Agenda and minutes

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 5 December 2022 as an accurate record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 5 December 2022 were agreed as an accurate record, subject to the clarification that the second conclusion on the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy item should be amended to the following:

‘Members were encouraged that the Council was bidding for funding to bring in additional resource and expertise to address substance misuse.’

Members are invited to declare any disclosable pecuniary interests (DPIs) and other registrable and non-registrable interests they may have in relation to any item(s) of business on today’s agenda.

No disclosures were made at the meeting.

To receive notice of any business not on the agenda which in the opinion of the Chair, by reason of special circumstances, be considered as a matter of urgency.

There was no urgent business for discussion by the Homes Sub-Committee at this meeting.

The Homes Sub-Committee is presented with a report updating on the Repairs & Voids and Heating procurement since the Cabinet decision in June 2022.

The Sub-Committee is asked to note the content of the report.

The Sub-Committee considered a report set out on pages 15 to 38 of the agenda, which provided an update on the process to re-procure the repairs/voids and heating contracts for the Council’s housing stock. The report had been included on the agenda to allow the Sub-Committee to seek reassurance that the re-procurement had followed the process agreed by the Mayor in June 2022. It would also help inform the Sub-Committee’s consideration of the Cabinet report on the outcome of the re-procurement process at its next meeting on 27 February 2023.

The Cabinet Member for Homes, Councillor Lynne Hale, Corporate Director for Housing, Susmita Sen, Director of Housing – Estates & Improvement, Stephen Tate, Strategic Procurement Manager, Matthew Devan, Finance Manager, Orlagh Guarnori and Peter Gudge from Echelon, the Council’s advisor on the process, all attended the meeting for this item.

The item was introduced by the Cabinet Member for Homes, who highlighted to the Sub-Committee that the repairs/voids and heating contracts were some of the biggest and most important contracts for the Council. As such the Cabinet Member had been receiving twice weekly updates on progress made. The level of resident involvement in the re-procurement process was particularly important, with feedback indicating that residents had valued being involved. Thanks was given to the officers for their excellent work throughout the re-procurement process to date.

The Director of Housing – Estates & Improvement explained to the Sub-Committee that the first part of the process could be broken down into four sections. The first was to set the tender strategy, which had been agreed by the Mayor on 22 June 2022. The next stage was the procurement process which was coming to an end with the Mayor due to consider a report on the outcome of the process at the Cabinet meeting on 6 March 2023. Following the decision being made the next step would be to demobilise the current service and mobilise with the new contractors. Once the new contractors had been mobilised, the final phase would be the ongoing management of the contracts.

Before questioning commenced on the information presented in the report, the Chair highlighted that the Sub-Committee had received a briefing prior to the meeting on the re-procurement process and had been reassured that the level of resident and tenant engagement delivered reflected the level of engagement set out in the original tender strategy document agreed by the Mayor in June 2022. 

The first questioned asked by the Sub-Committee questioned why it had been decided to procure the contract for repairs and voids as two separate lots and why repairs and voids had been combined. It was advised that the contract had been split into two lots based on geographical location to mitigate the risk of having only one provider. It was acknowledged that repairs and voids could be delivered as separate contracts but combining the two allowed contractors increased scope to flex their resources as needed.

It was noted that one of the aims from the tender strategy was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4/22

The Homes Sub-Committee is with an overview of the Housing Revenue Account and General Fund budgets and is recommended to: -

1.  to note the Housing Revenue Account P7 outturn position.

2.  to note the Housing Revenue Account Business Plan key headlines.

3.  to note the Housing General Fund budget.

4.  to note the Housing General Fund P7 outturn position.

5.  to consider its conclusions on the budget information provided, which will be submitted to the Scrutiny & Overview Committee meeting on 16 February 2023 as part of the wider Budget Scrutiny process.

The Sub-Committee considered a report set out on pages 39 to 44 of the agenda, which provided an update on Housing Revenue Account (HRA), the current in-year budget position for the Housing General Fund and proposals for 2023-2024 budget. The report had been included on the agenda as part of the Budget Scrutiny process to allow the Sub-Committee to reach a conclusion on the deliverability of the budget which would be reported to the next meeting of the Scrutiny & Overview Committee on 16 February 2023.

The Cabinet Member for Homes, Councillor Lynne Hale, Corporate Director for Housing, Susmita Sen, Finance Manager, Sarah Attwood, Finance Manager, Orlagh Guarnori, Head of Temporary Accommodation, Beatrice Cingtho-Taylor and Head of Homelessness & Assessments, Hamid Khan all attended the meeting for this item.

Ahead of the Sub-Committee questioning on the information provided, a presentation on the budget was provided by Sarah Attwood and Orlagh Guarnori, Finance Managers supporting the Housing service. A copy of the presentation delivered can be found at the following link: -

https://democracy.croydon.gov.uk/documents/s43385/HRA%20Housing%20Budget%20Presentation.pdf

The first comment from the Sub-Committee highlighted concern about the lack of information available in the report on the HRA Business Plan and a further briefing to provide this detail was requested. In response it was highlighted that the Business Plan was still going through the process of being finalised which was why it had not been included in the report. It was confirmed that the capital programme for the HRA was based on a 5% stock survey, which was not ideal. However, as work had started on a full stock condition survey, it would allow the Business Plan for 2024-25 to be much more developed.

Given the Business Plan for 2023-24 was based on a 5% stock survey, it was questioned how robustly the assumptions made in the report had been tested, particularly given the financial challenges of the Council. It was advised that external expertise of Savills had been engaged to support officers with the preparation of the Business Plan. Some of the key assumptions made in the Business Plan included: -

·         Core inflation being set at 8.4% for 2023-24 before dropping in subsequent years to 3%.

·         Rent increases being set at 7% in the coming year and 3% in subsequent years.

·         Reduced assumptions on income from other areas such as garages due to the level of repair needed.

As a follow-up, it was questioned how the budget for stock replacement had been calculated in the Business Plan. It was advised that the budget had been based upon information provided from the 5% sample stock condition surveys. As this was a small percentage of the total stock, additional growth had been costed into the budget to account for a degree of uncertainty. Given that a full stock condition survey was in the process of starting, it should provide a greater level of certainty in future years on the exact work required.

As it was noted that the Capital Programme for 2023-24 had been set at £31m, it was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5/22

The Health & Social Care Sub-Committee is asked to consider whether any additions, amendments or changes are needed to the agreed work programme for the Sub-Committee in 2022/23.

The Sub-Committee considered a report on pages 45 to 48 of the agenda which presented its work programme for review.

It was confirmed that the next meeting, to be held on 27 February 2023, was the last Sub-Committee meeting of this municipal year.

Resolved: That the work programme for the Homes Sub-Committee is noted.