Agenda item

A report by Chris Stock (Resident Involvement & Scrutiny Manager) is attached.

Chris Stock, Resident Involvement & Scrutiny Manager, summarised the report:

·         The Tenant & Leaseholder Panel has been running for 20 years;

·         Need to make the panel work better;

·         A meeting took place in September with 10 people from the Panel and there was a lot of discussion;

·         20-30 residents’ associations formed the original panel to discuss issues across the borough;

·         Resident involvement want to engage in a wide range of activities – monitoring services, mystery shopping etc;

·         The Panel should now be looking at the Council’s Housing Policy Strategy;

·         Concerns raised about a lot of meetings wasting time about service delivery issues, which are not the role of this panel;

·         Residents’ associations and Service Improvement Panels can raise these issues;

·         Attendance has been dwindling and membership ageing;

·         Before the meeting a survey was carried out to ask why people came to meetings and what people wanted to get from them;

·         Some responses were about wanting to hold officers to account over service delivery – but that is not the role of this panel;

·         Role of panel is to generate ideas to improve services;

·         Phil Morgan led a session – leading expert in the UK on best practice:

o   Strongest message was accountability;

o   Answers to queries and action plans are wanted;

o   Concern about why some members attend but do not contribute;

o   Need to look at the whole resident engagement framework;

o   Panel should focus on more high level work, such as sprinklers – this what we are planning to do, what do you think?

·         Need to do a number of things:

o   Short term – get Resident Involvement group to meet between now and December to look at how the panel operates;

o   Immediate actions to address some of the concerns raised at the meeting;

o   Issue report forms at all meetings for members to report issues (to save time in meetings) – these will then be followed up;

o   RI Activity report informs about all the other panels but more information about Service Improvement groups – Repairs, Tenancy, Income, etc – is wanted and this will be done in the future;

o   Minutes with Action Plan – listing action, lead officer and deadline;

o   Recruitment drive – to get young people along;

o   Look at membership criteria – and have a form like a job application;

o   Point people in other directions according to their interests;

o   Doing more things online.

·         What timeframe would there be for action points?

This would depend on the type of action but it would be up to panel members to decide.           

·         How will Panel members be informed of any changes in policy, in advance of meetings?

The Chair and VC will be consulted during the year when we are considering changes in procedures.  The Tenant & Leaseholder Panel (TLP) will have proposals for comment before they are implemented.

·         There are 3 months between each TLP meeting – could there be a surgery for personal issues, prior to each meeting?

·         When issues are raised then answers are needed but things get forgotten.

·         Need right officers to answer personal issues –not always here for meeting.

We are trying to cover this with the Action Plan.  Personal issues should not need to be raised at TLP meetings but be dealt with elsewhere.  If an issue is raised but is not getting feedback, then it will be raised at TLP.

·         If people are not maintaining their gardens according to their tenancy agreement, what does the Council do?

Service Improvement Groups are working, looking at specific areas.  They only discuss that area.