Issue - meetings

That the report be received.          

The Head of Housing introduced a report for the Committee to note and consider the 2013/14 Mid Year Service Performance Report produced under the adopted business model of the Council.  Members were also asked to comment on the new approach to performance reporting. 

            She gave a short presentation on the performance within Housing Services, and circulated a benchmarking report comparing housing performance to other landlords and outlining work which had been undertaken to improve performance and areas where improvement was needed, as outlined within the report. 

            In response to a question from the Chairman about Disabled Facilities Grants, the Housing Renewal Manager said that work was being undertaken to speed up the process which could include strengthening the process so that Occupational Therapy assessments were only undertaken where necessary.  The average number of days for DFGs in Flintshire was 177 days compared to the national average across Wales of 271 days. 

            The Head of Housing highlighted page 104 where it was reported that the Housing Renewal Service had now completed the full accreditation process and had been awarded the Customer Service Excellence Standard award.  The comment from the assessors had been included in the report and included the comments that “FlintshireCounty Council Housing Renewal Service is a service that provides high levels of customer service.  There was evidence that the Housing Renewal Service is committed and inspired in delivering the best possible customer experience”.  She said that the service should be proud of the achievement and added that other services were being identified to go through the accreditation process. 

            Councillor Alison Halford congratulated the Head of Housing for the report and in referring to page 95 and the section on Gas Servicing and No Access, queried why tenants had not allowed access to their properties.  In response, the Housing Asset Manager said that since the report had been written the percentage of gas servicing carried out had increased to 98.8%.  This had been as a result of staff working longer hours and offering appointments on Saturday mornings.  The process of the number of times that a property was visited was to be reviewed to get to the end stage quicker.  Work was also ongoing with the Neighbourhood Housing Management and a Housing Association had been visited to establish whether their working practices could improve the situation in Flintshire.  On the issue of why tenants did not permit access, the Head of Housing said that some tenants may be working but others did not want to permit access due to issues with their tenancy.  She reminded Members that the Council had a legal responsibility to undertake the gas servicing.  Councillor Halford suggested that an update be provided to a future meeting of the Committee and that this be included in the Forward Work Programme. 

            In referring to page 98 and the section on Supporting People, Councillor Alison Halford asked if the funding had been reduced and what problems this would present.  The Community Support Services Manager said  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35