Agenda item

Objective:An update from the Chief Executive on key issues which may be of interest to the Cabinet Housing Committee.

The Chief Executive addressed the Committee and explained that following the previous meeting tenants had been informed that a self-referral was being made to the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) in relation to property and compliance with the Safety and Quality Consumer Standard. The RSH has now responded to the self-referral and are satisfied that matters are improving and under control, so they will be taking no further action and making no intervention at the current time. He emphasised that this does not change the organisational focus on driving improvements to health and safety, the ongoing progression of stock condition surveys, and ensuring compliance with the Consumer Standards to ensure we are prepared for our In Depth Assessment (IDA). The Chief Executive explained that the Consumer Standard Programme Board had met for the first time earlier in the day and approved the initiation documents to move forwards. He confirmed that this Board was comprised of Officers and Members, including the Cabinet Member for Housing and Customer Services, and would provide oversight of the Improvement Programme with progress reported to the Cabinet Housing Committee.

The Chief Executive highlighted that the council have advertised for a key senior appointment for the Director of Housing – Investment, Repairs and Decarbonisation and recruitment was in progress. He congratulated Caroline Walker on her appointment as Director of Housing – Customer and Community Services.

The Chief Executive explained that during the initial transfer of housing back into the council a decision had been taken to not remove Cheltenham Borough Homes (CBH) branding immediately, to provide reassurance and demonstrate that a safe transition was being managed. Housing will now more noticeably use CBC branding in a meaningful way in tenant facing processes, particularly through communication with tenants. He highlighted that this will not be an immediate change but will take time. The Chief Executive that the council will also be starting to phase out old CBH email addresses to signal that we are now one organisation and resolve issues with operating two separate servers.

The Committee’s discussion raised the following points:

-       Ensuring that tenant and leaseholder voices are properly heard will be central to our approach to resolving health and safety and other issues. The tenant and leaseholder panel will provide the primary forum for this engagement and feedback, but we will also be continuing to challenge ourselves on how we learn lessons from complaints, how we respond when things do not go right, and exploring the ways that we can demonstrate that we are listening and responding to tenants. This will be an ongoing process and the Cabinet Housing Committee will play an important role in identifying and driving improvements on how we involve tenants and leaseholders.

-       The RSH have not taken a prescriptive approach to compliance with the Consumer Standards except where there are clear legal requirements. Whilst policies and procedures have been moved into CBC as part of the transition, it will be important to take time to review these policies and procedures fully as part of a programme over time. This will enable us to identify and agree how compliance with the Consumer Standards will look for CBC.