Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Steve Adams, Councillor Pat Callaghan, Councillor Lorna Russell, Francis Dias, Gillian Farrugia, David George, Tezar Miah, David O’Keefe and Thomas Watkins.

David George was being represented at the meeting by Chucks Abili.

Broadcast of the meeting

The Chair to announce the following: ‘In addition to the rights by law that the public and press have to record this meeting, I would like to remind everyone that this meeting is being broadcast live by the Council to the Internet and can be viewed on our website for twelve months after the meeting. After that time, webcasts are archived and can be made available upon request.

If you have asked to address the meeting, you are deemed to be consenting to having your contributions recorded and broadcast, including video when switched on, and to the use of those sound recordings and images for webcasting and/or training purposes.’

Any other announcements

Webcasting

The Chair announced that the meeting was being broadcast live to the internet and would be capable of repeated viewing and copies of the recording could be made available to those that requested them. Those participating in the meeting were deemed to be consenting to being filmed.

There were none.

There were none.

To consider the minutes of the meeting held on 17^th April 2024.

Consideration was given to the minutes of the meeting held on 17^th April 2024.

RESOLVED –

THAT the minutes of the meeting held on 17^th April 2024 be approved as a correct record.

Report of the Director of Property Management

This report introduces a presentation to the Panel of the Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs) related to compliance which the council has reported to the Social Housing Regulator. The TSMs cover gas, fire, water, lift and asbestos safety checks. The presentation also covers the results of the recent Tenant Satisfaction Survey the Council has undertaken. The presentation will be published on the Council website.

Consideration was given to the report of the Director of Property Management.

Gavin Haynes, Director of Property Management, and Sinead Burke, Head of Property Asset Management, took the meeting through the report and the presentation slides (that had been circulated at the meeting) and gave the following key responses to questions:

·       Officers would always seek to ensure that the right contractors were providing the services based on a skilled set and best value analysis, this could be the in-house service if it proved to be the best option.

·       The view that was provided by Housemark, the specialist data and insight company for the UK housing sector, was that London boroughs and metropolitan areas came lower in the satisfaction scores. This was expected to come out when the Housing Regulator published its social housing provider national comparative data in the autumn. These lower satisfaction scores were likely to be due to the density of housing stock, overcrowding of homes and anti-social behaviour. This comparative data would provide useful information regarding social housing and social policy going forward.

·       As this was the first year of the provision of the Tenants Satisfaction Measures (TSM), it was likely that not all boroughs had inputted the same data so it was expected that there would be areas of difference. The Council had been helped with its data inputting information through the use of  a third party audit of its data. It was expected that over time these data reporting differences would be ironed out.

·       The Council’s in-house emergency repairs completion in time, in areas like carpentry, was running at 92%, but there was a dip in completion in time on the M&E communal heating and electrical contractors which was due to IT systems not synchronising. The Council would be seeking to make improvements in these areas going forward which it was hoped would then lead to improvements in its TSM scores.

·       The information arising from the TSM scores would help drive service change going forward.

·       Housemark had information from 24 of the 33 London Boroughs and they had been able to rank those that had responded from top to bottom, so they had been able to provide a London Median and a London Average, even though some of this data gave high end figures.

·       Officers agreed that future reports would have year on year comparisons so that the information could be compared over time. 

ACTION BY: Director of Property Management (SB)

RESOLVED –

THAT the report be noted

Report of the Director of Property Management

The report provides an update on the Building Safety Act Building Control Gateway approval regime which is now force. The regime applies to high-risk residential buildings where the Building Safety Regulator is now the Building Control Authority for building regulation purposes.

Consideration was given to the report of the Director of Property Management.

Melissa Dillon, Resident Safety Engagement & Governance Lead, took the meeting through the report.

RESOLVED –

THAT the report be noted

Report of the Director of Property Management

This report provides information on the communal and flat entrance fire door renewal and testing programme.

Consideration was given to the report of the Director of Property Management.

