Agenda and minutes

Please note that this meeting may be filmed or recorded by the Council for live or subsequent broadcast via the Council’s internet site or by anyone attending the meeting using any communication method. Although we ask members of the public recording, filming or reporting on the meeting not to include the public seating areas, members of the public attending the meeting should be aware that we cannot guarantee that they will not be filmed or recorded by others attending the meeting. Members of the public participating in the meeting (e.g. making deputations, asking questions, making oral protests) should be aware that they are likely to be filmed, recorded or reported on. 

By entering the meeting room and using the public seating area, you are consenting to being filmed and to the possible use of those images and sound recordings.

The chair of the meeting has the discretion to terminate or suspend filming or recording, if in his or her opinion continuation of the filming, recording or reporting would disrupt or prejudice the proceedings, infringe the rights of any individual or may lead to the breach of a legal obligation by the Council.

The Chair referred Members present to agenda Item 1 as shown on the agenda in respect of filming at this meeting, and Members noted the information contained therein’.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Blake and Cllr Gordon.

The Chair will consider the admission of any late items of urgent business (late items will be considered under the agenda item where they appear. New items will be dealt with as noted below).

There were no items of Urgent Business.

A member with a disclosable pecuniary interest or a prejudicial interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered:

(i) must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest becomes apparent, and

(ii) may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter and must withdraw from the meeting room.

A member who discloses at a meeting a disclosable pecuniary interest which is not registered in the Register of Members’ Interests or the subject of a pending notification must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.

Disclosable pecuniary interests, personal interests and prejudicial interests are defined at Paragraphs 5-7 and Appendix A of the Members’ Code of Conduct.

There were no Declarations of Interest.

To consider any requests received in accordance with Part 4, Section B, Paragraph 29 of the Council’s Constitution.

None.

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting. 

RESOLVED

The minutes of the previous meeting on 27^th February were agreed as a correct record.

To note the Membership and Terms of Reference for the Panel.

The Panel received a report which set out the terms of reference and membership for Overview and Scrutiny and its panels for 2023/24.

RESOLVED

That the Panel:

1. Noted the terms of reference (as set out at Appendix A of the report) and Scrutiny Protocol (as set out at Appendix B of the report) for the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and its Panels.
2. Noted the Non-Voting Member protocol (as set out at Appendix C of the report).
3. Noted the policy areas/remits and membership for each Scrutiny Panel for 2023/24 (as set out at Appendix D of the report).

To follow

The Panel received a presentation, which provided an update on progress on working with the social housing regulator, following the Council’s self-referral in March 2023. It was noted that Homes for Haringey transferred back into the Council on 1^st June 2022, following consultation with residents and staff. The Council were particularly concerned about overdue electrical inspections and high risk fire safety actions. In December 2022, Pennington Choices undertook a health check of the Council’s approach to meeting statutory Health and Safety requirements in December 2022. Following the report from Pennington, the Council referred itself to the regulator. In March 2023, the regulator issued its judgement.

The presentation was introduced by Jahedur Rahman, Operational Director for Housing Services and Building Safety, as set out in the additional reports pack at pages 1 to 15. David Joyce, Director of Placemaking & Housing was present. Cllr Sarah Williams, Cabinet Member for Housing Services, Private Renters & Planning was also present for this item. The following arose as part of the discussion of this report:

a.    The Panel were advised that following the judgement, the Council grouped the key compliance risks into six categories: Fire Risk Safety Assessments; Gas Safety Inspections; Electrical Inspections; Asbestos Re-inspections; Passenger Lift Inspections; and Water Hygiene Risk Assessments. In response, the Panel suggested the primary area of concern that they got from talking to residents was around disrepair and questioned to what extent this was a result of how the ALMO was managing the houses, and how confident Members could be of improvements within a 12 month time frame.  In response, officers advised that the three main causes of the situation they inherited were around; issues with governance, issues with data quality and issues with programme management and reporting. Cllr Williams advised that her primary focus had to be around compliance issues, in order to ensure that residents were safe in their homes. It was recognised that compliance checks had to happen over time and that it required a continuous focus.

b.    In response to a question, officers advised that the Council absolutely took the decision to self-refer to the regulator of its own volition. This was done in order to ensure that it created a high-quality housing service. In order to do that, it was recognised that it needed to be open and transparent about where there were gaps.

c.    The Panel noted concerns with issues identified in the presentation about the use of spreadsheets and the need for a dedicated compliance system. It was suggested that this had been a problem for a number of years and questioned whether there was an end date. In response, officers acknowledged that one of the key challenges was around how information was recorded and monitored and that they had agreed with the regulator about the need for a fully functioning compliance system and to move away from spreadsheets. A procurement exercise was due to be undertaken but this would take some time. It was anticipated that the tender process would start  ...  view the full minutes text for item 116.

