Agenda item
Housing Performance Monitoring: Quarterly Performance Data for Key Registered Providers
The Sub-Committee will receive a presentation on the Quarterly Performance Data for Key Registered Providers.
Minutes:
Godfrey Heyman (Strategy, Regeneration and Sustainability) and Sandra Fawcett, (the Chair of the Tower Hamlets Housing Forum) (THHF) gave a presentation which provided Members with an update on social landlords performance for quarter one 2017-8.
Members were reminded of the role of the THHF that promoted partnership working between the Council and Social Landlords to share good practice amongst other things. It was also reported that THHF had a number of themed sub groups and published annual reports on their website. The forums achievements in 2016/17 included: enhanced work on ASB, environmental protection and health protocol, fire safety work, a Service Charge Review, new guidance for sub regional nominations, overcrowding and under-occupation initiatives. The Forum had also worked to deliver a range of employment initiatives, developed Section 106 design guidance, provided specialist support for welfare reform and a successful caretakers conference.
The Committee were also advised of the key features of the Performance Management Framework (PMF) that assessed the performance of social landlords against key Performance Indicators and measured engagement. The Committee also heard about the work of the THHF Benchmarking Sub Group that shared best practice and Councillor Sirajul Islams’ (Cabinet Member for Housing) performance management group. They also noted that it was important to take into account the data health checks when considering performance data to get a realistic picture, such as sample size, survey methodology and the need to take into account longer terms trends.
Turning to the quarter one results, the Committee were advised of the performance data for eight key areas in relation to repair work, appointments made and kept, average re-let times, gas certificate completion, resident satisfaction with the outcome of ASB cases, complaints and Members Enquiries response times. Overall, the results showed that the majority of social landlords were meeting their targets. Where there were issues, The Council would work with social landlords to improve performance.
In response, the Committee requested to receive a more detailed performance report. In particular, Members requested to receive a ‘rolling programme’ showing performance over the course of a 12 month period including data on the most recent quarter. Members stated that they would find this helpful in assessing performance. It was also suggested that this should list the individual social landlords.
The Committee also asked to receive information on social landlords participation in THHF in terms of attendance at meetings. Members also asked Council Officers about the robustness of the health checks carried out on the performance information. Questions were also asked about public access to information (such as the Performance Management Framework, THHF meeting minutes, their Constitution, the service charge review) and whether social landlords communicated performance information to residents. Members also asked questions about whether social landlords conducted resident surveys and the merits of such surveys.
In response, Officers reported that most of this information could be found on the THHF website including the Annual reports. Officers offered to send a link to the website to the Committee. In addition, the social landlords published performance information on their websites, circulated performance information to residents and undertook resident satisfaction surveys (in addition to the Council’s Annual resident satisfaction survey). However, Ms Fawcett undertook to raise these issues about communication with residents at the THHF’s next meeting. It was also emphasised that the Council would work with social landlords where necessary if performance improvements were required and it was felt that such action was generally very effective.
In light of the comments from the Committee, it was agreed that Officers and the Chair would discuss and agree a revised format for the performance information for future meetings taking on board the Committee’s comments