Agenda and draft minutes
Venue: Council Chamber - Town Hall, Whitechapel. View directions
Contact: justina bridgeman Democratic Services Officer (Committees) Email: justina.bridgeman@towerhamlets.gov.uk
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DECLARATIONS OF INTERESTS Members are reminded to consider the categories of interest in the Code of Conduct for Members to determine whether they have an interest in any agenda item and any action they should take. For further details, please see the attached note from the Monitoring Officer.
Members are reminded to declare the nature of the interest and the agenda item it relates to. Please note that ultimately it’s the Members’ responsibility to declare any interests and to update their register of interest form as required by the Code.
If in doubt as to the nature of your interest, you are advised to seek advice prior to the meeting by contacting the Monitoring Officer or Democratic Services
Further Advice contact: Linda Walker, Director of Legal and Monitoring Officer, Tel: 0207 364 4348
Additional documents: Minutes: There were no declarations of pecuniary interests, however for transparency, Councillor Mohammad Choudhury declared he is a Tower Hamlets Tenant, Mahbub Anam declared he is a Tower Hamlets Tenant and Susanna Kow declared she is a Tower Hamlets Leaseholder. |
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MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING(S) To confirm as a correct record of the proceedings the unrestricted minutes of the meeting held on 16 September 2024. Additional documents: Minutes: . The minutes of the Sub Committee meeting held on 16 September 2024 were approved and signed as a correct record of proceedings. |
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Actions Log To Follow Additional documents: Minutes: Paul Burgess, Strategy and Policy Officer, updated Members on the outstanding action from 13 May 2024 meeting;’ A written request be made to the Mayor to initiate a formal request to meet with the Minister for Housing, the Regulator for Social Housing, and MPs to investigate THCH performance concerns on behalf of residents’. The Chair agreed to sign a letter requesting Mayor Lutfur Rahman initiate the formal request. The Mayor’s office has acknowledged the request was received.
Mr Burgess noted that the outstanding action from 16 September meeting; ‘That details of the Housing Management structure be forwarded to the sub-committee for review’, is also outstanding. This is due to changes to the directorate and the appointment of a new Corporate Director. Details will be provided at the next sub-committee meeting for review.
Councillor Asma Islam expressed concern that the housing structure details were not submitted at this meeting, as Members need to know who to direct Member Enquires to. Mr Burgess will follow up on the request.
Co-optee Susana Kow, requested further details on actions from 24 June meeting; relating to the 459 affordable units completed in 2023-24. Ms Kow requested a breakdown on the affordable housing and social rented units completed in the same time frame. Mr Burgess will contact the department for details.
The Housing and Regeneration Scrutiny Sub-Committee RESOLVED;
1. That details of the Housing Management structure be forwarded to the sub-committee for review, in order for Members to know where to direct Member Enquires to within the department.
2. That a written brief detailing the breakdown of the affordable housing and social rented units completed in 2023-24 be presented to the sub-committee for review.
3. That the Action log be noted. |
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REPORTS FOR CONSIDERATION Additional documents: |
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Housing Management Update Additional documents:
Minutes: Councillor Kabir Ahmed, Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Inclusive Development and Housebuilding, presented the update on the Tower Hamlets Homes transferred to Council management control since 01 November 2023. It was noted that £1.7m savings has been made to base budgets to the Housing Revenue Account.
Approval has been given by Cabinet for an additional £140m to fund Capital Works to improve stock and address any building safety issues, adhering to the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS). Details of the 70 contracts reviewed and the merging of six were noted, as were the 10 terminated contracts and the integration of the ASB Estates staff into the Community Safety teams, which is part of the Mayor’s Anti-Crime and Disorder Taskforce and has saved £300k per year for residents.
The presentation included details of improved services, the single specialised Housing Policy, Strategy and Regulatory Compliance Division, additional resources and service integration to improve complaints and Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSM) now ranked at 65%.
The key achievements included:
- Strengthening governance and assurance with external auditing commissioned from Pennington’s and HQN, to ensure quality performance and compliance.
- A Housing Management Improvement Plan approved by Cabinet.
- Newly strengthened governance arrangements, with the establishment of a Cabinet Housing Management Sub-Committee.
