Agenda item

[To receive a briefing note on Housing and Connectivity].

The Service Manager for Housing Strategy and Policy introduced a presentation on the subject of Housing and Connectivity.  The Council owned 22,000 residential properties across the City which were managed by Wolverhampton Homes and four tenant management organisations.  Wolverhampton Homes were the largest management agent.  Homes in the City had taken online applications forms for properties since 2009.  Since 2019 applicants had needed to have an email address to use the system.  A range of support was available to people applying for homes in the City.  There were step-by-step guides and signposts to agencies who could provide face-to-face support.  A total of 96% of property bids were made online.  The number of online bids had increased by 17% from 2018-2019.  There was a range of support available to customers who did not want to bid online.  Support was available for people with sight and hearing disabilities.  Language support was also available.   A range of improvements were planned including addressing how easy it was for people to understand the application form and how people applied online. 

The Service Manager for Housing Strategy and Policy remarked that only 11-13% of housing tenants reported housing repairs online which was approximately 500 per month.  Primarily housing repairs had been reported via the telephone.  During the first Covid-19 pandemic lockdown the online reporting function had been turned off.  This was to ensure that the tenants were able to be spoken to over the telephone to determine if a repair was possible in lockdown, that there were operatives available and that no one in the household was exhibiting symptoms.  The target for online repairs reporting to increase was a long-term one.  The target for next year, 2021-2022 had been set at 12%.  Wolverhampton Homes were continuing to invest in their online platforms and new interactive repairs reporting.

The Service Manager for Housing Strategy and Policy commented that Housing Options and Homelessness was a statutory function of the Council, which was delegated to Wolverhampton Homes to deliver.  Housing options and Homelessness had never had a digital platform, it was accessed via the telephone or face-face contact.  During the lockdown the service had to change because they weren’t able to deliver face-to-face services.  It had very rapidly moved online.  Documents had been submitted via email or via What’s App.  She had heard that this service had gone very well, but there would be a need to reinstate face-to-face services for some people in the future. 

The Service Manager for Housing Strategy and Policy stated that Wolverhampton Homes, every two years, conducted a Star Survey with a range of customer satisfaction questions.  For last Summer there had been over 2000 responses to the survey.  80% of tenants had listed the telephone as their preferred method of contact with Wolverhampton Homes. 10% had favoured the website and web chat with 4% favouring social media.  51% of tenants did use the internet for a variety of purposes such as internet shopping or banking.  This statistic indicated that there was potential to grow online services and contact, which long-term could create financial savings, time and staff efficiencies.  It was interesting to note that 27% of tenants had said they did not use the internet at all.  25% simply preferred not to use online service, 22% did not have access to a computer or smartphone and 8% had said they couldn’t afford internet access.  

The Strategic Projects and Funding Manager stated that Wolverhampton’s Digital Strategy had been adopted in January 2020 and it outlined the Council’s approach for the rollout of full fibre broadband and also wireless connectivity.  This was in recognition of the importance that a future-proofed digital infrastructure could have, to the City in terms of economic growth.  This was also important for the “Relighting our City” recovery from the pandemic commitment.  The strategy picked up the cross-cutting issues of growing Wolverhampton’s digital economy and skills. 

The Strategic Projects and Funding Manager presented a slide on supporting the rollout of Full Fibre Broadband.  The Local Full Fibre Network had hit its 30% milestone for the rollout of full fibre to the Public Service Network.  A commercial rollout had also been announced by the company.  To increase the speed of the rollout, the number of gangs onsite had been increased.  They had also introduced a number of measures to address resident and Councillor concerns including road sweepers.  Block wayleave was being finalised to support rollout of full fibre in social housing, this process for rollout had been agreed with Wolverhampton Homes.  For new builds, a full fibre toolkit for planners had been developed.   A full fibre and 5G policy had been introduced into the draft Black Country Core Strategy.  Links had also been established with WV Living to ensure all houses were connected to full fibre broadband. 

The Strategic Projects and Funding Manager spoke on the subject of the Digital Divide.  Pre-Covid-19, 35,000 residents of Wolverhampton had not been online for three months and 59,000 lacked all five basic skills (Digital Exclusion Heatmap), 44% of which were under 60.  Covid had highlighted the extent of the issue with many residents unable to access online learning, employment support and low take-up of online support for vulnerable groups including issues around data poverty, unsuitability of devices as well as motivation and skills.  Local intelligence had indicated that 50% of adult education learners, 9 out of 10 residents on a basic skills course, 60% of job seekers working with Wolves at Work and 25% on “Impact” (scheme targeting young people) Iacked a device or connectivity to access online learning or support.  A number of schools had reported that less than half of their pupils had a device and / or connectivity during lockdown to access online learning.  A greater number reported that pupils lacked suitable devices or had restricted access due to sharing devices.

