Agenda and minutes

(a) To approve as an accurate record, and the Chairman to sign the minutes of the meeting of the Housing, Health & Adult Social Care Select Committee held on 13 November 2013 and 8 January 2014 (to follow).

(b) To monitor the acceptance and implementation of recommendations as set out at Appendix 1.

(c) To note the outstanding actions.

The minutes of the meetings held on 13 November 2013 and 08 January 2014 were approved as an accurate record of the proceedings.

RESOLVED THAT:

A draft response to the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust Foundation Trust consultation would be circulated to members for comment, and  the Chairman was authorised to approve the final response.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Oliver Craig and Peter Tobias.

If a Councillor has a disclosable pecuniary interest in a particular item, whether or not it is entered in the Authority’s register of interests, or any other significant interest which they consider should be declared in the public interest, they should declare the existence and, unless it is a sensitive interest as defined in the Member Code of Conduct, the nature of the interest at the commencement of the consideration of that item or as soon as it becomes apparent.

At meetings where members of the public are allowed to be in attendance and speak, any Councillor with a disclosable pecuniary interest or other significant interest may also make representations, give evidence or answer questions about the matter.  The Councillor must then withdraw immediately from the meeting before the matter is discussed and any vote taken.

Where Members of the public are not allowed to be in attendance and speak, then the Councillor with a disclosable pecuniary interest should withdraw from the meeting whilst the matter is under consideration. Councillors who have declared other significant interests should also withdraw from the meeting if they consider their continued participation in the matter would not be reasonable in the circumstances and may give rise to a perception of a conflict of interest.

Councillors are not obliged to withdraw from the meeting where a dispensation to that effect has been obtained from the Audit, Pensions and Standards Committee. 

There were no declarations of interest.

Cabinet will present their revenue budget and council tax proposals to Budget Council on 26 February 2014. As part of the budget process savings targets have been set for departments and transformation programmes.

This report provides an update on how the targets will be met for the services covered by this Select Committee. An update is also provided on budget growth proposals and proposed changes in fees and charges.

The Council’s revenue budget for 2014/15 was presented by Jane West and the department budgets by Rachel Wigley (Adult Social Care) and Kathleen Corbett (Housing and Regeneration). 

Mrs West outlined the Central Government grant process, whereby funding was expected to fall by £14 million (10% in cash terms and 12.5% in real terms) in 2014/2015.

There were major concerns in respect of the  business rates retention scheme, whereby the Council continued to lose out by £4 million per annum, arising from the appeals against rateable values set by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) and, in particular those relating to Westfield Shopping Centre. In addition. a £3 million tariff was payable to the Government.

A Council Tax reduction of 3% was proposed for 2014/2015.

Mrs West responded to members’ queries that it was believed that the baseline business rates would not be reset until 2018/2020. The Leader had made representation in respect of the late information and the Council had also contributed to the submissions by London Councils and the Society of London Treasurers.

Mrs  West  outlined the budget assumptions in respect of pay and price inflation and levels of fees and charges, the identified growth proposals and savings, the budget risks and the increase in earmarked reserves.

Mrs West responded to Councillor Carlebach that there were no savings or growth items for the Public Health budget and the ring fenced allocation had been rolled over.

Members queried the growth proposals of £1.4 million in Centrally Managed Budgets. Mrs West responded that this item related to overheads which could not be posted across other departments and primarily the Housing Revenue Account, where, for example,  there had been a significant reduction in staff and a corresponding reduction in Human Resources costs which could be re-charged.  There had been significant shrinkage in Centrally Managed Budgets but there was a time lag.

Councillor Andrew Brown queried whether the expansion of Westfield Shopping Centre would bring business rates into balance across the site. Mrs West responded that it was hoped that this would be the case and the VOA would not make the same mistake again.

Councillor Cowan queried the growth proposals for Regeneration and Housing. Ms Corbett responded that the £1.5 million related primarily to an additional allowance for bad debt for direct payments and additional bad debt in terms of the overall benefits cap.

