Agenda and minutes

Contact: Xanthe Barker 

Items
No. Item

96.

Apologies

To receive any apologies for absence.

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from the following:

 

Councillor John Bevan          (Councillor Bevan had to leave the meeting at 7pm)

Niall Bolger                            represented by Phil Harris

Paul Bridge                            Rowan Limmond substituted

Lee Bojtor

Eugenia Cronin

Neil Mawson

Jo Murphy

Gloria Saffrey

97.

Urgent Items of Business

The Chair will consider the admission of any new items of Urgent Business. (Late items of Urgent Business will be considered under the agenda item where they appear. New items of Urgent Business will appear under Item 11 below). 

Minutes:

No items of Urgent Business were raised.

98.

Declarations of Interest

Members of the Board must declare any personal and/or prejudicial interests with respect to agenda items and must not take part in any decisions made in relation to these items.

Minutes:

No declarations of interest were made.

 

99.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 78 KB

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 10 December 2008 as a correct record.

Minutes:

RESOLVED:

 

That the minutes of the meeting held on 10 December 2008 be confirmed as a correct record.

100.

Comprehensive Area Assessment pdf icon PDF 218 KB

A presentation will be provided.

Minutes:

The Board received a presentation on the new Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA).

 

An overview was given of the scope of the CAA and it was noted that this was comprised of two key strands:

 

Area Assessment

 

This strand would consider how effectively local public services delivered local priorities, economic prospects, community safety and potential for future improvement.

 

Organisational Assessment

 

The second strand would consider the use of resources and performance management and how the Council delivered value for money through the combined use of resources and performance management.

 

It was noted that Partners would be inspected by their own inspection regimes and that these would liaise with the Audit Commission.

 

In assessing this four key themes would be considered:

 

  • Management of finances
  • Governing business
  • Managing resources
  • Managing performance

 

In terms of the Area Assessment the following key areas would be focussed upon:

 

  • How well do local priorities express community needs and aspirations?
  • How well are the outcomes and improvements needed being delivered?
  • What are the prospects for future improvements?

 

It was noted that the Local Authority would be required to produce and publish an Annual Summary, which would include an overview of key priorities, overall successes, challenges and future prospects. It was envisaged that these would form a tool for members of the public wanting to obtain an overview of the Borough.

 

In addition to this a system of red and green flags would be used to indicate areas where arrangements were considered inadequate to deliver improvement or where exceptional or innovative practice was demonstrated.

 

The Board was advised that that the CAA would take a more holistic approach to assessing performance and would gather evidence over the course of a year rather than focussing on a limited period.

 

With regard to the use of flags the Board was advised that these would only be applied if there was either evidence of innovative practice or where there were concerns over performance or prospects for change. The pilots that had taken place suggested that it may be harder to attract a green flag than a red flag. However, there may a shift in emphasis once the pilots had been reviewed.

 

It was confirmed that, within the Area Assessment, individual organisations would not be awarded flags.  

 

In response to a query, as to what the mechanisms were for gathering information from key housing providers, the Board was advised that a number of groups had already been consulted. Any additional groups that had not fed into the process that had examples of effective partnership working should contact the Council’s Corporate Policy Team.

 

RESOLVED:

 

  1. That the presentation be noted.

 

  1. That members of the Board wishing to provide examples of partnership working, which had not already been contacted, should contact the Council’s Corporate Policy Team.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

101.

Haringey's First Community Engagement Framework pdf icon PDF 86 KB

A presentation will be provided.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Board received a report and presentation setting out the role of the new Community Engagement Framework (CEF) and how it was being developed.

 

It was noted that there were three key reasons for establishing a CEF:

 

  • To reaffirm the HSPs commitment to community engagement
  • To promote and share partnership understanding of principles and community engagement
  • To identify and prioritise areas for development

 

There were several national and local drivers for forming the CEF including the Local Government and Involvement in Public Health Act and Local Area Agreement (LAA) targets.

 

The Board was advised that the HSP Performance Management Group (PMG) had established a multi agency sub group to lead on the delivery of the CEF. 

 

The first phase of the consultation process had now concluded and the second phase was due to commence on 5 March. This would include publishing the consultation document on the Council’s website and circulating this Voluntary Sector groups for feedback. A questionnaire would also be circulated as part of this seeking specific comments in relation to the vision, definition and principles of the CEF. 

