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.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies received form Michael Healey, Rita Ighade, Maddie Hunter

To confirm as a correct record, the minutes of the meeting held on 9^th August 2017.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on 9 August 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 apologised to the Board and todays guests for the cancellation of the September meeting.

The Chair explained he has attended two Environment, Housing and Communities Scrutiny Boards on 11^th September and 9^th October.

The Chair noted that at the previous Tenant Scrutiny meeting that the Chair of the Environment, Housing and Communities Scrutiny Board had explained that an inquiry into the Leeds Council response to Grenfell would be held and this Board would have a seat at the inquiry. The inquiry would take the form of three meetings, two as a working group and a third meeting which will discuss the recommendations. The terms of reference at that inquiry would be around Council housing stock safety, resident engagement and investment decisions. The Chair explained that once the report is completed in November that this would be brought to this board for discussion.

The Chair also explained that he had attended a training course with six Councillors who chair the other scrutiny boards. The course looked at chairing scrutiny meetings. The Chair explained that he had spoken to other chairs across the country and they were impressed with this Board’s work and approach to scrutiny.

Members of the Board are requested to discuss and agree the terms of reference for the next inquiry.

6 DRAFT TERMS OF REFERENCE

The Chair explained to the board that he would introduce the draft terms of reference for the inquiry, prior to the introduction of the managers who would be presenting evidence at this meeting.

The Chair explained as in previous inquiries that we will start with senior managers who would attend to provide evidence and give a strategic overview of the service. After this the Board would ask operational staff in, to test what has been said by management, to ensure the golden thread is carried out. The Board will also look at performance, policies and processes. It is likely we will do a questionnaire again to consult more widely with Leeds residents to obtain feedback on the ASB service, along with workshops which members can be involved in, outside the regular meeting schedule. The Board outcomes for this inquiry will be to improve performance, provide value for money and reduce complaints.

RESOLVED – The Board agreed to the draft terms of reference for this inquiry.

To start the inquiry, a senior manager form the Anti-Social Behaviour Team and also a senior manager from Housing Leeds have been invited to attend today’s meeting. Members are asked to receive the information provided and ask any questions they have.

The Chair introduced Harvinder Saimbhi, Head of Operational Delivery, and Jeff Clarke Lead Officer for Housing Leeds on Anti-Social Behaviour.

HS went on to give a presentation about the Anti-Social Behaviour service.

HS explained what ASB is and gave a definition of this, explaining that it is a broad range of issues. However a definition is required to work to; where anti-social behaviour has occurred in a housing context the test will be to consider whether the conduct is capable of causing nuisance or annoyance to a person in relation to that person’s occupation of residential premises or the conduct is capable of causing housing-related nuisance or annoyance to any person. Where anti-social behaviour occurs in a non-housing related context the test will be as to whether the behaviour causes, or is likely to cause, harassment, alarm or distress to any person.

HS explained that 5 to 6 years ago anti-social behaviour was dealt with in a different way, and there was an objective so that people could come to one point of contact. The aim in Leeds is to tackle anti-social behaviour at the earliest opportunity through a tiered approach of prevention, enforcement and support & resettlement. Low level ASB is dealt with by the Housing Office, such as tenancy breaches, messy gardens and noise nuisance to name a couple. HS noted that ASB have trained Contact Centre staff to deal with calls that come in and that they capture the correct details which are required for the investigation.

HS explained that initial ASB reports are looked at by the Housing Office, and only if they are deemed more serious or complex would they pass this to the Anti-Social Behaviour Team to work on. The Anti-Social Behaviour team have a number of enforcement tools, such as mediation.

HS explained the team structure, broken down by the three areas, East, South and West. HS explained that 50% of calls for ASB is related to noise nuisance. HS explained that some of the Case Officers within the team were formerly Housing Officers and so have a good background to situations that are occurring. Three Police Officers are allotted to each area and are known as link officers.

HS explained the service standards which are in place. The Team will respond in one or two days, on hate crime incidents or cases with safeguarding issues then a response will be carried out on the same day. HS explained that a vulnerability matrix is created for each case the team works on and an officer will meet the complainant and will conduct a case review every 28 days.

JC gave a presentation on the STAR survey which was carried out in 2016. Tenant satisfaction for ASB was reported at 55%, and as such there is a need to improve this. From the STAR survey an action plan was created and this was gone through to the Board in order they could see progress which has been made on improving satisfaction.

The following actions  ...  view the full minutes text for item 36.

The Board are asked to discuss and agree their work programme for the coming municipal year using the draft work programme provided.

The work programme also includes other actions which require follow up, such as recommendations from the previous municipal years inquiry.

The Chair took advice that there would be some revision required for the work plan, and given time constraints, this could be discussed at the November meeting.

RESOLVED – The Board agreed to the defer agreement of the work programme until the November meeting.

Wednesday 15^th November 2017 at 1:30pm.

(pre meeting for all board members at 1:00pm)

Wednesday 15^th November 2017 at 1:15pm

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

THE MEETING CLOSED AT 3:15 PM