The Strategic Projects and Funding Manager remarked that they were piloting a Wolves Online device and connectivity loan scheme for a range of reasons such as applying for benefits, accessing online learning, reducing isolation and accessing support.  They were also looking at a place based approach to digital inclusion informed by a digital exclusion map which showed the areas where residents were more prone to not being online.  They were hoping to work with schools, libraries and community hubs to see if they could be encouraged to become Online Centres and exploring tools such as “reboot”, a recycling scheme for devices.  In addition, they had been proactively working with schools to maximise the take up of Department for Education laptops targeting school children, with 200 devices being lent to schools through Wolves Online, complemented by ward funds and BT Hotspot vouchers for connectivity.  The Council were also exploring innovative means of getting people online including the use of personal budgets and links to telecare for connectivity as there were so many benefits of digital inclusion.  She thought an important question for the Scrutiny Panel to consider was “How else can we support our residents to become digitally included?”

The Vice Chair commented that digital inclusion was a very important area.  He asked how far the Council had come in relation to future-proofing digital services infrastructure.  He also asked how the statement in the briefing note to the Panel, of Covid-19 accelerating the adoption of digital services by 2-5 years, had been calculated.  With reference to housing repairs online reporting being switched off during the beginning of the pandemic, he asked how this had impacted on the overall numbers for the reporting of household repairs.  With regard to developing the online platform for Wolverhampton Homes, he asked if tenants were being engaged for their input.  On the matter of encouraging people to use online services, he asked what actions were being taken to do this and the obstacles reported by residents to using online services.  He thought a further demographic breakdown on the 2000 residents who had completed the Star Survey would be useful.   The briefing note had referred to smart technologies being held back before the introduction of full fibre broadband in the City.  He asked if some examples could be given of the smart technologies which had been held back.  He also asked how the figures cited on the digital divide in the presentation had been calculated.  He asked if Wolverhampton Homes had any plans for subsidising access to Wi-Fi in high rise flats and other large developments.  Potentially it could be subsided from rent payments.

A Panel Member commented on the lack of digital devices in people’s homes who had children that required them for schoolwork.  He commended the use of Councillor Ward funds and other schemes being utilised for the provision of digital devices and hoped more devices could be provided in the future.

The Chair raised the important issue of raising people’s awareness of the danger of scams in the digital world.  He hoped that more information on how to avoid being scammed could be shared on the Council’s social media platforms.

The Service Manager for Housing Strategy and Policy offered to report back to the Panel the figures for how switching off the online household repairs reporting system had affected the overall number.  The online platform for Homes in the City was part of an overall update for the Wolverhampton Homes website, which was addressing accessibility and compatibility with smart phones.  Prior to lockdown there had been engagement with tenants through a range of methods including annual get-togethers, committees and other meetings.   These were currently paused because of the pandemic but there was online engagement taking place.  She would ask for further information on how they intended to gain feedback on improving and testing the new website.  Wolverhampton Homes were in the early stages of updating the website and so she hoped some face-to-face consultation could take place next year.  In relation to the question on the demographics of the Star Survey, she could confirm that it was sent out to the over 10,000 tenants who had an email address.  It was sent out via email and then the demographics of the people who had responded were compared to the whole tenant population.  They then targeted tenants in order to make sure the responses were weighted correctly.  She was happy to provide the data to the Panel.    

The Service Manager for Housing Strategy and Policy on the question of Wolverhampton Homes promoting access to Wi-Fi and devices, commented that she would look at the results of the last trial and provide a note to the Panel.  They had looked at Wi-Fi as part of the service charge in the past but there were difficulties arising from the question of equity, as some people in a block would not wish to make use of the Wi-Fi or they already had their own arrangement.  It was however worth looking at with Wolverhampton Homes again in the future.                 

The Strategic Projects and Funding Manager on the question of future- proofing the digital infrastructure responded that it was for about 20 years.  The figure relating to accelerating the adoption of digital services of 2-5 years was from a report by PWC.  The key to encourage more people to use online services, she regarded as being devices, skills and motivation.  Lockdown had highlighted the issues relating to devices and connectivity.  Smarter technology needed bigger band width and so to increase the number of these technologies in people’s households, improved broadband was required.  The data on the digital divide had been calculated using the data from the digital dashboard which gave information on the number of people who had not used the internet in the last 3 months and lacking digital skills.  The data was being updated as lockdown had highlighted the problems with lack of devices and connectivity.  In relation to scams, she commented that they were producing a digital Wolves website with the intention of collating resources relating to digital, this would include links to staying safe online.