Agenda and minutes

To record the attendance of substitute members, if any, who have been authorised to attend in accordance with the provisions of standing order 17(1), with notification having been given to the proper officer before the start of the meeting and to receive apologies for absence.

To adopt and sign as a correct record the minutes of the committee meetings held on 24 July, 18 and 25 September and 23 October (circulated and published separately). 

Minutes of 24 July 2014. These were agreed as an accurate record of the meeting and signed by the chairman.

Minutes of 18 September and 25 September 2015. These were referred back for amendments and would be represented at the next meeting.

Minutes of 23 October 2014. These were agreed as an accurate record of the meeting and signed by the chairman.

To receive any declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests in respect of items on the agenda for this meeting.  

There were no interests declared.

To receive notification of any matters, which the chairman determines, should be considered as urgent business and the special circumstances, which have made the matters urgent, and to receive any announcements from the chairman.

None.

Any statements and/or petitions from the public under standing order 32 will be made or presented at the meeting.

None.

To review actions taken since previous meeting and any outstanding actions (circulated separately).

The committee received the action list and was pleased with progress made. There was still an outstanding item on camera installation on bin lorries and the committee requested an update for the next meeting.

The committee also asked about progress on minute SC140 (The consultation draft of the Vale of White Horse air quality action plan (AQAP): an update to be provided at the next meeting.

The Head of Development and Housing to provide a verbal update at the meeting, based on the slides attached to this agenda, on temporary accommodation - reviewing the process of how we deal with homelessness and our property options available.

Roger Cox, Cabinet member for Housing and Debbie Taylor, Head of Development and Housing attended the committee to present this item for scrutiny and to answer questions.

Introduction to homelessness and prevention work

The council has a duty to house people if they meet the following five tests:

·        Are homeless or will become homeless within 28 days.

·        Are eligible (have recourse to public funds).

·        Are in “priority need” (children, people with children, pregnant, former cared for children, or those who are vulnerable).

·        Are not “intentionally homeless”.

·        Have a local connection to the area.

When a household is threatened with homelessness an applicant can choose to make a homeless application to the council.  If the council believes the household is eligible, homeless and in priority need, it has a duty to provide temporary accommodation pending completion of its assessment.  This temporary accommodation currently takes the form of a hostel or B&B, and this is referred to as Stage 1.

Should a full Statutory Homeless duty be established, then the council has a duty to secure accommodation which is available for occupation by the applicant and their household. It takes time to find permanent accommodation  and therefore applicants are placed in interim accommodation until permanent becomes available and this is referred to this as Stage 2. Some households can be dealt with through rapid assessment and they can escalate straight into Stage 2; they are accommodated in temporary accommodation which takes the form of either bed & breakfast/ hotel accommodation; stock owned by the council; or certain housing association properties that are designated as temporary accommodation.

The council has improved its homelessness prevention work. Following the Localism Act of 2011 it may also discharge its duty to house to the private rented sector.

Since 2011/12 the council has become more rigorous in its assessment of households presenting as homeless: a reduction in the proportion of applicants accepted as homeless from 85 percent of applicants to 65 percent. One of the consequences of this more rigorous approach is that more applicants are temporarily accommodated in more expensive nightly charged accommodation where there is no security of tenure, to allow officers to assess eligibility and housing need. If the council does not have a duty to house applicants, it still has a duty to accommodate for up to 28 days while assisting them to find alternative accommodation.

Homelessness prevention officers work extensively with households who the council does not have a legal duty to house: assisting them either into private rented accommodation, or enabling them to stay in current accommodation or looking at “in family” solutions.

One of the beneficial results of fewer homelessness acceptances and improved homelessness prevention work is that local people on the council’s waiting lists are more likely to be successful in bidding for properties as they are not being displaced by homeless households.

Costs

·        There are a number of reasons why costs are high. However, the figure for Quarter 1 of 2014/15 for stage 1 accommodation was only £17,807,  ...  view the full minutes text for item Sc177

To receive the Strategic Director’s report.

Roger Cox, Deputy Leader of the Council, and Steve Bishop, Strategic Director attended the committee to present this item for scrutiny and to answer questions.

An updated version of the report was tabled for the committee. The amended report would be added to the minutes.

Changes to note include:

·       Clarification that Cabinet is being asked to agree to market test, not to commit now to an outsourcing of a range of services, and that appropriate consultant would take place before a final decision was made.

·       Deterioration of quality of service was to be added to the potential risks.

·       The Equality Impact Assessment had been added.

·        Some services had been removed from the scope of the joint market testing in 2015, but would remain included in the procurement as potential future contract additions, these were: canteen, democratic services, professional legal services, mobile home parks management, CCTV operations, public conveniences cleaning and treasury management.

The committee were invited to scrutinise the report and to make any recommended changes to Cabinet which would be meeting on 4 December 2014.

During the course of the debate on this item, the following points were raised.

·       In addition to cost savings, contracting out can lead to structural transformations of services and to quality and performance improvements. It can also potentially lead to deterioration of services and the permanent loss of expertise to the council.

·       The governance structure of agreements with outsourcing companies/organisations needs to be fully robust to cope with potential problems.

·       There would be need for harmonisation between partner authorities to make shared services viable: there would also need to be single specification for each service area.

·       The committee were concerned that contract management related risks were not included in the report. The committee was reassured that the report contained only the high level risks and that an active risk register is being managed.

·       The Committee raised concerns about the inclusion of Internal Audit in the joint market testing for procurement in 2015. This matter would be further considered in the coming weeks before finalising the service packages and preparing for the procurement process.

Recommendations to Cabinet and continued Scrutiny involvement

There were no urgent recommendations to Cabinet for the 4 December meeting, however, the following items were raised for Cabinet consideration.

·       Clarity on contract governance and autonomy and contract framework (this to be scrutinised).

·       Strategic Director to identify key points for this item to come back to Scrutiny during the process.

·       Item to be returned to Scrutiny before any key decisions are made by Cabinet.

To review the attached scrutiny work programme. Please note, this is an indicative programme only, and all items are subject to being withdrawn or dates rearranged without further notice.

Noted.

To note the dates of the remaining committee meetings for the civic year:

• 18 December 2014

• 15 January 2015
• 11 February 2015
• 26 March 2015

All meetings to be held in The Beacon in Wantage, unless otherwise notified.

The dates of the remaining committee meetings for the civic year were as follows:

• 18 December 2014

• 15 January 2015
• 11 February 2015
• 26 March 2015

All meetings to be held in The Beacon in Wantage, unless otherwise notified.