Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence had been received from the following:

Margaret Allen

Niall Bolger

Lee Bojtor

Eugenia Cronin                     -Susan Otiti substituted

Janice Gunn

Councillor Brian Haley

The Chair noted that Jean Croot, Head of the Council’s Safer Communities Unit, had requested that she become a member of the Board in order to strengthen the relationship between the IHB and the Safer Communities Executive Board (SCEB).

There was agreement that this would be beneficial to both Boards and it was requested that a presentation was made at a future meeting giving an overview of the SCEB’s work.

The Chair will consider the admission of any 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 be considered under Item 10 below).

No items of Urgent Business were raised.

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

No declarations of interest were made.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 11 May 2009 as a correct record.

An overview was provided with respect to actions arising from the previous meeting:

National Fraud Initiative

The Board was advised that the Department for Communities and Local Government had announced that a Tenancy Fraud Fund would be launched in October and the Council intended to put forward a bid.

A report would be submitted to the next meeting updating the Board on progress with respect to this.

Temporary Accommodation –Provision of Statistical Information

A paper was tabled setting out the statistical information in relation to Temporary Accommodation as requested at the previous meeting. There was agreement that this should be appended to each agenda for information.

It was further agreed that that a more detailed report should be provided on a six monthly basis and that this should set out information on customer satisfaction.

It was requested that where abbreviations were used an explanation should be provided of their full title.

Homes for Haringey ‘Door Knocking Strategy’

The Board was advised that an Action Plan was being devised at present based on the results of the survey and it was requested that this was brought to the Board once completed.

It was noted that it had been requested that the results of this were used to inform the Joint Needs Assessment and it was agreed that this should be fed back.  

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 11 May 2009 be confirmed as a correct record.

The Board received a report seeking approval of the Affordable Warmth Strategy and Action Plan.

It was noted that the strategy contained four key priorities:

• Engage with people to improve awareness and understanding of fuel poverty
• Increase the energy efficiency of housing across Haringey
• Maximise resources and opportunities for tackling fuel poverty
• Make the links to other related strategies such as the Greenest Borough

The Board was advised that there had been extensive consultation over the summer period. Although concerns had been raised with respect to the timing of this it was considered important that the Strategy was in place by the Autumn so that it would have an impact prior to winter.

It was noted that the Strategy would be considered by the Council’s Cabinet in October.

The Board discussed the draft strategy and there was a general consensus that the quality of the consultation exercise, particularly with older people, had been good.

It was suggested that the references made to both Housing Associations and NHS Haringey should be increased to reflect the level of engagement and involvement they had had in forming the document.

Concern was expressed over the number of ‘gaps’ in the documents at present and whether this information would be obtained prior to consideration by the Council’s Cabinet in October. It was acknowledged that the timescale was tight; however; the Implementation Group tasked with developing the strategy would meet be meeting finalise the document.

It was noted that determining the evidence to measure outcomes and providing an outcome based approach would be key to the strategy’s success and the Board was assured that this aspect would be fleshed out when the Implementation Group next met.

In response to a query the Board was advised that Homes for Haringey intended to pilot the use of Smart Metres and that this would feed into the strategy once the details had been finalised. In terms of the assistance available to people on low incomes and in receipt of Benefits, the Board was advised that the Council’s Fuel Poverty Officer reviewed the list of people on Benefits regularly and contacted those were not taking up help they were entitled to.

Guidance with respect to the assistance available for people living in privately rented accommodation was being considered by the Implementation Group and work was being carried out with providers to identify ways of reaching this group.

There was agreement that the draft Action Plan should be emailed to members of the Board for comment.

RESOLVED:

1. That feedback from the consultation process be noted.

2. That the Affordable Warmth Strategy and Action Plan be approved, subject to the circulation of the Action Plan for comment, prior to submission to the Council’s Cabinet.

3. That the IHB would monitor the delivery of the Action Plan.

The Board considered a report that set out the findings of consultation with Registered Providers with respect to the formation of a new partnership and associated protocol.

Following agreement by the Board on 23 March 2009 a draft protocol had been formed, in consultation with Members and Council officers, which was then circulated to Registered Providers for comment. Of the thirty-seven Housing Associations consulted eight responses had been received.

