Agenda and minutes

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.

None.

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

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

None received.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies received from Maddie Hunter, Rita Ighade, Roderic Morgan

To confirm as a correct record, the minutes of the meeting held on 26^th April 2017.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on 26 April 2017 be approved as a correct record.

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

The Chair passed on his condolences from the Leeds Tenant Scrutiny Board to friends and relatives following recent events that have taken place in Manchester and London. The Chair also wished to express condolences in relation to the recent fire in London.

The Chair noted that Board members have now received the dates of the coming municipal years meetings.

The Chair explained that an interview had taken place to interview a potential member of Tenant Scrutiny Board on 18^th May. As agreed at the last meeting, the Chair was accompanied by Peter Middleton to carry this out.

The Chair also reported that he has received another application for someone to join the Board. This interview will take place on 23^rd June. As per the terms of reference this will be carried out by the Chair and one other Board member, which will be PM. Details and outcomes of that interview, will be given at the July meeting.

On 23 June, the Chair and OG along with LW attended Environment and Housing Scrutiny Board and presented the East Leeds Responsive Repairs report. The Chair of that Board, Councillor Lamb asked the Chair to convey his thanks for their hard work in producing a comprehensive and thoughtful report. Environment and Housing Scrutiny Board also discussed the Peckfield Landfill site and have produced a draft position statement. A draft scrutiny report was also presented on improving air quality in the city.

The Chair noted that this meeting was their last of the municipal year and the Chair thanked Councillor Lamb for the work he has done in the past few months to strengthen the relationship between Environment and Housing Board and Tenant Scrutiny Board. The new Chair of that board will be Councillor Barry Anderson. The Chair congratulated him on his appointment and looked forward to working with him and the Board in the coming year.

The Chair noted that after this meeting he will be attending VITAL at Navigation House.

RESOLVED An assurance to be sought from Housing Leeds in relation to providing reassurance around safety of high rise blocks in Leeds.

In November / December 2016, Housing Leeds conducted a satisfaction survey of its tenants.

This presentation summarises the responses to the survey and compares it to a similar survey conducted in 2014.

The Chair introduced Jackie Fox of the Intelligence and Improvement Team to present the recent STAR survey which Housing Leeds has carried out.

JF explained that Housing Leeds have trend information from 2010 as the surveys are comparable which have been done over the last eight years.

Overall satisfaction has seen a very slight drop of 1% since the previous survey but within this, there has been a large drop in satisfaction in the East area. When looking at overall satisfaction by different groups, it is apparent from the results that the older a tenant is the more likely they are to be satisfied. Also, there is a correlation between satisfied tenants and those who are living comfortably.

Tenant priorities, repairs and maintenance remain a high priority.

When looking at satisfaction within the home, there is a reduction in the satisfaction of tenants in East Leeds, whereas other areas of Leeds have remained the same or improved. A key finding is that heating within the home is improving, but this needs to be set against different property types, as tenants in multi storey flats are less satisfied.

The neighbourhood as a place to live is a core question and shows that East and West Leeds have shown a reduction in this satisfaction. The slide also shows what residents see as problems in their neighbourhood and car parking is seen as a major issue citywide. Garages on estates are an issue and the Chair at this point acknowledged that on their walkabouts this was noted as an issue.

A further breakdown of satisfaction by Ward areas shows that a number of tenants in Headingley are dissatisfied.

Anti-social behaviour, the survey found that tenants recently reporting ASB report low satisfaction with their service, but this is in direct contradiction to the survey which the ASB team carry out after someone uses the service. However, JF explained that on the STAR survey it is not possible to work out if the respondents to this question were the perpetrator or victim.

On customer service, there is a very small shift towards email. Satisfaction remains good and the number of tenants feeling that the annual home visit is useful which is a new question on this survey was at 69%. The customer effort score is the same as the UK average which is a possible.

Again, on a contradiction, there is higher satisfaction when contacting about rent and benefits or repairs. However there is lower satisfaction with neighbour issues or grounds maintenance. 

A further anomaly with the survey was that the results showed that there is a significant drop of tenants reporting they are in financial difficulty.

A map was shown showing the satisfaction by ward areas across the city which showed some of the outer areas of Leeds are more satisfied than some of the inner areas.

MH asked about the returns for the survey and that if 15000 were sent out and only 4000 received was this good for comparisons? JF replied by  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

This year, the Scrutiny Board has undertaken an additional piece of work, looking at Housing Leeds Lettable Standard.  This item of work has not been a full Board Inquiry.

This piece of work has now concluded and the Board is in a position to report on its findings from the evidence gathered.

The Chair introduced this item and asked if this report would now be sent to the Director of Environments and Housing, it was confirmed by the Scrutiny Officer that it could.

The Chair explained that he had requested to find out if the variable letting standard discussed in the report has made a positive impact on speeding up the time taken to relet these properties. The Scrutiny Officer will look to find this information out on the Board’s behalf so that it could be included in the report.

The Chair asked for authorisation to sign off the report on the Board’s behalf, once amendments are made.

RESOLVED – That the Board gave the Chair authority to sign the report off on their behalf once additional information had been included.

RESOLVED – The Board requested that a copy of the report be sent to former member Christine Gregory given her work on this report.

It is prudent for the Board to ensure on a regular basis that their Terms of Reference and Procedural Rules are fit for purpose.

This report asks Members to consider amendments to the Terms of Reference and also consider any appropriate amendments to the Procedural rules

SG introduced this item and explained that now is a good time to review these documents at the start of the municipal year. SG explained that changes were not significant but asked the Board for any comments and agreement to them.

RESOLVED – The Board agreed to the amendments to the Terms of Reference and Procedural Rules.

Wednesday 5^th July 2017 at 1:30pm (pre meeting for all Board Members at 1:00pm)

Wednesday 5th July 2017 at 1:30pm (pre meeting for all Board Members at 1:00pm)

THE MEETING WAS CLOSED AT 2:50 PM