Agenda item

In accordance with the Scrutiny Procedure Rules, the following items have been referred from the Scrutiny Committee:

·       Scrutiny Feedback on the Regulatory Change in Housing

·       Scrutiny Feedback from the Tenants' Engagement Session

·       Scrutiny feedback on the Regulatory Change in Housing

Cabinet AGREED to have regard to the Scrutiny Committee’s feedback.

·       Scrutiny feedback from the Tenants’ Engagement Session

Cabinet AGREED to have regard to the Scrutiny Committee’s feedback.

In accordance with the Scrutiny Procedure Rules, the following items had been referred from the Scrutiny Committee:

Scrutiny feedback on the Regulatory Change in Housing

The Chair of the Scrutiny Committee, Councillor Mike Brown, introduced the report advising Members that Scrutiny had received a report on the regulatory change in housing at their meeting held on 25 April 2024. In doing so, the Chair of the Scrutiny Committee stated that the Committee were appreciative of all the work carried out by Officers and that Members were impressed by the detail presented.

The Scrutiny Committee comments were outlined in the report for Cabinet’s consideration. The Chair of the Scrutiny Committee did highlight that there was an issue of a large number of complaints as a result of a contractor failure however, as the landlord, the Council has a responsibility in managing contractors and ensuring their work is timely and up to standard.

It was also noted that there was a disparity of how the Council dealt with complaints and compliments. The Council is very good at recording complaints but not as good with compliments. Members noted that in future data would be captured and the Council’s performance benchmarked using Housemark.

Cabinet AGREED to have regard to the Scrutiny Committee’s feedback.

Scrutiny feedback from the Tenants’ Engagement Session

The Chair of the Scrutiny Committee, Councillor Mike Brown, introduced the report advising Members that Scrutiny had facilitated a tenant’s engagement session, which was held on 25 April 2024. Tenants provided comments and feedback on the following questions:

·       What do you like about living in MBC housing?

·       What have been the best changes over recent years?

·        What improvements would you like to see in next 12 months?

·        What longer term improvements would you like to see?

·       How could we encourage greater involvement from other tenants?

The comments and feedback received were presented to Cabinet for their consideration.

The Chair of the Scrutiny Committee informed Cabinet that 700 tenants were invited to the tenant engagement sessions and therefore the feedback is a reasonable representation of tenant’s views. It was noted that amongst the feedback a substantial amount was positive feedback.

Tenants did highlight that there was an issue around anti-social behaviour, which was raised a couple of times. However, it was noted that the way it has been addressed was prompt.

The garden policy was mentioned as the better the environment, the more engaged and committed tenants are.

Members noted that positive contacts need to be collected more effectively, however the experience was positive and a considerable amount of feedback was received.

Councillor Cox commented that, in respect to anti-social behaviour, data needs to be shared more widely in order to tackle the issue. The main problem is that the Leicestershire Authorities are on different and outdated systems. There was an agreement to move onto a shared system, however the system is yet to be procured.

Officers confirmed that there would be a tenant’s summer social, giving tenants an opportunity to socialise with each other.

Cabinet AGREED to have regard to the Scrutiny Committee’s feedback.

At 4:49pm, upon the conclusion of this item, Councillor Brown left the meeting and did not return.