Issue - meetings

The Board received a presentation on the planned Overview and Scrutiny Review of Registered Social Housing in Haringey.

It was noted that the key objective of the review was to determine how the Council could facilitate more effective and integrated service provision by the formation of agreed common standards.

The Board discussed the objectives of the review and whilst there was agreement the principle to these it was noted that in practical terms the work outlined may be overly onerous for Housing Associations at a time when resources were limited. Common standards were only effective where there was provision for stock could be swapped between Housing Associations.

It was confirmed that as part of the review all of the Housing Associations with stock in the Borough would be contacted. It was envisaged that this would provide an opportunity for RSLs to set out how the Council could improve engage with them over this and other issues.

Clarity was sought around what the review was intended to achieve and partnership working at the Campsbourne Estate was given as an example of how improvements for residents could be brought about by improving joint working. Identifying how the Council could facilitate this type of working was the review’s main objective.

In terms of the process attached to the review the Board was advised that once the panel had formed its recommendations these would be considered by the Cabinet for adoption. It was clarified that the Overview and Scrutiny process did not have a budget from which it could allocate funding to implement the recommendations it made.

It was suggested that it would be helpful of the review looked at the implications of the new Localism Bill and the role of Councillors in terms of scrutiny and that the review, as currently proposed, may be more useful if it were undertaken once the new Housing Strategy was in place in twelve months time.

There was agreement that there would need to be a consensus built around the type of structure that would be required moving forward before