The Housing and Inclusive Economy Scrutiny Committee meeting on 17 July 2024 was scheduled to include an overview of the Stronger Communities directorate, including its responsibilities for delivering the Mission Waltham Forest programme. It was also scheduled to include a progress update on the delivery of the Housing Resident Involvement Strategy 2022-2026.

Overview of the Stronger Communities Directorate

The Stronger Communities report provided to the committee for this meeting detailed the wide ranging responsibilities of the directorate, including:

• Communities and Participation
• Culture
• Digital, Data & Technology
• Early Help and Prevention
• Employment, Business and Skills
• Integrated Commissioning
• Libraries and Registrars
• Public Health
• Resident Experience and Business Support

The report described the directorate's role in preventative work upstream of statutory services. The report explained that this would be achieved by targeting where impact can be achieved, measured, and scaled up. The report then provided an overview of the directorate's work in each of these areas.

In particular, the report highlighted the ongoing work on an Inclusive Growth and Economy Framework:

The emerging Inclusive Growth and Economy Framework was subject to a Growth Scrutiny Committee Themed Review in 2023/24, for early comment and input, the recommendations are due to be reported to Cabinet in September.

The report explained that this framework aimed to address inequalities in how economic growth benefited different demographics in the borough.

Housing Resident Involvement Strategy 2022-2026

This report provided an update on the Housing Resident Involvement Strategy 2022-2026. The report explained that resident engagement was a key priority for the Housing service and explained how this was reflected in the Regulator of Social Housing's new consumer standards, which include a Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard.

The report then provided details of the Housing service's performance against the three relevant Tenant Satisfaction Measures.

The five key themes of the strategy are:

1. Empower residents to influence decisions
2. A range of ways to be involved
3. Improve Digital Connectivity
4. Inclusivity
5. Value for Money

The report set out the progress that had been made against each of these themes, and provided details of the work that was ongoing and planned. In particular, the report identified the need for improvements in inclusivity:

At the present time, Housing Services does not routinely collect household diversity information other than that of new tenants.

It explained that this issue was being addressed through the Tenancy Audit programme and the work of the Knowledge and Information Management Steering Group.

The report also highlighted the successes of partnership working in delivering social value, such as:

...an environmental joint project undertaken by the Housing Engagement Team in conjunction with The Hive, the Epping Forest Field Study Centre.

It explained that this project, funded through a Holiday Activities and Food bid, delivered a free, fun and educational half term project for children receiving free school meals.