Agenda item

6.1  The Strategic Director of Housing & Community Services and the Head of Maintenance and Compliance introduced the item and informed members that the report describes all the work streams involved in the major project of moving the contract in-house and reported that transition generally was going very well, relationship with GDIT were good and the TUPE will be in place for 1 April. It was also reported that all customer contracts were being moved from the Cotton Centre to Queens Road.

6.2  members were informed that some apprentices had been appointed and we would have to wait and see the impact this would have but generally it was going very well.

6.3  The chair opened this item of business for members questions.

6.4  A member asked where will the One Stop Shop (OSS) staff be located?

6.5  Staff from Walworth will work from the 2 other OSS in the first instance as part of the business continuity plan,  we will be seeking other premises as soon as possible. Communication and information to residents is core to the business continuity plan.

6.6  The chair asked what sort of improvement would the service user see?

6.7  It was reported that the services was now speedier, staff can flick to different parts of the system more quickly and this would help manage call waiting times.

6.8  Members were informed that there had been a lot of investment in IT hardware, there was now more capacity and backup being designed into Queens Road infrastructure which provides great improvement.

6.9  The Head of Maintenance and Compliance introduced the updated paper on repairs service and reported that Mears had performed well so far and were building on it, good feedback had been received back from residents. The Mears improvement had raised expectations around the rate and pace of repairs service and Mears would be recommended to the Cabinet for the long term contract.

6.10  Members were also informed that Southwark Building Service (SBS) had its own improvement agenda. A change team had been working with SBS since November to achieve the same level of service improvement.  The workforce has been downsized by a third and key staff recruited, new IT is in place and performance is improving.

6.11  A member asked how do you intend to close the performance gap between Mears and SBS?

6.12  Both were working to the improvement plan and was showing signs of improvement, the relationship with Mears was making a big difference, knowledge sharing and the new contract brought new ideas and energy. Mears bought in their own computer system the IT and intensity of resourcing with fresh ideas to pick up the contract from Morrisons.

6.13  The sub-committee asked what sort of attitude were Mears bringing?

6.14  There has been a willingness to work with the council to provide the service required, they have come to the table as true partners, the council had set the tone from the very beginning with Mears contributing positively and working with us to get the best for residents. We also need to be commercially aware to get the best from them so our customer service objectives are met.

6.15  The chair asked how was the contract regime working so they are not incentivised to carry out work repeatedly?

6.16  The sub-committee were informed that the council’s approach to strong clienting was now well embedded. Morrison sub-contracted to the point where recovering their costs became more important than the customer focus.

6.17  Mears only sub-contracted at a peak in 21% of jobs, resident satisfaction was delivered by asking the resident and not via the contractor’s data. We remain a council who have learned from out experiences, what the resident say is what is important and not the contractor.

6.18  The sub-committee were informed that Mears were expected to meet the final 3 promises by the year end September 2013 and an independent auditor will be used to measure delivery on the 16 points.

6.19  A co-opted member asked is SBS also expected to learn lessons and show performance improvement above Morrisons?

6.20  The officer reported that yes they were improving but not as quickly as Mears,  work is ongoing about how to improve their work.

The chair moved to closed session at 8.55 p.m.