Item 11-2 - Draft minutes of PMC - Tower Hamlets Homes

Minutes of a meeting of Tower Hamlets Homes Performance ManagementCommitteeHeld on Monday 5 October 2009 from 6.30 pm – 8:30 pmat Toby Club, Vawdrey Close, London E1Members Present:Abdool Kara (Chair) - Independent RepresentativeCouncillor Alex Heslop - Council RepresentativeShamsul Hoque - Resident Representative (part of the meeting)Cllr. Denise Jones - Council RepresentativeIain Lawson - Resident RepresentativeOfficers Present:Barbara Brownlee- Director of Housing & Customer Services (DHC)Sayeed Kadir - Director of Asset Management (DAM)Beverley Greenidge - Customer Access Manager (part of the meeting)Deborah Okutubo - Governance ManagerSarah Pace - Service Improvement and Policy ManagerSesi Afewu - Committee OfficerItemNoDescription Action Status1 Apologies for Absence1.1 Apologies for absence were received from Cllr. FazlulHaque.2. Declarations of Interest2.1 Cllr. Alex Heslop and Iain Lawson declared personalinterests in so far as they were leaseholders andtenants of properties managed by Tower HamletsHomes (THH).3. Minutes of the PMC meeting held on 3 September 20093.1 The Minutes of the PMC meeting held on 3September 2009 were agreed as accurate subject to:• Removing the initials ‘DSP’ and ‘Oct PMC’ inminute 6.6.• Replacing in minute 10 ‘Thursday’ with ‘Monday’4. Matters Arising4.14.24.3Minute 9. Asset Management Strategy. DAMinformed the Committee that a draft strategy wouldbe brought to the November PMC and would then goto the Board.Minute 5.3 Gas Safety Certificate. DAM reportedthat this information would be provided underagenda item 6.Minute 6.3 ASB. It was noted that the ASB reportwould be provided to November PMC.DAMDHCNov PMCNov PMC103

ItemNo4.44.54.6Description Action StatusMinute 7.2.1. Percentage of residents satisfiedwith how ASB complaints were managed. TheService Improvement and Policy Manager reportedthat the Council had not yet agreed therecommended revision to this target. Furtherinformation was to be provided to the Council fortheir consideration.Minute 8.2. Revised Service Improvement Plan.It was noted that the revised plan had beenappended to the Inspection Planning 2010 report andwould be reviewed by the Committee under agendaitem 7.Minute 8.3. SLAs. It was noted that the SLAs hadbeen reviewed by the Chairs Forum andrecommendations were agreed by the SeptemberFAC. The Committee requested that the SLAs updatebe circulated to Board members outside the meeting.DSPDFROct 09completedCllr Denise Jones and Shamsul Hoque arrived during the above discussion.5. Draft Customer Access Strategy5.15.2The Committee received a draft Customer AccessStrategy which set out the THH approach toimproving Neighbourhood Housing and CustomerServices, and covered:• the Aims of the Customer Access Strategy;• our Approach to Developing the Strategy;• our Access and Customer Care Commitment;• how we Propose to Achieve our Customer AccessAims;• how we will Measure Success, and;• our Blueprint for Delivering the Strategy.The discussion focused on the following issues.• Completing a self assessment against thegovernment's Customer Service Excellence (CSE)framework to gauge where THH was prior to fullinspection. The Committee thought this wouldbe a useful tool to measure the progress andemphasised it was important that this work wasused as a driver to improve customer service.• Income Recovery Strategy was to be developedand, along with the Good Will Policy, would forma vehicle for dealing with all income recoveryissues.104

ItemNo5.35.45.55.6Description Action StatusIn response to a query it was noted the computerskills training would be provided for residents whowanted to use THH interactive services.With regards to compensation for missedappointments it was noted that this was a good willgesture and was not intended to fully reimburse forany time lost.The Committee suggested the following changes tothe strategy:• consultation on the access strategy should bemore drawn out in the strategy;• there should be a short paragraph addressingcommunications and that to be effective,appropriate communications had to bemaintained with both residents as well as staff;• an action plan should be incorporated into thedocument; and• the document needed to be quality checked. Itwas also noted that the front page photographwould be changed.The Committee agreed to recommend the strategyto the Board subject to amendments to take intoaccount the comments made during the discussion.DHCBeverely Greenidge left following the discussion of the above itemNov Board6. Performance Indicators Monitoring Report to June and July 20096.16.26.36.4PMC received a report setting out performance onthe business critical indicators to end of August2009.The discussion focused on areas that had weakenedover the review period, and those which wereshowing a downward trend.It was noted that the direction of travel was notprovided in respect of the Resident Satisfaction withRepair indicator. DAM explained that a new processhad been introduced and it would take a few monthsbefore this information could be included in the grid.Members also stressed the importance of ensuringthat the current downward trend in such areas asRepairs Help Centre calls % Answered and TotalService Charge Debt Outstanding did not deterioratefurther to ensure performance remained at targetlevels.105

