Issue - meetings

This item was chaired by Diana Minns (Vice Chair / Tenant Representative).

 

Matter for Decision

The report recommends three practical steps the Council can take to deliver effective Digital Inclusion and Engagement in council housing communities.

 

Decision of Executive Councillor for Housing

     i.        Approve the roll-out of a city-wide Get Online training course aimed at Council Tenants/Leaseholders and delivered from Council Community Centres

 

    ii.        Approved a Digital Champion training scheme to enable peer-to-peer skill sharing within the tenant/leaseholder community

 

   iii.        Approved a scoping project to assess whether a communal tenant/leaseholder WiFi provision was feasible (with a report to be brought to a future committee for funding approval if required).

 

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 Resident Involvement Facilitator .

 

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

     i.        Sought clarification regarding the involvement of leaseholders.

    ii.        Questioned the costings.

   iii.        Welcomed the initiative as an example of what resident involvement could achieve.

 

In response to Members’ questions the Resident Involvement Facilitator said the following:

     i.        Take up of the scheme would be optional and it was expected that the cost would be less than £10 per month, per household.

    ii.        The pilot training scheme had been limited to those in the greatest need.

   iii.        Confirmed that the term WiFi could mean other forms of forms of internet connection.

  iv.        Clarified that residents engaging with the training scheme would also be expected to sign up for minimum future resident involvement, such as receiving regular emails.

   v.        Stated that the timeframes for delivery would be dependent on British Telecom.

 

In response to questions from members, the Head of City Homes stated whilst it would nice to be able to offer this as a free services, here was no money available to deliver this. In addition, providing WiFi in sheltered housing schemes had produced disappointing results.

 

Councillor Avery was concerned that the technology in this area was moving was moving fast and that caution was needed to avoid spending a lot of money on something that could soon be out of date.

 

The Director of Customer and Community Services suggested that a Members briefing might be helpful once more information was available.

 

The Committee unanimously resolved to endorse the recommendations.

 

The Executive Councillor approved the recommendations.