To consider the draft scrutiny reports and recommendations for the 2023-2024 year. (To Follow)
Minutes:
The Chair explained to the commission that due to the very short timelines between council meetings as a result of the pre-election purdah period for London Mayoral Elections in May 2024; and the limited time for reviewing commission’s draft report that he has decided not to review the draft reports at this stage and only agree the recommendations.
The commission discussed the recommendation on e-bikes charging and storing in detail, the council’s role in regulating storage and charging of e-bikes in communal areas.
Furthermore, the commission also discussed ward councillors engaging with London Fire Brigade (LFB) with issues around fire in their wards and further engagement between the communities, LFB and Cabinet Member for Community Safety. It was agreed that the Chair would email the Cabinet Member for Community Safety informally on this matter.
The commission discussed the draft recommendations in detail. It was agreed that recommendations on housing allocation and lettings policy redrafted to make it more clear and effective. Councillor Ellie Cumbo agreed to email the redrafted Recommendations 1 and 2 to the commission as per the discussion at the meeting. Final recommendations 1 & 2 below as emailed after the meeting.
Recommendation 1- That the Cabinet ensure a clear set of success criteria for the Housing Allocations scheme and lettings policy before they are finalised, with details on how these will be measured. This should include not only quantitative analysis of how the scheme is helping to meet housing need in the borough, but should also include post-move tenant satisfaction surveys to ensure the council is able to monitor tenants' views and experiences. Also, that the Cabinet make a clear plan to monitor and audit this data regularly. This should happen within the municipal year 2024-2025.
Recommendation 2- That in the review of the Housing Allocations scheme and Lettings policy, Cabinet improves incentives for residents and communication of the Rightsizing scheme, to address under-occupancy through increased uptake of the scheme, within the municipal year 2024-2025.
The commission agreed to make split recommendation 3 to make it more specific and clear. Final recommendations below agreed on email.
Recommendation 3- That the Cabinet reinstate the post of the Hospital Discharge Housing Officer (as a single point of contact); and also that the Cabinet do this immediately after the adoption of the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy by the Council.
Recommendation 4- That the Cabinet in reviewing its Draft Homelessness Strategy include the recommendations below as a part of the feedback for the consultation, which includes the following points:
· An improved, less invasive drop-in process at Bournemouth Road for homeless people, with easier in-person security and access procedures to council buildings/offices when dealing with domestic abuse and sexual exploitation victims.
· Separate escalation process and telephone contact numbers for partner agencies to book appointments.
· Resolution of the issues faced in the joint protocol working between partner agencies and the housing options team when working with refugee and asylum cases.
· Investment in better IT infrastructure, especially with regards to flagging same-day assessments, waiting times, updating forms, documentation and processes.
The commission discussed and agreed recommendations for Rouel Road Estate, Heating and Hot Water Outages and Compensation Scheme. Final recommendations below as discussed at this meeting and later agreed on email.
Recommendation 5- That the Cabinet urgently commission officers to review the heating and hot water outages at Rouel Road Estate to make an action and delivery plan to address the problems, including:
· Resolve issues faced with customers contacting the call centre, waiting times, repeated calls and no previous system records of customer calls
· Deliver regular maintenance and servicing tasks of plant rooms and pipework including checking individual properties and confirming with residents
· Compensation payments for outages that have caused health detriments, disruption and inconvenience
· Monitor contractor Key Performance Indicators (KPI) at Rouel Road and Four Squares
Recommendation 6- That the Cabinet commission a resident consultation and engagement exercise with residents of Rouel Road Estate undertaken as soon as possible, working closely with ward councillors, focusing on post-repair resident and tenant satisfaction surveys with regards to heating and hot water outages. This should include an estate walkabout, an in-person meeting with residents, an online meeting, an online survey, and door-knocking, with the outcome of this exercise brought back to this scrutiny commission.
Recommendation 7- That the Cabinet undertake a “deep dive” into heating and hot water performance on two estates, one of which should be Rouel Road, in the winter of 2024. This should particularly focus on the gap between the self-reported experience of residents of their heating and hot water at individual properties, and the performance as indicated by centrally held data monitoring.
Recommendation 8- That the Cabinet put in place more robust and stricter controls for contract monitoring and accountability, prior to contract renewal of service providers for heating and hot water repairs in the municipal year 2024-25; and that the Cabinet should invest greater resources in the management of contracts, including team capacity and upskilling of officers. Contract management controls should include better data monitoring and reporting standards from contractors, to enable automatic payment of compensation, which should be clawed back from the contractor, and contracts should include penalty notices for under-performance.
Recommendation 9- That the Cabinet review the compensation scheme payments for heating and hot water outages being paid to residents. The compensation scheme should:
· Take account of where there are continual non-consecutive outages or shorter multiple outages
· Extended periods of time taken for resolution of existing repairs causing detriment to health, disruption and inconvenience
· Include a mechanism for automatic uprating of the compensation taking inflation into account
Recommendation 10 - That the Cabinet immediately review the Compensation Scheme for heating outages to find a mechanism for compensations to be paid directly to private tenants’ bank accounts through an application process, rather than private landlords and leaseholders who already benefit from all-inclusive rents (included energy bills) as a part of their tenancy agreements.
Recommendation 11 - That the Cabinet member for Community Safety work with the Metropolitan Police to develop new local accountability mechanisms for policing in Southwark, and that this includes a new forum or body that allows regular, multi-ward engagement between councillors and a senior police officer for each area in the borough. The council should work with the Metropolitan Police to appoint named senior officers for each multi-ward area, to allow councillors a realistic opportunity to develop a relationship with policing at a more strategic level, and to fill the gap between ward panels and the MOPAC. This should happen within the municipal year 2024-2025.
Councillor Victoria Mills drafted the below recommendation on e-bikes and this was agreed at this meeting by the commission
Recommendation 12 – That the Cabinet investigates the emerging problem of lithium-ion battery fires in e-bikes, this should include the requirement of guidelines for storage and charging in communal areas on council estates and planning guidelines for new builds. The council should use this information to influence decisions for communal charging points and highways.