The Board discussed the key issues raised during the consultation process and the was agreement that awareness of the multi agency training sessions on Safeguarding needed to be raised and better promoted. It was also agreed that reference to this should be made within the protocol.

The Board was advised that the Housing Associations that had commented would be contacted before the protocol was finalised. Although the response received was disappointing there was agreement that the concerns raised were representative of the sector particularly with respect to the quotas for lettings. There was a general consensus that the 90% proposed would be too onerous and would adversely affect the ability of providers to offer transfers within their stock.

There was discussion around information sharing and how this could be improved, particularly when people were moving. It was acknowledged that vulnerable clients were more prone to falling into crisis after moving if agencies failed to share information effectively.

The Board was advised that there were existing information sharing protocols and that there was agreement that officers should liaise to ensure that these were being used effectively. It was also requested that details of these were circulated with the minutes.

In response to concern that the consultation exercise had only resulted in a small number of responses it was suggested that the questionnaire should be re circulated to the wider group of Housing Associations to give them a second opportunity to respond.

It was agreed that references in the document to ‘RSL’s’ should be replaced with the term ‘Housing Associations’.

RESOLVED:

That, subject to the points set out below, the final draft protocol be signed off by the Chair, prior to submission to the Council’s Cabinet:

1. The circulation of existing information sharing protocols to Board.
2. References to RSL’s be replaced with the term Housing Associations
3. The inclusion of web links within the document where possible

The Board received a report

The Board received a report that provided an overview of performance against Local Area Agreement targets within the Board’s responsibility during the first quarter of 2009/10.

It was noted that the format of the report had been altered to provide a better sense of context. The data presented was taken from the Council’s performance monitoring system Covalence and views were sought from the Board as to whether the format of the report was acceptable.

There was a general consensus the targets which fell within the responsibility of the Board should be presented separately from cross cutting targets. More broadly, it was suggested that a mechanism was required to monitor performance across the Theme Boards and there was agreement that officers should raise this outside the meeting with the HSP Manager.

It was also agreed that further commentary, with respect to the four lead targets, should be included within future reports.

RESOLVED:

1. That the report be noted.

2. That future reports should separate and focus on the four lead targets within the Board’s responsibility.

3. That there should be discussion outside the meeting regarding how performance was measured across the partnership.

The Board received a report that provided details of the performance with respect to the Housing Strategy and sub-strategies for 2008/09 – 2010/11.

In response to concern that several key targets were due to be met in March 2010 the Board was advised that, although meeting all of the targets would be challenging, good progress was being made. Due to the Local Elections being held in May 2010 and the Purda period, where no decisions could be made, the timetables being adhered to were less flexible than usual.

There was agreement that a letter should be sent to the relevant organisations alerting them that consultation exercises were due to commence with respect to these strategies.

The Board requested that a progress report was provided at the next meeting.

RESOLVED:

That, in addition to a six monthly report, a progress report should be received at the next meeting.

The Board received a report setting out the progress that had been made during the first year of the Homelessness Strategy 2008 -2011.

It was noted that a successful and well attended planning event had been held on 14 September to look at the work of the nine Delivery Groups and how these would move forward during the next year.  Feed back had also been received on work to date.

The Board was advised that the report was in draft form at present and therefore there were significant gaps. There was agreement that the final version of the report, contain all of the information, should be brought back to the Board in November.

It was requested that officers ensured that the work being carried out was in line with the principals of the Haringey Compact.

RESOLVED:

1. That the report be noted.

2. That the finalised version of the report be submitted to the Boards next meeting in November.   

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

No new items of Urgent Business were raised.

To raise any items of AOB.

Use of Community Halls –Liability for Use by Third Parties 

This issue was brought to the Boards attention by Councillor Bevan who noted that the Council had experienced difficulties in letting community halls to members of the public. The Council had been advised that, for insurance purposes, a member of staff had to be present for the duration of any letting and partners were asked whether they also had to field staff in this way when they let their venues.

There was a general consensus that this may be specific to the Council’s insurance policy as partners were not aware of any requirement to have a member of staff present.

To note the meeting dates set out below for the remainder of 2009/10:

• 26 November 2009
• 23 February 2010

The dates of future meetings, set out below, were noted:

• 26 November 2009
• 23 February 2010