Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillors Steve Evans, Roger Lawrence, Louise Miles, John Reynolds and Paul Sweet.

There were no declarations of interests.

[For approval]

Resolved:

That the minutes of the previous meeting held on 25 June 2018 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

[To consider any matters arising from the minutes of the previous meeting]

There were no matters arising from the minutes of the previous meeting that were not otherwise included on the agenda for the meeting.

[To review and comment on the performance and key areas for improvement]

Mila Simpson, Service Lead, Housing Strategy presented the report on an evaluation of the performance of Wolverhampton Homes (WH) and the Tenant Management Organisations (TMOs) in managing and maintaining council house dwellings during quarter one of 2018/2019 (April to June 2018) together with a comparison for the same quarter during 2017/2018.

Members of the Panel congratulated the team for the revised the user-friendly monitoring report.

Councillor Peter Bilson referred to the audit of the Managing Agents systems that had commenced and would continue during 2018/2019.  The reports from the audit reviews would provide valuable information on areas of focus to improve service delivery. He also reported that the evaluation report showed that performance of Wolverhampton Homes and the TMOs was generally healthy and there was a positive outlook.

Referring to the rent collection arrears indicator, Councillor Lynne Moran asked about the shape of the number for tenants falling into rent arrears as a result of Universal Credit.  Shaun Aldis, Chief Executive Wolverhampton Homes informed the Panel that they still faced significant challenge across the city and he felt that arrears would rise. He had asked his team to look at the trajectory within the city of tenants who were in arrears before they went on to Universal Credit. His team would use innovation and nudge techniques to recover the arrears. The Chief Executive, WH also reported that whilst the monitoring information was for the first quarter, the Service was on top of rent arrears and the impact of the roll out of Universal Credit.  He informed the Panel that there had always been a correlation between rent arrears and evictions. When rent arrears were high evictions were also high.  The current position was that evictions were relatively low but rent arrears were increasing. Extra resources had been put into the front of house service to give tenants support in this area. He also reported that an issue the Service had was it did not know when a tenant goes on to Universal Credit

The Chair asked whether the Council was aware of when people went onto Universal Credit. The Strategic Director for People reported that information was available within the Revenue and Benefits Team. The Chair suggested that the Council look into communicating that information to Wolverhampton Homes as soon as possible without breaching any data protection rules.

Councillor Peter Bilson added that it was not just people on housing benefits who are affected by Universal Credit and that the process of Universal Credit was wrong.

Councillor Lynne Moran also asked for further details regarding Wolverhampton Homes performance against the customer care indicator and issues not being resolved to customers satisfaction. The Chief Executive, WH acknowledged that performance on the percentage of customers answered within 80 seconds was off target. Action was being taken to improve performance.  The Service was also encouraging its clients to use digital contact services. He undertook to provide information regarding the current recorded levels of customer satisfaction on the service.

Resolved:

That the performance of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

[To receive and comment the Information Governance quarter one performance and GDPR update]

Anna Zollino-Biscotti, Information Governance Manager and Data Protection Officer presented the quarterly update report on the General Data Protection Regulation and on a review of quarter one (April to June 2018) performance for information governance.

The Chair said it was good to see that the Council’s performance in responding to FOI/EIR requests and Data Protection SAR requests remained strong.

Councillor Sandra Samuels OBE asked whether a further breakdown for FOI requests within adult services was available. The Information Governance Manager reported that more detailed information could be provided.

Councillor Peter Bilson noted an increase in FOI requests and queried the reason for the rise and asked whether it could be determined whether the increased requests were from regular enquirers. Kevin O’Keefe, Director of Governance reported that the enquirers tended to disguise themselves but the Express and Star were open with their FOI requests.

The Chair added once WV Insight goes live and information is readily available to the public, it would be interesting to see whether the number of FOI requests reduces. She suggested that some analysis of this point take place in the future. The Information Governance Manager confirmed that the Council was looking to do more on data analysis of FOI requests as well as being more proactive in the information it made available to the public.

Resolved:

1.    That the quarterly progress update on the General Data Protection Regulation be noted.

2.    That the review the quarter one performance for Information Governance be noted. 

[To receive an update on the WV Insight portal and on the next steps on development activity for the site]

Laura Collins, Business Development Manager, Corporate presented the report which provided an update on the completion of the WV Insight portal and successful internal launch of the site to councillors and employees; the proposed date for the external launch of the sites to the public, businesses, community and voluntary organisations, and the forward plan for development activity for the site to build on existing site functionality.

The Chair reported that WV Insight was developing well and would be a fantastic tool for councillors and the public. She congratulated the team on their work in developing the portal.

Resolved:

1.    That the successful internal launch of the WV Insight portal and proposed external launch date for the site of the 24 September 2018 be noted.

2.    That it be noted that an outline proposal for the phase two development of WV Insight and a fully scoped proposal would be submitted to a future meeting of Cabinet (Performance Management) Panel.

[To provide an update on the development of a new City of Wolverhampton Council Insight and Performance Strategy and on performance against the Council’s top 25 performance indicators in quarter one]

Ian Fegan, Head of Service, Communications presented the report on the development of a new City of Wolverhampton Council Insight and Performance Strategy and on performance against the Council’s top 25 performance indicators in quarter one (April to June 2018). He particularly drew to the Panel’s attention the two of the 25 indicators where improvement was required and reported on action taking place to improve performance.

The Chair asked that the link to the Council’s top 25 performance indicators be forwarded to the Panel.

Resolved:

1.    That progress, as part of the C3 transformation programme, on the development of a new Insight and Performance Strategy which aims to support the Council’s ongoing transformation be noted.

2.    That the Council’s performance against its top 25 performance indicators in quarter one (April to June 2018) of the 2018/2019 financial year be noted.