- Ratification of a senior Tower Hamlets Officer as a Responsible Person under the Consumer Standards and Health and Safety lead.
- Resident Engagement, including a comprehensive review and transfer of the former Tower Hamlets Homes and Housing Options.
- Self-referral to the Regulator in February 2024, to assess the Housing Management service against the new Consumer Standards.
Members were informed that some housing blocks still require urgent remediation, including; Randall House which still has ACM cladding, Jonson House, which has a waking watch due to fire safety concerns and Latham House. Remediation on some of the buildings may take longer, as TfL will need to permit access to the land behind the properties. The Regulator of Social Housing will conduct an inspection between January to March 2025.
Following questions from the sub-committee, Councillor Kabir Ahmed and Officers;
· Acknowledged there were concerns identified with some works which were below standard. Self-referrals are viewed as best practice and related to fire risk assessments, legionella and lift testing. Further details can be found in the Cabinet report, submitted in November 2024. Remediation works on specific properties will commence in due course.
· Confirmed that all residents in Randall House were informed of the ACM issue, as well as all medium and long-term measures to mitigate.
· Clarified that a partnership approach with the Council, other local authorities, the police and the legal system is required to reduce instances of ASB within estates.
· Noted that ASB staff initially working with Tower Hamlets Homes have been TUPE’d over to the Council’s THEO and Community Safety teams to work in tackling known areas of criminal activity.
· Explained that there is currently an ongoing end to end repairs service review, to improve repairs diagnosis from call advisors and to reduce the level ... view the full minutes text for item 4.1 |
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Tenant Satisfaction Measures Additional documents: Minutes: Councillor Kabir Ahmed, Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Inclusive Development and Housebuilding, gave an overview on Tower Hamlets performance against the Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSM) up to the end of September 2024. These TSMs give tenants more visibility on their landlords’ performance and assist them in holding landlords to account. There are 22 TSM’s with five overall themes.
The sub-committee were told that the independent survey, conducted by a third party randomly surveyed 1000 residents on the level of service received by the Council. Notable performance targets included:
- Overall satisfaction targets in a local context was rated at 65%, which puts the Council in the London upper quartile and higher than neighbouring boroughs.
- Emergency repairs in target were rated at 76% in Q1 and 83% for Q2.
- Non-emergency repairs in target were 74% in Q1 and 75% in Q2.
Members were informed of other areas, such as gas safety checks, which were down by 1% due to the inability to access the property by the resident. Fire safety checks were at 99.9%, again due to issues with one specific housing block. The same reasons were given for amber rated areas such as water safety checks (98.4%) and lift safety checks rated 95.2% with 6 and 16 outstanding blocks respectively. 146 asbestos checks are still due to be completed.
Resident satisfaction that views taken into account was amber rated at 48%. It is anticipated that changes within the department will improve the rating. In regards to Stage Two complaint response in target, this was rated red at 7%. The aim is to divert complaints from rising to the second stage by ensuring Stage One calls are resolved.
With resident satisfaction in handling ASB concerns, this was also amber rated at 54%. The migrated ASB staff to the Community Safety teams will alleviate concerns and increase satisfaction levels.
Darren Reynolds, the Director of Neighbourhood Services, acknowledged that handling complaints effectively is an area of focus, particularly in addressing the root of resident concerns to resolve it. A process review on ASB will be conducted to enhance the service, the contact centre, telephone waiting times, and improve resident satisfaction.
Following questions by the sub-committee, Councillor Kabir Ahmed and Officers;
· Confirmed that a review of the repairs policy will be conducted to establish a clear framework for emergencies and better diagnose of repairs in the first instance. This may include further training to improve communication with residents.
· Noted that new investment, tighter monitoring of contractors, greater service delivery and more engagement with RSH, resident satisfaction will increase.
· Acknowledged that performance levels for water and asbestos checks require improvement. Those programmes are being monitored and the trend is moving upwards.
· Confirmed that there is leasehold satisfaction data available, although it is not a government requirement and is not submitted as part of the TSM. Details will be made available to the sub-committee for review.
