Agenda item

The Panel received a report which provided an update on the Council’s plans to insource housing services and staff from Homes for Haringey. The report outlined implementation plans, the proposed structure and the key messages and priorities for the programme. The report was introduced by David Joyce, The Director of Housing, Regeneration & Planning as set out in the agenda pack at pages 21-28. The following arose as part of the discussion of this agenda item:

a.    The Panel sought assurances around the impact of HfH customer service staff being brought in-house and whether adequate training would be provided for them on the full range of Council services. In response, officers advised that work was already underway to ensure that adequate training was in place for all staff that transferred over.

b.    In response to a follow-up question about the support that was in place for managers and directors transferred across, officers advised that additional resources were going in and that there would be a lot of training offered to staff in order to make the transfer work.

c.    The Panel suggested that a follow up report on HfH insourcing should be provided to the next iteration of the Panel.

d.    The Panel requested further information about the co-design approach that had been adopted. In response, officers advised that there had been a number of resident engagement sessions undertaken and that work had been done to try and engage with a wide array of service users. Officers advised the Panel that they were also looking to secure a continued role for the HfH scrutiny panel going forwards and that a set of proposals was coming to Cabinet in July around this.

e.    The Panel also highlighted possible confusion from Members and the residents over the respective roles of the AD Capital Projects and Property and the proposed AD Housing Property Services and that there was a need for a clear distinction between the two roles. An example given was in relation to who would be responsible for Council homes that were located above commercial properties. In response, officers acknowledged these concerns and agreed that some further thought would be given to differentiating the two roles. 

f.     In relation to a question about savings, officers advised that the rationale for insourcing HfH was never about making financial savings. However, officers set out that it was hoped that there could be opportunities for efficiency savings and that these savings could then be reinvested across the wider Council.

g.    The Panel queried whether there we any indicative figures for the level of savings that might be achieved. In response, officers advised that there were no targets in relation to possible savings. The approach being taken was to ‘lift’ and ‘shift’ the HfH structure into the Council and there were only two posts being deleted. Therefore, this would not generate big savings. Officers advised that they would be looking to undertake service reviews to make improvements to frontline services after the transfer, but it was reiterated that there were no targets involved.

RESOLVED

The Housing and Regeneration Scrutiny Panel noted the report.