Mrs West responded to Councillor Carlebach that the identified savings were in proportion to the departments’ overall budgets. However, by the end of the process, the percentages might differ as various savings applied only to certain departments, for example adjustments in respect of pay  for staff who had opted for flexible working.

The percentage savings across departments would be confirmed in writing.

Action: Jane West

Mrs Wigley presented the Adult Social Care (ASC) Department Budget for 2014/2015.

The presentation set out the Service Vision for the ASC Tri-borough to support integrated partnership working and to gain an overview of outcomes across the whole health and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 45.

This report deals with:

·        management of the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) following the return of the housing stock to direct Council control in April 2011 and post HRA reform;

·        the HRA Financial Strategy, the HRA Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) for the five years 2014/15 – 2018/19, and the HRA Revenue Budget for the year 2014/15;

·        the proposed increase in dwelling rents for 2014/15 having regard to national government guidance for council rents and the maintenance requirements of the housing stock owned by the borough, and the related fees and charges covering parking and garages, water rates and communal energy charges where levied. 

Mr Barrett introduced the report, which outlined: the management of the HRA; the HRA Financial Strategy, the HRA Medium Term Financial Strategy and the HRA Revenue Budget for 2014/2015; and the proposed increase in dwelling rents for 2014/2015. The broad strategy was to continue with improvement of service quality and cost efficiency.

Mr Barrett highlighted key achievements in respect of the 50% reduction in employee headcount funded by the HRA and the commencement of the necessary rebuilding of reserves, since the return of management to the Council, to create a sound platform for investment in infrastructure, including lifts and fire safety and general estate improvement.

Ms Corbett presented the financial strategy and highlighted financial risks and savings proposals. In respect of income, it was proposed to: increase rent by 5.79%; increase tenant service charges by 3.7%; freeze heating charges; increase water rates by 0.1% to ensure full recovery; and to freeze garages and parking charges.

Ms Corbett responded to Councillor Graham’s query that it was likely that the rent increase would have been more than double, should it not have been possible to contribute to stock maintenance through the Expensive Void Disposals Programme.

Ms Corbett responded to Councillor Cowan that rent increases over the previous four years had been in the region of 5/6%. A written response in respect of the exact percentage for both houses and garages would be provided.

Action: Kathleen Corbett

In response to a  query from Councillor Ivimy in respect of the re-procurement of the Housing Repairs and Maintenance Service, Mr Barrett stated that, as part of the savings programme, a sole supply contract for Housing Repairs and Maintenance had been awarded to MITIE Property Services (UK Ltd) and that this had achieved circa £2 million per annum savings in aggregate compared with previous arrangements. The sole supply contract had been evaluated against separate contracts for the North and South of the borough and there had been a circa 10% price difference. (There had previously been eight separate contracts.) In addition service improvements had been built into the contract.

MITIE had commenced on 1 November 2013, after a fairly short mobilisation period and were dealing with an average of one thousand repairs a week.

Councillor Cowan considered that the contract was proving to be more expensive because of chronic and repeated failures and that the choice of contractor should be given to the consumer, with possible economies of scale on a tri-borough basis.

Councillor Graham asked for comments on specific implications of appointing a number of contractors. Ms Corbett responded that multiple contractors would be likely to increase costs, as there was no certainty of work; and overheads and there would be greater  risk in respect of costs and performance and a tenant’s ability to select appropriate contractors.

Councillor Johnson noted good feedback in respect of MITIE’s performance and stated that it was not possible to meaningfully assess a contract which had been in place for only nine weeks. In addition, there were likely to be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 46.

This report presents the performance of the Housing and Regeneration Department against target for the department’s key performance indicators, for the period ending October 2013.

The report details the areas where performance is behind target, the factors affecting performance and the management action being taken to remedy the under-performance.

Mr Barrett introduced the Key Performance Indicators report for the period ending October 2013 and reported that 21 of the 28 had been met or were within tolerance.

Mr Barrett highlighted the reduction in the average number of sickness days to 4.49 compared to 9.25 at the same time in the previous year, brought about by concerted management action.