· Acknowledged there have been contractor issues in relation to capacity and service delivery. The improvement measures mentioned in the ... view the full minutes text for item 4.2 |
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Social Landlords Performance Report Quarter 4 Additional documents: Minutes: Karen Swift, Director, Housing Policy, Strategy & Regulatory Compliance, informed Members that the majority of the Tower Hamlets Housing Forum (THHF) agreed to adopt 17 key performance indicators in April 2023.
Mubin Chowdhury, Performance Improvement Analyst, then gave a brief update, which included the decent homes standards, the number of complaints received, emergency and non-emergency repairs, property re-let times, major works and utility checks.
It was noted that in relation to safety checks, the majority of properties have 100% compliance, although there were issues gaining access to some properties. For lift checks, 100% compliance was not achieved, as stated in agenda item 4.1.
Following questions by the sub-committee, Officers;
· Confirmed that the decent home standards is a statutory standard, defined by government.
· Noted that the government is reviewing the decent homes standard to include damp and mould. The standard is concerned with windows, doors, kitchens and bathroom upgrades. Issues with draining systems and such are not covered but ultimately lead to resident dissatisfaction. Further details on the Thomas Road estate that Nottinghill Genesis own will be brought back to the Sub-committee for review.
· Clarified that the Council has no authority to compel Registered Social Landlords (RSL) to resolve issues. The Council can advocate for residents by discussing concerns with the RSL and encourage them to use the internal complaints process of that RSL. Residents can contact the Ombudsman services to assist if the initial complaint is not resolved.
· Noted that in rare cases, the Council can issue an Enforcement notice against landlords for disrepair concerns that have not been addressed.
· Explained that all Member's Enquiries regarding a complaint, are logged as a complaint. Members were encouraged to forward these to THHF for review.
· Confirmed that a Member Seminar will be held in January 2025 and a ‘Members Information Pack’ is being compiled to include department details on who to refer ME’s to when residents contact them for assistance with their RSL concerns.
· Observed that resident complaints are raised in various ways, such as email, through the surgeries and are passed to the RSL. A collaborative approach is employed and numerous meetings related to resident concerns and repair issues are held to ensure they have safe and adequate housing.
· Acknowledged that more public awareness and guidance regarding the RSL complaint process is needed.
The Housing and Regeneration Scrutiny Sub-Committee RESOLVED;
1. That an update on the Thomas Road estate that Nottinghill Genesis owns be brought back to the Sub-committee for review.
2. That the presentation be noted. |
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Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman Reports and Action Plan Additional documents:
Minutes: Usman Zia, Head of Information Governance, introduced the last item the reports and recommendations from the Local Governance and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO). Both reports have been presented to the sub-committee as it is a legal obligation for Councils to do so. The LGSCO are the organisation that investigate individual complaints about Councils, Adult Social Care providers and other public service organisations.
These reports follow two previous reports presented at the September sub-committee meeting. The reports outlined the multiple failures that took place over a long period of time, and these process failures had adverse effects in both cases. Reasonable adjustments and care needs were not met and vulnerabilities were not considered, leading to inadequate accommodation.
Mr Zia noted that the recommendations received were accepted and the Council has three months from the final reports to take action, which is 16 December 2024.
Following questions by the sub-committee, Usman Zia, Councillor Kabir Ahmed and Leah Sykes, Director, Customer Services;
· Acknowledged the serious failures with both cases and stated that an overview of the processes and the procurement of suitable accommodation is currently underway.
· Confirmed that modifications to the Risk Assessment forms used to determine suitable property have been made. Officers have received further training, which has been shared to address the Ombudsman's recommendations.
· Clarified the triage process and the methods used to mitigate complaint escalation and the oversight the Corporate Directors now have. A dedicated Ombudsman's Inbox has also been created, as well as regular meetings with the Ombudsman to enhance communication and ensure key elements of learning are embedded.
· Explained that the Customer Services team liaise with all departments and collate data from complaints and Members Enquiries. They also attend department management meetings to monitor call response times, conduct training and implement improvement measures.
The Housing and Regeneration Scrutiny Sub-Committee RESOLVED;
1. That the report be noted.
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ANY OTHER BUSINESS Additional documents: Minutes: There was no other business discussed. |