Solihull Council

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Economic Development & Regeneration Scrutiny Board Minutes

Date:
Tuesday, 13th November, 2007
Time:
06.00 p.m.
Place:
Civic Suite
 

Attendance Details

Item Description Decision
Public
1 DECLARATION OF INTEREST
Preamble
 
2 QUESTIONS AND DEPUTATIONS
Preamble
 
3 MINUTES
Preamble
RESOLVED

i) That the Minutes of the Meeting held on 11th September 2007 be agreed as a correct record,

ii) The Cabinet Member for Regeneration be asked to support the Board's assertion that the Employment & Skills Board should include representation from the small business sector and a letter to that effect should be sent to the Chairman of the Employment & Skills Board
4 PRESENTATION FROM SOLIHULL COMMUNITY HOUSING ON DECENT HOMES
Preamble
RESOLVED

That the Board record its satisfaction in the progress made with the Decent Homes programme.
5 REVIEW OF 2007/08 BUDGET STRATEGY PRESSURES AND SAVINGS
Preamble
RESOLVED

That the report be received
6 DRAFT FORWARD PLAN
Preamble
RESOLVED

That the report be noted
8.10 pm

Attendance Details

Present:
Cllrs A Hill (Chairman), K Allsopp, N Davies, R Hall, J Kimberley, J W Potts, R W Reeves and M Robinson

Mr D Bargery (Co-opted Member representing the Housing Forum)

Also in attendance Cllr I Courts, Cabinet Member for Regeneration
Officers:
Witnesses:

Paul Watson, Strategic Director Community and Economic Regeneration
Lynda Hackwell, Head of Community and Economic Regeneration
George Daley, Head of Housing
Matt Cooney, Chief Executive, SCH
Mike Bethell, Head of Decent Homes, SCH
Peter Gardner, Director of Asset Management, SCH
Sam Gilbert, Head of Financial Operations
Martin Clayton, Financial Strategy Manager

Supporting Officer:

Roy Eaton, Senior Scrutiny Officer
Apologies for absence:
Cllr J Gandy

Preamble

ItemPreamble
1None submitted
2None submitted
3The Board received the Minutes of its last Meeting held on 11th September 2007.

A Member referred to Minute No. 5 and the Board's recommendation that the Birmingham & Solihull Employment & Skills Board should include representation from the small business sector. This had been communicated to the Learning & Skills Council who had responded in the following terms: -

"We are currently scoping the membership of the Employment & Skills Board, particularly in regard to sector interests. The key gap identified by the Board is retail and we are currently seeking an appropriate nominee to join the Board who is proactive in recruitment and able to champion the needs of the retail sector in Birmingham and Solihull. We are approaching a Solihull company to fill this gap.

We do not therefore feel that it is appropriate to invite the federation of Small Businesses or Arlington.

However, we do feel it is appropriate to invite Solihull MBC onto the Board. Our understanding was that Katherine Kerswell had agreed that Birmingham CC would represent the interests of Birmingham and Solihull local authorities, but particularly in the light of the Liam Byrne public sector challenge, we think that SMBC presence would be very helpful. Please let us know who is nominated. "

Members were concerned that the Learning & Skills Council had not recognised the arguments in favour of representation from the small business sector and it was felt that representation should be made directly to the Chairman of the Employment & Skills Board through the Cabinet Member for Regeneration.

The Co-opted Member referred to Minute No. 6 and Officers confirmed that SCH had made a case for some of the costs of running the Money Advice Team being met from the General Fund.

Reference was made to Minute No. 8, Officers advised that with regard to the indicator within the Local Area Agreement that was red, this item had not been resolved through the LSP Executive but a meeting had now been arranged between the Council's Acting Chief Executive and the Chief Executive of the Brokerage Service with a view to resolving this issue.
4The Board received a presentation from SCH on the progress made in implementing Decent Homes. This had been called for following the Board's in depth examination of the programme in June 2006.

