Agenda item
Any Other Business
Minutes:
7.1 The Chair brought Members attention to two additional papers which had been provided in advance of the meeting. Both have been appended to these Minutes. These were:
- An update from Joanna Sumner (Assistant Chief Executive), giving some information on the cross cutting review of services falling in the wider area of Public Realm – not just relevant services of the Council but Hackney Homes as well. This cross cutting review would look at models for post the bringing in house of Hackney Homes, and potential savings for 2017 onwards.
- An update from Hackney Homes’ Estates Cleaning Improvement Board
7.2 Cllr Glanville opened the item by advising that the Public Realm Cross Cutting Review was looking at a range of services within the Council and Hackney Homes, including those managing parks, waste, cleansing and streetscene, The outcomes of this work would be expected to deliver savings from 2017 onwards.
7.3 This said, the Cabinet Member for Housing said that significant work had been done and more was planned to help secure improvements to Hackney Homes services prior to its transition into the Council. One example of work currently underway was the Estate Cleaning Improvement Project which Jim Patterson (Head of Building Maintenance and Estate Environment) would talk through shortly. There were others, and the Cabinet Member for Housing would welcome the opportunity to present to the Group at a later date on further details of these.
7.4 At this point, the Head of Building Maintenance and Estate Environment presented the project update to Members. The full update document has been appended to these Minutes. However, the substantive points made were that:
- This project had been established in a context of poor perceptions among residents as to cleansing services delivered by Hackney Homes.
- The Project was looking at how various initiatives – the Decent Homes programme and others – could be better joined up to ensure that the overall effects of them could be better felt. An example was with painting programmes to be delivered to blocks at the same time as other improvement works.
- There was work going on to identify the estates where cleaners did not have easy access to water, and to take action on this.
- In terms of areas of corss over with services delivered by Hackney Homes and the Council, these included bulky waste collection, grafitti and flytipping removal and grounds maintenance. Close work was being done with the Council on where and how these services could be aligned.
7.5 At this point the Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods said that she had a clear aspiration for one standard of service across the borough in terms of cleansing and waste management of estates, parks, and streets. She said that she was very keen to work towards these services being managed as one overall function. By achieving full integration and realising the efficiencies which would be involved, the Council could in theory offer a strong and effective service to Registered Housing Providers and others. It was vital that services were joined up and improved.
7.6 A Member of the Group said that he agreed with this in full. He felt that there needed to be an immediate move to a fully integrated service. He said that he did not see this integration as being a substantial challenge and that there should be urgent movement on progressing it.
7.7 The Cabinet Member for Housing responded to this point by saying that substantial work had been done to both improve the services delivered by Hackney Homes on cleansing and waste, and to prepare for moves towards integration. He said that he would welcome the opportunity of presenting the task group with this information.
7.8 However, the Cabinet Member for Housing said that while there was a strong case for more and greater integration, that there were significant challenges to consider. Work needed to be carefully managed to ensure that improvements were delivered alongside it being ensured that there would not be upward pressures on residents’ service charges as a result of changes. In addition, there were differences in the complexities of integrating waste and cleansing services which functioned on a road to entry door (of estate blocks) basis, compared to that of incorporating entry door to front door cleasning operations into a minge merged service.
7.9 Another consideration was that Tenant and Resident Management Organisations had full choice over the cleansing services they decided to procure.
7.10 The Cabinet Member for Housing remained of the view that while improvements to as is services should continue to be achieved, that it was prudent and sensible to carefully manage wider integration to ensure that it was done effectively with efficiencies and service improvements successfully delivered.
7.11 The Assistant Chief Executive added to this by saying that the Cross Cutting Programme was collating and analysing a wide range of information which to the transition of Hackney Homes into the Council. This was being done alongside work to secure immediate improvements.
7.12 In response to a question from a Member of the Task Group, both the Cabinet Member for Housing and the Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods confirmed that there would need to be a fully integrated service for cleansing and waste achieved by the end of the current administration in 2018. The Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods said that it should be achieved considerably before this given that she felt that it would deliver savings to help achieve the vast amounts required, and in a way where residents would feel less detrimental impact of the reductions.
7.13 A Member reiterated his view that integration needed to be achieved quickly, and could be done in a faster manner than was currently planned. He suggested that a paper be submitted to the Task Group outlining a plan for the fastest adoption possible, an approach to overcoming challenges, and information on the savings that would be achieved from this.
7.14 Bringing the item to a close, the Chair advised that this meeting and any others planned over forthcoming weeks formed part of Phase 1 of the programme, which considered savings for 2016/17 and not beyond this. Phase 2 of the Programme in the New Year would then consider options for 2017/18 and beyond. This said however, and following the discussions, she felt that thought needed to be given as to how Members could be given opportunity to be assured around moves towards greater integration of Hackney Homes and Council Services. She said that she would give consideration as to how this should be managed.