“Joining Together in Excellence”
The Challenge Group
Wednesday 30th September 2015
1. Welcome and Apologies
ACTION
Present
Jenny St Leger (JSL) (Chair), Dave Jones (DJ) (Vice Chair), Margaret Reed
(MR), Peter Bibby (PBib), Marie Lankinson (ML), Paul Brooks (PB), Jacqui
Sinnott-Lacey – Director of Operations (JL), Linda Chippendale - Customer
Engagement Officer (LC), Ian Salt - Assistant Director of Property Services
(IS).
s
Apologies
Maggie Falconer Drew-Taylor, Haider Abid
2. Update from Director of Operations
JL presented an update regarding the current structure review as a result of
the £9m savings the Trust needs to make over the next 4 years. The urgency
to the decisions was imposed by the Trust regulators (HCA) and lenders who
needed to revised business plan by the end of Oct 2015.
PPHT are continuing with the purchase of Ropewalks as it is more cost
effective to do this than to continue with expensive leases.
Having looked at where other efficiencies can be made, e.g. Pay to Stay,
revised cyclical programme etc, savings of £7m can be made.
More thought needs to be given on how to reduce controllable waste, such
as excessive use of paper and moving towards digital working
Approximately £5m still needs to be saved and that is has led to essential
changes to the structure of the company.
The Trust will continue with a local presence and remain independent
Rather than “salami slice” services and provide a lesser service, the Trust will
stop some services.
Customer feedback strongly indicates that maintenance and structure of
properties is most important. So investment will continue to look after
existing properties, develop new ones but reduce environmental services.
Adaptations and responsive repairs will continue.
The kitchen and bathroom replacement programme will continue as per the
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original target of every 7 years. PBib suggested completing both the works
together as a possible efficiency saving. JL said it was worth looking at.
The Trust will continue with any services which are paid for, such as Trustlink
and the energy support programme.
As “nice to have” services like the Handyperson and Low Cost Gardening are
only used by a small number of customers the Trust cannot continue to run
them at a loss.
The Community Enterprise Team will close which means no more
community grants being offered.
Changes will occur in the Customer Experience Team as consideration is
being given to digitalise some enquiries, such as permissions. Also possibly
replacing the Freephone number with a reduced rate. PBib suggested many
tenants with mobiles would not be affected by this change if the Trust
selected 03 numbers as these are usually included within mobile contracts.
The group debated the closure of the Neighbourhood Team as being quite
contentious, but the emphasis will be on prevention and helping customers
to become more self sufficient. One member of the team will remain as he
is a specialist in legal duties.
JL added that the Board and EMT are devastated about being forced to
make such difficult decisions, especially as it was David Gooda’s last Board
meeting.
There will be expectations for the Trust to work differently and JL added that
input would be required from customers to find out how to make it work.
3. EMT Performance Update
IS talked through the new look performance report together with the exceptions
report explaining reasons for areas of under performance.
The group discussed the voids figures and IS confirmed the figure related to
number of empty properties as opposed to the length of time. Further
investigation indicates that this is due to an unusually high death rate, which
could not have been anticipated.
IS to present the report at the next
meeting including providing more
information on write offs in
business plan and further
information on debt recovery
The group asked for actual figures, (volume and monetary) to be included in theLC to co-ordinate with Stacy and IS
to ensure explanation of %’s on
report in future.
reports
4. Repairs Action Plan Update
LC provided an update on the remaining 2 actions on Gary Naylor’s behalf:
1 (F) Record pre and post inspections on the in-house management
system.
ICT issues have been resolved and there is a deadline of 10 days for
Customer Experience Team to develop a logging procedure.
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LC to invite GN to the next
meeting to confirm actions
completed and the group can sign
off the action plan.
2 (A) Develop digital customer feedback on site to encourage improved
response rates
Satisfaction surveys on iPads are currently being piloted by 2 operatives.
Once happy this can be rolled out to the rest of the operatives. It is hoping
that by the end of Oct the system will be widely used. Comparisons will also
be available between response rates before and after its introduction.
Peter asked again about whether communal areas to blocks of flats fits LC to ask GN for a response
within the maintenance programme
5. Meet the new Challenge Members
LC explained that Haider had sent apologies due to a very busy week at work
– he is self employed so unavoidable. The group discussed varying meeting
times to suit all.
Marie joined the group at lunch time and was welcomed by all as a real
asset to the group. She provided some information about her skills and
background. She speaks 5 languages and has a lot of teaching experience,
currently mentoring young people via a Skype training programme. DJ asked
if ML could talent spot any young people to become involved with Challenge
Group.
6. Co-Regulation review
LC provided Trust responses to the questions raised during the final coregulation consultation with Irene Bannon.
Challenge Group Meetings every 6 weeks with effect from April 2016 – LC
suggested it would be worthwhile to have a structured agenda which could
be discussed during the groups Annual Planning Day in February 2016.
The group will need to determine themselves if and how frequently they
meet to complete scrutiny reviews and impact assessments. They will
prepare a calendar of meetings so everyone can plan accordingly.
The group agreed that the times of meetings will need to vary to
accommodate all members and some would need to start at 4pm to
accommodate working members etc.
Recruitment Process – LC explained that the Terms of Reference are written
as a guide and it is not expected that members will refer to them daily, but
they set out the general rules. However, if it is more convenient for
interviews to take place before attending a challenge meeting, then that is
up to the individual members to decide what works for their circumstances.
Special Interest Groups – LC explained that the rule still applies that there is
only one CG member per SIG. It is up to the group to agree who attends
which group, or whether turns are taken. It should be agreed by consensus.
Working arrangements need to be developed to feed back and share
information between CG and SIGs. The group discussed new ways of
working to include asking members of SIG’s to help with reviews and provide
information. It was agreed that minutes would be shared between groups
and each CG member would provide an update from their SIG, as a fixed
agenda item. SIG’s will have to demonstrate outcomes in future so meeting
formats may change.
CG Independence – LC reiterated that the CG is not an independent body,
as it sits within the Trust’s governance structure and that is why it reports
direct to Board and has access to all Trust information. However, scrutiny
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reviews are conducted independently to allow for impartiality and
recommendations presented to Board are Challenge Group’s own.
The group signed the new constitutional documents and wanted it noting in
the minutes that they will be able to review the Terms of Reference
themselves in the future and refer back to Board should any elements not
work effectively for them.
7. Agenda Planning Session
Challenge would like to see the following on the next agenda:
1) EMT Performance Update with explanation of figures
2) Repairs Action Plan – sign off if complete
3) Action Plan update for the Planned Improvements review
8. Any Other Business
Rather than choose a scrutiny topic – the group would prefer to look at
something which coincides with the current structural changes – specifically
from the customer perspective. LC advised she will email once authorisation
has been received. A provisional Scrutiny set up date of 8/10 was
scheduled, to be confirmed.
The next meeting will be held on Thursday 29th October 2015 at 11am.
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LC to add all items to the next
agenda