The presentation covered the following aspects of the programme:-

- Definition of a Decent Home, with clarification that for kitchens and bathrooms to be replaced under Decent Homes they must fail on both age and condition
- Funding issues, focusing on actions to reduced overhead costs and works costs and the financial benefits of extending the programme to 2012
- Programme delivery, including maintaining high tenants satisfaction, the achievement of Decent Homes, a reduction in refusals and application of tenants' choice
- Supervision and overheads, explaining the rationale behind last year's proposal for a "strategic alliance" and speeding up the programme and why this was eventually ruled out as other programmes couldn't be suspended and the cost of borrowing to achieve an acceleration of thr programme eroded any savings
- What had actually been done to reduce overheads, including reduced staffing levels, eliminated duplication, SCH moved premises realising a saving, programme extended to 2011/12, reduced number of full rewires and value for money review
- Improved risk management and communication within the Decent Homes partnership and SCH itself
- Monitoring of programme through regular Officer and Member based meetings, noting that a detailed report on the first half-year's operation of the tenant-choice menu system would be reported to Housing Scrutiny Panel later this month
- The Menu system applied whereby costs maintained within an upper cost limit per property. Where there is any headroom following essential works to make the property "decent" the tenant is given a choice of additional work. This had resulted in lower average works cost per property but also reduced refusal rates and maintained tenant satisfaction
- Spin-offs from Decent Homes - CCTV programme and Pathways training and employment project
- Complimentary window replacement programme
- Decent Homes is not the "be all and end all" with Spend to Save addressing the external envelope including doors and windows over the next two years
- Future challenges included climate change measures and regeneration of south Solihull including changes to the Radburn layout of estates.

Members asked questions around the following topics:-

- The significant reduction in average spend per property from £13,600 in June 2006 and £7,677 in September 2007. Matt Cooney advised that the original specification developed with customers was not affordable and action was taken to bring the specification within affordable levels.

- Refusal rates had reduced considerably from 15% in June 2006 to 8% in September 2007. It was explained that no figures were shown for January and February 2007 as the changes to the programme did not take effect until March 2007. It was anticipated that the refusal rate figure for October 2007 would be 8% again.

- Whilst the Pathways training and employment project may appear expensive at £500k it had provided 30 new jobs and it had created an infrastructure, which would outlive the Decent Homes programme.

- Some concern expressed over the delay in implementing menu option and the confusion caused by contractors offering full works. Officers acknowledged that there had been some delay but SCH had wanted to ensure that the menu system could be delivered in a robust and coherent way. Matt Cooney indicated that SCH's biggest difficulty was managing the disappointment of some tenants when realising that they would not get the same level of works as some other properties dealt with earlier in the programme.

- It was estimated that there would be approx. 2000 properties at the end of the programme that would need the installation of condensing boilers.

- The success of the CCTV system installed in high rise blocks

- An Asset Management Strategy will be developed to ensure the proper maintenance of the stock to Decent Homes' standard following the completion of the current programme.

In conclusion the Board was satisfied with the progress made with Decent Homes since the review in June 2006.

(Cllr J Potts left the meeting at 7.20 pm)
5The Board considered the report of the Corporate Director of Resources and a presentation from the Head of Financial Operations on the review of 2007/8 budget strategy pressures and savings.

Members noted that the only identified risk within these pressures and savings was the increase in target for planning application fees. It was suggested that the rise in interest rates and possibly changes to planning regulations due in April 2008 had had an effect on the income collected. Members acknowledged that there was little that the Council could do to influence this.

Sam Gilbert then detailed the financial effects of VR with in this portfolio and the effect that it had had on the Severance reserve. She explained that an application had been made to the Secretary of State to capitalise the costs of this exercise.

In answer to questions, Members noted that the 4 redundancies in this area had resulted in some difficulty and a temporary member of staff was needed to cover a specific piece of work.

Members were concerned that the Council, which was already lean, could not continue to make staff cuts year on year. Sam Gilbert explained the Challenge Board process that was being followed in each of the portfolios which would be looking at a mixture of savings and cuts. The process had started much earlier this year and Officers had been asked to think three years ahead rather than just one.

Members commented that the impact of VR should be examined in some detail, Sam Gilbert indicated that OSMB had called for a detailed report on this, which would be considered by them in February 2008. Members wished to be notified of the findings of this report.
6The Board received the draft Forward Plan for the areas within the remit of this Board.
Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council
Solihull Connect, Library Square, Solihull West Midlands B91 3RG UK
0121 704 6000
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