 

During the second phase a each of the Thematic Boards would also be provided with an opportunity to discuss and comment on the draft CEF. Members of the Board were asked to provide any comments on the draft document to the Council’s Corporate Policy team by 21 April.

 

It was noted that the third phase of the consultation process would take place in the Autumn and would focus primarily on the development of the Action Plan.

 

The Chair noted that the CLF was holding an event on 21 April where the CEF would form the main item for discussion.

 

RESOLVED:

 

That the presentation be noted.

 

 

 

 

 

102.

Developing an Affordable Warmth Strategy

A presentation will be provided.

Minutes:

The Board received a presentation on the Fuel Poverty and Affordable Warmth Strategy.

 

An overview was provided of the causes of fuel poverty, how this was classified and the impact it had upon people’s health. It was noted that there was a significant there were approximately forty-thousand excess deaths in during the winter in the UK.

 

There were two key schemes in place to assist people on low incomes to heat their homes:

 

Warm Front Grants

 

This was a Government funded initiative that provided grants of up to £2700 for heating and insulation improvements for people receiving disability or means tested benefits.

 

Warmth and Comfort Scheme

 

This replaced the ‘Here to HELP’ scheme delivered by British Gas and was funded by the North London Sub-Region. The scheme provided £50K worth of heating and insulation improvements to the homes of those in receipt of means tested or disability related benefits.  

 

It was noted that officers from the Council and Homes for Haringey worked with residents who were eligible for assistance from these schemes and that uptake had increased year on year.    

 

Aerial Thermal Strategy Survey

 

It was noted that in 2007 Haringey had been the first Local Authority in England to undertake an aerial thermal survey of its housing stock. This had enabled the Council to target specific homes and buildings and was publicly available on the Council’s website.

 

Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP)

 

The Board was advised that the SAP rated properties between one and one-hundred in terms of energy efficiency. The average rating for English homes was forty-nine and Haringey was above average in respect of each tenure; Local Authority and Housing Association homes performed particularly well with ratings of fifty-seven and sixty-two being awarded respectively.

 

Sub-Regional Working

 

It was noted that a significant work was being carried within the North London sub-region to address Fuel Poverty and that Haringey was at the forefront of this, chairing the Private Sector Group and assisting with the administration of the Warmth and Comfort Scheme and Empty Property Scheme.

 

  

Development of the Affordable Warmth Strategy

 

A key stakeholders group was being established to assist in the development of the Strategy and consultation would be carried out with key partners and residents.

 

The Board would receive a further report in May updating it on the progress that had been made since the meeting and the final draft would be submitted for approval in September.

 

The Board discussed the strategy and the issues raised within the presentation.

 

In response to a query as to what action was being taken raise awareness amongst those eligible to received assistance with their fuel bills; the Board was advised that information in relation to special tariffs, payment by direct debit and alternative rates for people in receipt of Benefits, was supplied to residents who were recognised as being eligible.

 

There was agreement that it would be useful if officers working on the Affordable Warmth Strategy attended the Older People’s Partnership Board and the Haringey Forum for Older People to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 102.

103.

Local Area Agreement Third Quarter Performance Report

This report will be sent to follow.  

Minutes:

The Board received a report setting out performance against Local Area Agreement (LAA) targets within its responsibility during the Third Quarter of 2008/09.

 

Prior to the consideration of the main report the Board received an overview of progress made in respect of the Stretch Target relating to repeat instances of domestic violence for Councillor Nilgun Canver, Cabinet Member for Community Safety.

 

Councillor Canver advised that the baseline agreed with the Government Office for London (GOL) that the target was measured against had been based in an incorrect calculation. At present the calculation was based on the ?? Negotiations were in progress with GOL and it was hoped that these would result in the calculation being amended.

 

In terms of the link between repeat instances of domestic violence and the use of Temporary Accommodation the Board was advised that at present there was no analysis of the data examining the link between the two. In order to examine whether there was a link between these issues information contained within individual case files would need to be examined. 

 

In response to a query Councillor Canver confirmed that officers within the Community Safety Team liaised with the Housing Benefits team to ensure that victims of domestic violence were provided with the information and assistance required in a joined up way. It was confirmed that Housing Benefit could be paid to two addresses for a period of one year where victims of domestic violence were unable to live at their permanent address.

