Issue - meetings

Matters for Decision.

The report referred to The Local Government Ombudsman findings of maladministration in respect of three complaints. The complaints related to the Council’s homelessness functions.

 

In these circumstances, the Head of Legal Services, as the Council’s Monitoring Officer, has an obligation to report the findings to the Executive. The Executive is obliged to set out what action had already been taken in respect of the findings, what action it intends to take and the reasons for taking the action.

 

Decision of Executive Councillor for Housing

 

The Executive Councillor for Housing resolved to

 

       i.          Endorsed the actions taken by officers in response to the findings of the Local Government Ombudsman.

 

Reason for the Decision

As set out in the Officer’s report.

 

Any Alternative Options Considered and Rejected

Not applicable.

 

Scrutiny Considerations

The Committee received a report from the Head of Legal Services, the Council’s Monitoring Officer.

 

The Committee made the following comments in response to the report:

 

       i.          Questioned at which point had the former Executive Councillor been informed of the issues. 

     ii.          Queried how many people were still being housed miles outside of Cambridge.

   iii.          Asked if people were still being housed in bed and breakfast accommodation in Peterborough.

   iv.          Stated that this had been a wakeup call for the Council and wanted reassurance this would not reoccur again.

    v.          Enquired if people were placed in bed and breakfast because capacity had been exceeded or the particular configurations of the households did not match what was available.

 

In response to Committees comments Officers, the Director of Community and Customer Services stated the following:

 

       i.          At the time the letter from the Ombudsman did not indicate that it was a Maladministration case in the way that would be expected.

     ii.          The matter had been discussed with the former Executive Councillor, but could not give an exact time frame when this was.

   iii.          A report had also been presented to the Community Services Scrutiny Committee on the homeless service. As there were indication that the certain areas of the service needed to be addressed. Among the areas that were addressed were:

·              Increasing the number of temporary housing in the City.

·             Tighter monitoring of caseloads.

·             Closer monitoring the length of time it was taking to resolve cases.

   iv.          A number of actions taken at time had been completed.

    v.          Bed and breakfast accommodation in Peterborough had not been used for at least eight months.

   vi.          Between 1 April 2013 and 25 October 21013, the Council had housed five families in bed and breakfast for no more than six weeks. Since then no families had been housed in Bed and Breakfast for more than three weeks.

 vii.          Since November 2013 there have been no more than three households in Bed and Breakfast accommodation at any one time.

viii.          The Configuration of the household could be an issue but occasionally other issues were identified.

   ix.          The Council were now in a much better position than at the time.

 

The Committee:

 

Resolved unanimously to endorse the recommendation.

 

The Executive Councillor approved the recommendation.

 

Conflicts of Interest Declared by the Executive Councillor (and any Dispensations Granted)

 

No conflicts of interest were declared by the Executive Councillor.