The Panel received a report which provided an update on damp and mould, following the Ombudsman’s intervention at the end of 2022. The report was introduced by Jahedur Rahman, Operational Director for Housing Services and Building Safety, as set out in the reports pack at pages 47 to 80. Lynn Sellar, Private Sector Housing Team Leader introduced an appendix to the report, which set out the work the Council was doing in relation to damp & mould in the private rented sector, as set out at pages 80 to 82 of the agenda pack.  David Joyce, Director of Placemaking & Housing was present. Cllr Sarah Williams, Cabinet Member for Housing Services, Private Renters & Planning was also present for this item.

Jahedur Rahman advised that the Council had used a predictive modelling tool to identify cases where it was thought there could be category 1 cases of damp and mould (the most severe category, which involved a risk to life). This predictive tool identified 64 possible cases. Of those 64, 10 were found be category 1, with 6 further category 1 cases subsequently identified. The Damp and Mould Policy was agreed by Cabinet in April 2023. The response to a category 1 case was for an immediate damp and mould wash to be done and for the tenants to be temporarily decanted whilst this took place. One of the key factors identified in damp and mould was around overcrowding, as well as the quality of some of the housing stock. A dedicated damp and mould hotline had been established for tenants to use to make the reporting process better.

The following arose as part of the discussion of this report:

a.    The Panel sought clarification around the three key challenges identified in the report; fuel poverty, overcrowding and window replacement. The Panel requested more information about what was being done to tackle these issues. In response, officers advised that in cases of severe damp and mould the Council had been offering de-humidifiers and had also picked up the additional running costs for their use. Officers commented that there was a financial inclusion team within Haringey and it was acknowledged that more could be done to signpost the most vulnerable residents to this team to help seek external grants and different tariffs from energy suppliers.  In relation to the 30% of non-Decent Homes stock, officers set out that they were working to bring 1000 properties up to Decent Homes standard over the next 12 months. It was recognised that, due to funding pressures within the HRA, it would take five years to bring the level of homes that met the Decent Homes standard up to the target figure.

b.    The Panel queried what was being done to identify under occupied housing stock where, for example, the children may have left home. In response, officers set out that the Neighbourhood Moves programme within the new homes policy, prioritised offering those with larger family homes the opportunity to downsize to new one or two bed properties.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 117.

Verbal Update.

The Operations Director for Housing Services & Building Safety advised that rather than giving a verbal update, he anticipated this item to be a discussion about what areas within Housing Services and Building Safety, that Members would like to have future reports on and to forward plan when the Panel might want to see those. In response, the Chair set out that she had wanted an update on Voids and also the Housing Improvement Plan at this meeting.

In regards to the Housing Improvement Plan, officers set out that this was agreed by Cabinet in April and that there was an action plan, investment programme and recruitment drive associated with the Plan. It was suggested that it would be instructive for an update on the Housing Improvement Plan to come after these had been put in place and a degree of improved performance could be demonstrated. 

In relation to voids, officers agreed to bring a future update. It was set out that void properties formed part of the Housing Improvement Plan and that a number of actions were underway to improve performance on turning voids around: Recruiting additional internal staff; expanding the DLO service to carry out the works; and also provide additional supply chain resources to support the work. It was also noted that the Haringey Community Benefit Society were going out to contract for a package of works to bring 20 properties up to standard. It was hoped this would be in place by October.

The Panel agreed that the next item on the work plan would inform discussions about future reports from Housing Services & Building Safety and that an updated work programme would be circulated to officers in due course.

The Panel considered its outline work plan for the year.

In relation to the Scrutiny Review on Landlord Licensing, Panel Members expressed a wish to complete the review in a timely fashion in order to start further pieces of scrutiny work. The Scrutiny Officer agreed to circulate a summary of the evidence received to date. (Action: Philip).

In relation to possible future agenda items, the following was noted:

·         A follow up update in relation to Aids and Adaptions.

·         Wards Corner – an update on the recommendations to this review.

·         Allocations Policy

·         Housing Improvement Plan

·         Voids

·         An update on zero carbon future building projects and zero carbon demolition projects. It was suggested that this could dovetail with an update on the Local Plan.

·         A discussion on the previous practice of undertaking (holistic) cyclical improvement works to whole estates, rather than doing it in piecemeal work packages.

In relation to possible items for a future scrutiny review:

·         Overcrowding and disrepair

·         Allocations policy, possibly combined with some element of a looking at voids.

RESOLVED

Noted.

To consider any items admitted at item 3 above.

N/A

·         19 September 2023

·         14 November 2023

·         18 December 2023

·         26 February 2024

·         19 September 2023

·         14 November 2023

·         18 December 2023

·         26 February 2024