and Public

1  To highlight reports or appendices which officers have identified as containing exempt information, and where officers consider that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, for the reasons outlined in the report.

 

2  To consider whether or not to accept the officers recommendation in respect of the above information.

 

3  If so, to formally pass the following resolution:-

 

RESOLVED – That the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following parts of the agenda designated as containing exempt information on the grounds that it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the press and public were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information, as follows:

 

   No exempt items have been identified.

Minutes:

No items.

 

2.

Late Items

To identify items which have been admitted to the agenda by the Chair for consideration.

 

(The special circumstances shall be specified in the minutes.)

Minutes:

There were no late items.

 

3.

Apologies for Absence

To receive any apologies for absence.

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Olga Gailite and Jackie Worthington.

 

4.

Minutes - 3rd August 2016 pdf icon PDF 71 KB

To confirm as a correct record, the minutes of the meeting held on 3rd August 2016.

 

Minutes:

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on 3rd August 2016 be approved as a correct record.

 

5.

Chair's Update pdf icon PDF 87 KB

To receive an update from the Chair on scrutiny activity, not specifically included on this agenda, since the previous Board meeting.

Minutes:

The Chair explained that there was no meeting of the Environment and Housing Scrutiny Board during August, however, he has met with Sharon Guy and her team to discuss the terms of reference for the upcoming inquiry and also the lettings standard inquiry.

 

The Chair explained he had written a statement for the Annual Tenants Report which described the work the board has carried out over the past year. This was read out to the Board.

 

The Chair explained he will be absent for the next meeting and in his capacity as Chair had delegated this role to CG, and asked that members give her the support shown to him.

 

 

6.

East Leeds Responsive Repairs Service Terms of Reference pdf icon PDF 81 KB

At the Boards meeting of 3rd August 2016, Tenant Scrutiny Board agreed that work would be on the East Leeds Responsive Repairs Service.  Terms of reference for the Inquiry will be tabled at the meeting for formal approval by the Board.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chair presented the terms of reference for the East Leeds repairs service. It was noted there are some gaps and that these would be filled in once the Board had received evidence from the Head of Leeds Building Services. .

 

RESOLVED – The Board agreed with the terms of reference for the inquiry and any additions that would need to be made after evidence in today’s meeting was received.

 

 

7.

Scrutiny Inquiry - East Leeds Responsive Repair Service pdf icon PDF 84 KB

Tony Butler, Head of Leeds Building Services will present to the Board an overview of the repairs service in East Leeds as the first part of the inquiry into the repairs service.

 

Members will have the opportunity to ask questions about the briefing to the Head of Leeds Building Services.

 

Minutes:

The Chair introduced this item and Tony Butler, Head of Leeds Building Services.

 

TB gave a brief history of his experience and also the history of the Internal Service Provider and how it came to be. It was noted that at the point the ALMOs were merged back into the Council, there were two direct labour organisations – one doing work such as lifts, school repairs, libraries (referred to as Property Maintenance), whereas Construction Services deal with housing repairs and maintenance only. Given this meant there were two lots of overhead costs it was agreed to merge them into one Internal Service Provider from 1st August 2015.

 

The Chair asked about budget allocations and how this is calculated. TB explained that this is based on the stock numbers and stock condition information.  As a follow up the Chair asked if this meant that poorer areas received more money for repairs and maintenance and TB confirmed this was generally the case. The Chair asked if budget information was available for the 3 areas as previously requested. It was confirmed it is available, SG to follow up.

 

The Chair asked if performance targets had not been met due to data inputting issues. TB explained bringing the two internal organisations together had meant there were some difficulties. TB explained Property Maintenance used a system called Total Mobile and Construction Services used Orchard Direct Works.

 

It was explained that Construction Services use PDA handheld devices which were liable to faults and there had been issues where work had been completed but the PDA had not picked this up. As a consequence of this a team is investigating completed work. They are also looking at sub-contractors who may complete a job early on in the month but then not invoice for the work until the end of the month which means jobs are not showing as completed within timescale when they had. This has been discussed with all sub-contractors.  There is a pilot area where this is being done and that is showing improvements already.

 

Because of the issues with Direct Works, the contract for this is to be ended and the Internal Service Provider will use only Total Works in future.

 

TB explained that it is not just a technology issue that has caused problems; there are some human errors as well.

 

MH asked if it was possible to change to a tablet device. TB noted this is not seamless and the use of Total Mobile would be more effective at dealing with jobs. The Chair asked and it was confirmed if there was a training plan in place to help staff carry out their role effectively.

 

CG asked the evidence given so far suggests it is not just a system issue and could this be masking the issues? TB acknowledged staffing shortages of operatives to carry out work but there were also issues when it came to transferring location and also  training issues with staff on the system.

 

A question was asked  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

8.

Date and Time of Next Meeting

Wednesday 28th September 2016 at 1:30pm

(pre meeting for all Board Members at 1:00pm)

 

Minutes:

Wednesday 28th September 2016 at 1:30pm (pre meeting for all Board Members at 1:00pm)