The principal area of concern was Rent Collection, which accounted for three of the targets which had been rated red and not improving. H&F Direct had been commissioned to collect housing rents from 1 July 2012, as part of the overall HRA Transformation Programme. A project plan had been put in place by H&F Direct to rectify the  situation with improvements being expected by 31 March 2014 and the position was being kept under close review.

The reporting period coincided with the ending of previous repairs and maintenance arrangements, prior to new arrangements coming into place with MITIE on 1 November 2013, and performance on the previous contracts fell back slightly towards the end.

The number of families in Bed & Breakfast was down.

The red rating in respect of Fire Risk Assessments (FRAs) was a technical issue in respect of FRAs being updated once works were completed.

RESOLVED THAT:

1. The Report be noted.

2. An update report be added to the work programme for the April 2014 meeting.

This report provides information about statutory complaints made between 1 April 2012 and 31 March 2013 under the Local Authority Social Services and NHS Complaints regulations, 2009.

This report highlights how various services within Adult Social Care (ASC) Services have performed in line with key principles outlined in the complain regulations. Learning and service improvements that have been made as a result of responding to complaints are also discussed, as are plans for further service developments.

Ms Bruce introduced the report, which provided information in respect of statutory complaints made between 1 April 2012 and 31 March 2013.

Ms Bruce stated that staff were encouraged to attempt to resolve problems at the first point of contact in line with good practice, but were equally advised to direct service users towards the Customer Feedback Team where an instant resolution was not possible or appropriate or where the service user remained dissatisfied. The Team would seek to resolve complaints within ten working days.

During the year, 4,203 people received a service from the Council and 2% of these service users or someone on their behalf had raised a complaint about a service they had received. In comparison, 18 compliments had been passed to the Team.

The report provided an analysis of complaint outcomes, with the majority of complaints that were upheld being in respect of the quality of service. The ASC teams ensured that, whatever the outcome of a  complaint, they learnt from the complaint to ensure that the problem did not recur with other service users.

Councillor Ivimy asked that analysis of complaints which had not reached the Complaints Process be provided to the Committee.

Action: Liz Bruce

Mr Naylor considered that people should be encouraged to complain and that the process should be made easier. Ms Bruce responded that the Tri-borough services promoted awareness of the right to complain and support to complain. The ethos of attempting  to resolve problems at the first point of contact was good practice, not a way of avoiding complaints.

Councillor Ginn considered that customer feedback, rather than just complaints, should be encouraged.

Councillor Cowan queried whether the higher number of complaints received at Kensington & Chelsea were attributable to its culture and whether an unique approach could be implemented across Tri-borough. Ms Bruce responded that it would be possible to provide a comparison of approach, behaviour and practice across the Tri-borough.

Councillor Vaughan queried the format of customer satisfaction interviews and the lessons learnt from complaints. Ms Bruce responded that the customer satisfaction interview were part of quality assurance system which included reviewing and improving the customer experience. This was tested feedback from customers sought in a range of ways, including e-monitoring and provider networks and forums. Ms Bruce offer to provide more detailed information in respect of quality assurance and customer feedback.

In respect of lessons learnt from complaints, the key issues identified were in respect of communication standards, provision of information and staff attitude and behaviour.

Mr McVeigh considered that it was possible for people not to know that they were being treated unfairly. Ms Bruce outlined the safeguards, which included legislation and statutory requirements, and  the set of principles and values within which ASC sought to deliver services to eligible adults within the community. Ms Bruce added that she was the Accountable Officer for Tri-borough ASC.

RESOLVED THAT:

The report be noted.

The Committee is asked to give consideration to its work programme for this municipal year, 2013/2014 as set out in Appendix 1 of the report.

Details of the Key Decisions which are due to be taken by the Cabinet at its next meeting are provided in Appendix 2 in order to enable the Committee to identify those items where it may wish to request reports.

RESOLVED THAT:

1. Welfare Reform be added to the February agenda.

2. Housing Repairs and Maintenance be added to the April agenda, and that MITIE be asked to attend the meeting.

3. Housing Performance Indicators be added to the April agenda.

The Committee is asked to note that the dates of the meetings scheduled for this municipal year are as follows:

19 February 2014

2 April 2014

19 February 2014

2 April 2014