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The Leader of the Opposition,
Councillor Phil Bibby CC, asked the following question:
 
“In the light of the
recent Ombudsman ruling against the Council where it had fallen
short in dealing with a vulnerable resident’s issue with a
secure Door Entry System, could he have assurances that this
situation would not happen in the future?”.
 
The Leader of the Council
replied that the Council had acknowledged the letters that
had been received from the Secretary of State (Michael Gove MP) and
the Housing Ombudsman, who had previously committed to writing to
every social landlord who had been awarded an adverse finding of
severe maladministration and had recognised that there were missed
opportunities to avoid the failures identified in the
case.  The Council had rightly
apologised to the tenant around the failings that had occurred.
 
The Leader of the Council
advised that the Regulator for Social Housing had concluded
from its own investigations that the case did not indicate a
systemic failing and that the consumer standards had not been
breached and, hence, they would not be taking any regulatory
action.
 
The Leader of the Council commented that, as
was the case with other Registered Providers, the work of the
Housing Ombudsman Service continued to support the Council in
driving forward improvements to its services.  The Council had taken on board the learning from
this case, which had resulted in several actions including:
 
·        
Improving the Housing complaints handling policy and processes;
·        
The introduction of a team of dedicated Strategic Complaint
Managers, each responsible for an area of housing, who would work
together on cross-service cases, ensuring a thorough and holistic
approach to complaint handling;
·        
The establishment of a Member-led Housing Management Board that
would continue to monitor and drive good performance, compliance,
resource allocation, risk management and tenant communications and
engagement; and
·        
the holding of fortnightly complaints clinics with the aim to
ensure effective Member and management oversight and to look to
continuously improve complaints handling across the housing
service.
 
The Leader of the Council was committed to the
further improvement of the Council’s repairs and voids
services to ensure they were cost effective and responded to the
tenants’ needs.  Improvement work
in this regard was underway and was being led by the Assistant
Director for Building Safety and Housing Property Services.
 
The Council then received
updates from the relevant Executive Portfolio Holders on the
following matters:
 
·        
Graffiti Blitz;

 
·        
Climate Change Community Fund Schemes;
 
·        
Co-operative Councils Innovation Network Annual Conference;
 
·        
Pin Green Association;
 
·        
Council of the Year Award: Affordable Housing Awards;
 
·        
New Reception / Customer Service Update;
 
·        
Arts and Heritage Update;
 
·        
No More Service Evolve Framework;
 
·        
Safer Streets;
 
·        
Creation of a new Space Catalyst in Stevenage; and
 
·        
Securing Inward Investment.
 
The Leader of the Opposition commented that
Hertfordshire County Council would be prepared to work in
partnership with the Borough Council on the ongoing removal of
graffiti across the town.  The Leader of
the Council thanked him for offering to work together on this
project for the betterment of the town.