 

The Board discussed this issue and there was agreement that information in relation to victims of repeat domestic violence and the tenure of their property should be provided to the Board. Councillor Canver agreed to raise this issue with officers and suggested that an email addressing how this could be taken forward. 

 

Main Performance Report

 

At present the LAA Refresh was being carried out and as part of this outstanding annual targets were being agreed.  This applied to National Indicator (NI) 154 –Net Additional Homes Provided and NI 155 –Number of Affordable Homes Delivered (gross).

 

NI 154 –This had originally been intended to seek a reduction in the target for delivery against this indicator. However, this had been one of a number of NIs that the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) had ‘locked down’. Consequently it had been considered more appropriate to remain with the current target and reassess this position in at the two year Refresh stage.

 

NI 155 –This target had been amended to reflect the Mayor of London’s recent commitment to deliver 50,000 affordable homes over the next three years.

 

It was noted that performance against NI 156 was showing as Amber at present. A mid year review had been undertaken of progress to date since April 2008 and a new forecast was being produced at present. It was envisaged that there would be a reduction of approximately one thousand households living in Temporary Accommodation by the end of the year.

 

A document was tabled that provided  ...  view the full minutes text for item 103.

104.

Housing Strategy 2009/19

This report will be sent to follow.

Minutes:

The Board received a report presenting the current iteration of the Haringey Housing Strategy 2009-19 and the outcome of a consultation exercise that had taken place between January and March 2009.

 

In response to concern that the number of responses upon which the consultation exercise was based was insufficient, the Board was advised that it was anticipated that further consultation, focussing on specific elements of the Strategy, would draw more interest that the overarching Strategy document.

 

RESOLVED:

 

  1. That the outcomes of the consultation exercise and proposed changes resulting from this be noted.

 

  1. That latest version of the Strategy be noted.

 

  1. That the draft Implementation Plan be noted.

 

 

105.

Homelessness Strategy -Equalities Impact Assessment pdf icon PDF 72 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Board received a report setting out the findings of the Equalities Impact Assessment (EIA) in respect to the Homelessness Strategy.

 

The purpose of the EIA was to ensure that Homelessness Strategy complied with the Council’s Equalities and Diversity policy.  The EIA had recommended that dedicated systems were established to collect data and to ensure that information was used to inform future service provision.

 

RESOLVED:

 

That the report be noted.

 

 

 

 

 

106.

Registered Providers Partnership pdf icon PDF 80 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Board received a report setting out proposals for expanding the Registered Providers Partnership (RPP) to include Registered Providers (RPs) in the Borough.

 

In order to deliver the level of Affordable Housing required in the Borough, particularly in the current economic climate, the existing RPP needed to be expanded. It was envisaged that expansion of the RPP would also result in a greater number of RPs signing up to the Council’s nominations agreement.

 

In response to concerns the Board was advised that there would be further opportunities for Members of the Board to influence how the partnership arrangements would function in practice.

 

Members of the Board representing RSLs expressed their support for the proposals.

 

RESOLVED:

 

  1. That there was agreement, in principal, to the expansion of the Registered Providers Partnership.

 

  1. That the partnership agreement/protocol and associated Service Level Agreements covering standards of management, development, maintenance, joint working and nominations and lettings appended to the report should be circulated to the relevant staff, Members and stock holding Registered Providers for consultation.    

 

 

 

 

107.

New Items of Urgent Business

To consider any new items of Urgent Business admitted under Item 2 above.

Minutes:

No new items of Urgent Business were raised.

108.

Any Other Business

To consider any items of AOB.

Minutes:

It was suggested that the Board should consider how representatives from the Homes for Haringey Housing Participation Boards and Tenants Associations could feed into the Board.

 

It was noted that the Community Link Forum (CLF) had been established under an agreement between the Council and HAVCO to provide the mechanism for representatives from the Community and Voluntary Sector to be appointed to the Board.  The Boards current CLF representatives included individuals that were involved in Tenants and Residents Associations.

 

The Board placed on record its thanks to Robert Black of Circle Anglia during his time as a member of the Board and the Chair welcomed Madeleine Foster, Circle Anglia’s new representative.

 

 

 

109.

Dates of Future Meetings

The Board was asked to note the provisional dates for the new Municipal Year 2009/10:

 

  • 11 May 2009, 6.30pm
  • 28 September 2009, 6.30pm
  • 26 November 2009, 6.30pm
  • 23 February 2010, 6.30pm