Agenda item

To receive the Registered Providers Task and Finish Group Annual Report 2024/25. Report No. PG2515 is attached on the work of the Task and Finish Group during the 2024/25 Municipal Year. The Committee is asked to consider the recommendations.

The Committee welcomed Mrs Zoe Paine, Strategy and Enabling Manager, who was in attendance to provide the Annual Report on the work of the Registered Providers Task and Finish Group during the 2024/25 Municipal Year. Cllr Keith Dibble, Housing and Planning Portfolio Holder was also in attendance to answer Members questions.

Mrs Paine, advised on the purpose, membership, terms of reference and process of the Group. It was noted that the Terms of Reference had been amended to fit with the new Council priorities and Registered Providers (RPs) that had not been invited to meet with the Group had been asked to complete a questionnaire online, only three had completed this.

It was noted that the three invited RPs had been, Metropolitan Thames  Valley Housing Association (MTVHA), A2 Dominion and VIVID. Engaging with the largest provider of social housing in the area, VIVID, had been challenging, with them refusing to meet with the Group, but offering an all Member seminar instead. It was felt that the level of engagement achieved in a seminar would not be the same as achieved in a smaller meeting with appropriate representatives from the housing association. It was noted that Managing Director, Ian Harrison, would be meeting with VIVID’s Chief Executive, Mark Perry, later in June, and part of the agenda for the meeting would be to discuss engagement with the RP Group. In the cases on A2 Dominion and MTVHA, less senior members of staff had been sent to the meeting than in previous years, resulting in more operational conversations rather than the desired strategic discussions.

During the discussion, a number of comments/suggestions were made, these included:

·       establish a timetable that allowed more RPs to be seen more frequently – see those performing well, not just those that are not performing

·       explore the use of communications channels to raise awareness of issues raised/poor performance – “name and shame”

·       explore the option of working with the local MP to improve engagement

·       RPs should be responding to all councillors equally

·       address the work flow/process of the Task and Finish Group before calling out RPs on performance – important to retain good relationships

·       establish what we want the RPs to be doing in the Borough, by being more strategic and time efficient

·       establish a scoring system to rate RPs

·       work with the Task and Finish Group to revise the questionnaire to ensure relevance – currently very long and could be reason why response rates were low

·       work with neighbours linked through Local Government Reorganisation to strengthen voices and raise issues wider

·       review how we work internally

·       improve engagement on the wider community benefits/assets – open spaces, parking areas, playgrounds, community buildings etc.

In response, the Portfolio Holder advised that, together with the Leader of the Council and the Managing Director, he would be meeting with the top five social housing providers in the Borough to talk through the relationship with the Council and the importance of establishing good working relationships to help provide an acceptable service for residents. He also suggested gathering data from the Ombudsman, via Freedom of Information requests, to be armed with evidence based data to challenge performance at an executive level. In response to the suggestion to review internal working methods, Cllr Dibble felt that things had changes significantly since the Group was first established and that this would be a good starting point for any changes.

In summary, the Chair noted that the situation with RPs had changed significantly and suggested that the Group consider its Terms of Reference and question the best use of time to achieve strategic discussion with relevant RP partners. Consideration would also be given to the makeup of the Group and the option to widen the membership.

ACTION

The Chairman thanked Cllr Dibble and Mrs Paine for their time and contributions to the meeting.