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.)

No late items.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Michael Healey, Rita Ighade, Peter Middleton, Roderic Morgan

To confirm as a correct record, the minutes of the meeting held on 22^nd June 2018.

To confirm as a correct record, the minutes of the meeting held on 22 June 2018.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on 22 June 2018 be approved as a correct record.

Information only item.

Information only item.

To receive 2017/18 year end performance information.

The Chair introduced Shona Demba (Intelligence Reporting Officer), attending to present data on Housing Leeds which the Board will use to consider an appropriate future inquiry. It was explained that analysing data in order to help decide on a future inquiry is part of the Board’s Terms of Reference.

SD explained that a new dashboard of performance information had been produced for the Board and welcomed any comments or suggestions that the board felt were required to improve the report. 

SD went through each of the performance indicators. A number of questions were raised by Board members.

A member asked about new build property indicators and whether the measure counting these refers to properties that are solely for rent rather than new builds which are to be sold. SD was asked to clarify the definition on this.

A question was asked around long term empty properties and the target figure. Members questioned why a target had been set on such an indicator when clearly the objective should be to occupy these and that perhaps the ‘target’ was misleading and should have an alternate measure or comment. It was also asked what this indicator was actually counting. It was suggested this was an aspirational figure with the aim being to reduce long term empty properties to a figure lower than the target.

The Board were given statistics around fuel poverty and it was noted there is a lag in the data due to how this is collected. It was noted that it is pulled from various sources which increases the time to produce data on this. A question was asked as to how policy can be decided around data which is already two years old?

Data was presented around decency standards and that whilst the figure has reduced, it was expected that performance would increase as the year progresses. Members asked if this information could be broken down into areas, such as East, South and West.

Average Re-let Times were reported to not be on target but SD explained there is a focus by senior management team of Housing Leeds around this to improve. The Board asked if this measure could also be broken down into areas.

A query was raised as to why there has been a drop in the performance of Annual Home Visits. SD explained that data is set to zero at the start of the year and this is a measure which improves over the course of the financial year as tenants are visited and data accumulates. CH asked about the process for tenants who do not have this visit over two years and what additional action, if any is given to this and the number of tenancies this relates to.

Complaints performance was reported and it was noted this data always refers to the previous month to ensure accuracy. SD noted the administration of complaints is now undertaken by a central team rather than being based solely within Housing Leeds. Board members noted performance was not  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.

The Board agreed at their last meeting in April to hold an informal meeting to review the work of the previous municipal year and identify areas for improvement of the Board and work how we can carry out recruitment of new members.

Following this, the Scrutiny Officers took away the feedback and produced a development plan for the coming year with the Board.

Members are asked to review and discuss the proposed development plan with a view to agreeing this in its current form or after further amendments have been made.

The Chair introduced the development plan that had been drafted following an informal meeting between the board and Housing Leeds, noting this item had been carried over from the previous meeting.

The Scrutiny Officer went through the development plan and how some of the tasks within this plan were for the Board to work on, whilst some actions were for Officers to work on. The main objective of this action plan is to ensure the Board are working efficiently and effectively.

The Chair noted that this was a piece of work which will be carried out throughout the year, and suggested that a working group is formed which would work on this and monitor, giving feedback to the Board on a three monthly basis. The Chair noted that this plan could be worked on outside of the formal meeting in order to carry out this work effectively.

RESOLVED – CH was given the lead role on this piece of work, to be supported by SB, MH and JW.

To receive an update from the Chair on his attendance at the July VITAL (Voice of Involved Tenants Across Leeds) meeting.

The Chair gave an update on the Vice Chair’s and his attendance at the recent VITAL (Voice of Involved Tenants Across Leeds) meeting (11/07/18) to discuss the recent ASB Scrutiny Report and some of the questions they raised. VITAL asked about other areas of the report which they felt could have been looked into further, to which the Chair explained that whilst they could have looked further especially in regard to crime on the estates , they would have difficulty in offering recommendations which could be accepted by external partners. The Chair then explained that the ASB Scrutiny Report will now to go to the

Environments, Housing and Communities Board on 26/07/18.

Friday 17^th August 2018 at 1:15pm (pre meeting for all Board Members at 1:00pm)