Shamsul Alam, Fire Safety Works Programme Manager, took the meeting through the report and gave the following key responses to questions:

·       The Council’s project managers would be checking the door installation work as part of the many functions they would be undertaking. Consultants on site would also be checking the door installation work. Also, the Council would be employing a door auditor (someone who had extensive knowledge of the door manufacturing process), which was a highly skilled role, to inspect door installation work. As it was such a skilled area the Council felt it would be better to employ an external contractor to undertake the role rather than it be delivered in-house.

·       Officers would undertake a pre-condition assessment of a door set before any installation work was undertaken. Where a tenant or resident had a set of grills installed then they would be asked to remove them. When necessary the Council would intervene and remove the grills if this was not done by the tenant or resident.

·       The Council would replace leaseholder door sets free of charge, all they would need to provide was access to allow for the work to be carried out.

·       If there were any issues arising from annual inspections then they would either be allocated to the Repairs Team to repair, or if the door set needed to be renewed then the Fire Safety Programme Team would undertake the work. If the installed door set failed a post inspection then the installer would be asked to refit the door set. If it related to a manufacturing issue then the door set would be sent back to the manufacturer to rectify the issue. 64 door set had to be returned to the manufacturers this year due to door set failures.

·       All door sets came with a 12 month defect cover period, which started at the end of the contract. Manufacturers also provided a long-term guarantee for the door set. Liability for defects was covered in the Building Safety Act, which placed the duty on the person who caused the defect (developer, contractor or supplier), responsible for fixing the defect.

·       The Council had a number of Grade ll listed properties, and if the door had been replaced over the last few decades then the Council’s Conservation Officers where happy for the Council to replace the door with a modern door set. If it was an original door then the Conservation Officers were likely to have concerns about the door being replaced. When this happened then the Council would not seek to do a full replacement, rather it would aim to upgrade the door’s fire prevention ability which could be through the use of door panels. In all instances and works would be done in consultation the Council’s Conservation Officers.

·       The FRA programme would be picking up inspection issues for low rise and mixed use buildings, and this would include door installation. Tall buildings  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Report of the Director of Property Management

The report updates the Panel on the progress the Council has made to date in completing outstanding fire risk assessment actions, and the steps the Council is taking to deliver the action plan agreed with the Social Housing Regulator.

Consideration was given to the report of the Director of Property Management.

Gavin Haynes, Director of Property Management, took the meeting through the report and he gave the following key responses to questions:

·       Officers were willing to provide further updates to the panel regarding the Fire Risks Assessment action update if members wished.

·       Officers would have the table in the report updated in the monthly statistics that were being provided to councillors.

ACTION BY: Director of Property Management

·       Officers were expecting a drop in the number of outstanding medium risk actions in quarter 3 this year. There were a number of actions that were in work programmes going forward but for some of those works they required a specific work’s package to be designed, then they had to go through a procurement and delivery process, all of which may take time.

RESOLVED –

THAT the report be noted

Report of the Director of Property Management

This report is about the updated Consumer Standards introduced by the Regulation of Social Housing Act 2023 and the confirmed Tenants Satisfaction Measures (TSMs) on which the Council must report to Council tenants and the Social Housing Regulator. The Regulator will use TSM performance information to provide the Council with a baseline performance rating against the Consumer Standards which came into operation in April 2024.

Consideration was given to the report of the Director of Property Management.

Melissa Dillon, Resident Safety Engagement & Governance, took the meeting through the report.

RESOLVED –

THAT the report be noted

Report of the Director of Property Management

The report suggests a possible work programme for future meetings of the panel.

Consideration was given to the report of the Director of Property Management.

New items in bold

22^nd October 2024

·       Fire and building safety charter annual report for 2023/24 including delivery of water, gas and electrical safety

·       Compliance performance report (Standing item)

·       BS9997 Standard Fire Safety Management System Independent Audit report

·       Work Programme

29th January 2025

·       Leasehold Property Access Options

·       Annual report on work of the Panel

·       Compliance performance report (Standing item)

·       Work Programme

23rd April 2025

·       LFB Annual Report

·       Compliance performance report (Standing item)

·       Work Programme

Yet to be Programmed

RESOLVED –

THAT the work programme as revised above, and action tracker update be endorsed and noted.

There were none.