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16 Tenant & Leaseholder Survey & Focus Groups Results PDF 159 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
This item was chaired by Diana Minns (Vice Chair / Tenant
Representative).
Matter for
Decision
As housing services continue to adapt to changes, it will become increasingly important to have effective methods for gathering feedback and making sure that services are making best use of available resources.
Recent satisfaction surveys and follow-up focus groups had proved an effective method for gathering customer satisfaction data – the results of which (appendix A of the Officer’s reports) had been developed into an Action Plan (appendix B of the Officer’s report).
Decision
of Executive Councillor for Housing
i.
Agreed the Action Plan (appendix B of the
Officer’s report)
ii.
Agreed the suggested methodology for
gathering ongoing customer feedback from tenants and leaseholders
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 regarding recent satisfaction surveys.
The Committee made the following comments in response to the report:
i.
Welcomed the very thorough and professional report.
ii.
Expressed concerns about the future need to
prioritise actions as the funding shrinks. How would priorities be agreed?
iii.
Suggested that support services could be under
threat at a time when welfare reforms began to impact on tenants.
iv.
Expressed concerns about communication problems
experienced by leaseholders. Factual communications regarding repairs and
contractors often contained error.
v.
Leaseholders had expressed concerns about a lack of
consultation prior to expensive repairs.
vi.
The timing of communications was questioned and it
was suggested that information was not shared in a timely fashion. It could be
too early to be relevant or too late for proper consultation.
In response to Members’ questions the Director of Customer and Community Services stated that:
i.
Initiatives were already in place to improving the
tenants and leaseholders experience of the housing service and this would not
necessarily increase costs. The action plan was achievable.
ii.
A follow up report later in the year would look at
future priorities once more information was available from central government.
In response to Members’ questions the Resident Involvement Facilitator acknowledged that response rates in
some areas of the survey were low. He outlined the approach now taken to
gathering information. On alternate years a survey was carried out and in the
intervening year, more targeted work was undertaken. This might include in
depth work with hard to reach groups or work targeting
new tenants.
The Executive Councillor for Housing stated that in the past
leaseholders had enjoyed services that had not been re-charged to them. The
Council was duty bound to recover expenditure on leaseholder properties. Such
matters were addressed on a case by case basis.
The Committee unanimously resolved
to endorse the recommendations.
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.