ItemNo6.56.66.76.86.9Description Action StatusThe Committee reviewed 2009/10 rent data monthlysummary in appendix B and requested that anexplanation be included with the summary on howthe figures had been calculated.It was noted that performance against the StaffAppraisals target would be provided to NovemberPMC.The Committee reviewed and noted detailedinformation on what stages of obtaining a gascertificate each outstanding property was at andwhat action had been taken to date.The Committee noted that August 2009 performancewas the most positive to date. The Chair thankedstaff for the tremendous improvements over the pasttwo months with regards to complaints handling andmembers enquiries response time.The Performance Indicators Monitoring Report toAugust 2009 was noted.7. Inspection Planning7.17.27.3The Committee received the Inspection Planning2010 report which set out the rationale and keysteps in scheduling the full Audit Commissioninspection of THH in November 2010. It covered:• rationale for date setting;• delivery of the Service Improvement Plan;• inspection readiness checks;• Audit Commission monitoring;• Customer Service Excellence; and• inspection planning.The Committee reviewed the Service ImprovementPlan revised to reflect the priorities of the Two StarManifesto and the recommendations made in theAudit Commission inspection report. The discussionfocused on the deadlines and how these were beingsupervised. It was noted that this work was closelymonitored by SMT.Minor changes were suggested, including inserting acolumn showing which deliverables had beencompleted. Members also thought that it would behelpful to replace the acronym 'NHS' with somethingless confusing. The Committee supported theproposed November 2010 date for the on-siteinspection.DHCDSPDSPNov PMCNov PMCNov Board106

ItemNo7.47.57.6Description Action StatusIt was noted that the inspection readiness checkswould be brought to PMC on quarterly basis andwould coincide with inspection informationsubmission dates in December 2009, April 2009 andJuly 2010.The Chair requested that thought be given to restartingthe KLOE Self Assessment reports.The Committee commended staff who were involvedin producing this excellent piece of work.DSPDSP8. Annual Complaints report from April 2008 to March 20098.18.28.38.4The Committee received an Annual Complaints reportwhich provided an in-depth analysis of complaintsand the performance against timescales. It wasreported that this was the last annual report in theformat received, as THH was moving towards a morecomprehensive ‘feedback’ mode where all feedback,both positive and negative, would be analysed.The discussion concentrated on:• diversity issues and the need to increase thediversity monitoring information captured, thefactors which currently hindered this process,and what could be done to ensure customerswere more willing to provide this information.PMC emphasised the importance of diversityinformation in providing effective solutions toproblems experienced by residents;• a diagram was tabled explaining the role ofcomplaints within the learning hub; and• members thought there should be a consistentapproach throughout the organisation regardingthe description of tenants and leaseholders as‘residents’ or ‘customers’. They suggested thatTHH stick to one description and that thepreferred one was ‘resident’.PMC noted the proposal for the Complaints Teamname change to Customer Feedback Team andadvised that complaints should always remain adistinct area within the Feedback Team. It was alsosuggested that a number of sections be movedaround in the report to give the document a morecoherent flow.The Annual Complaints report was noted.Dec 09,Apr 10 &Jul 10 PMCOct 09107

ItemNoDescription Action Status9. Performance Management Committee Forward Plan – Novembermeeting• Performance Indicators Monitoring Report toSeptember 2009• Anti-Social Behaviour Report• Asset Management Strategy• It was noted that Update on Staff AppraisalsIndicator would be covered in PI report.10. Date, Time and venue of next meetingIt was noted that the next meeting of the Committeewould be held on Monday, 2 November 2009 from6:30 pm, in Toby Club, Vawdrey Close, E1.The Chair thanked all present for their attendanceand contributions and closed the meeting at 8.30pm.DSPDHCDAMDSPAbdool KaraChairDate108