Issue - meetings

Report number TSE0028 by the Corporate Governance & Housing Portfolio Holder.                                                                      (Attached)

DECISION:

(1)           That approval be given in principle to the adoption of the Tenant and Resident Involvement Strategy and Compact Agreement as circulated with report number TSE0028, subject to the Housing portfolio holder’s satisfaction with the completed equality impact assessment;

(2)           Delegated authority be granted to the Director of Tenancy Services in consultation with the portfolio holder to approve the final strategy and compact agreement which is to include a clear explanation of how the Compact Chest annual budget will be managed and spent.

Considerations/Reasons for decision:

(1)            The area of tenant participation has now evolved into resident involvement involving whole communities. There is currently no tenant and resident involvement strategy to help the authority deliver this change in focus and the existing Compact Agreement required updating to reflect the change in focus;

(2)            Best practice in this service obtained from other Beacon authorities and guidance issued by the Department of Communities and Local Government;

(3)            Noting consultation undertaken on the draft document by the tenant groups and representatives of all neighbourhood groups

(4)            Noting that the Resources PDG is supportive of the initiatives contained within the document and that feedback will be given to the PDG and the Housing Consultative Group on progress;

(5)            The strategy needs to make clear and explicit how the management of the Compact Chest annual budget will be undertaken.

Other options considered and assessed:

When developing this Strategy and Compact Agreement all examples of best practice have been considered and included as appropriate.

The Housing Consultative Group considered the Strategy using the Value for Money framework assessment. The document was scored as follows -

• Developing the strategy scores an ‘A’* for effectiveness. This is because having an effective strategy is essential to the delivery of effective tenant and resident involvement.
• The score for efficiency is ‘C’* as having an up-to-date strategy is in line with good practice.
• The score for economy is ‘E’* as the strategy has not yet impacted on service economy and we have not yet carried out any work to assess the impact on our costs.

*Definition of scores:

A = the activity is essential to the delivery of an outcome from the corporate plan.

C = the approach will ensure that the organization will be externally assessed as being in line with good practice in this area of work.

E = this approach has no impact on the service economy, or no work has been done to assess its impact.