Minute of Board meeting Thursday 18 May 2017 held at Govanhill HA
Present: Peter Howden (Chair), Helen Moore, Adele Fraser, Hugh Cameron, Bob Winning, Jim Whiston, Claire Taylor.
In attendance: David Bookbinder, Colleen Rowan
1 Apologies
Apologies were received from John Sweeney, Linda Sichi, Susan McKeown, Graham Piggott and Bill Brown (as this was to be Bill’s last meeting before his retirement from both the Board and Queens Cross HA, the Board thanked him for his contribution in the last two years and wished him well for his retirement).
2 Approval of the minutes of the meeting on 16 March 2017
2.1 The minutes were approved with one amendment: Graham Piggott had been present at the meeting – apologies for the omission!
3 Matters arising from the minutes
GWSF report on succession planning
3.1 The report, issued in April, had been very well received by members and GWSF had received a number of enquiries about some of the case study examples. We would be using every opportunity to highlight the report – including speaking on it at CIH Scotland’s Annual Conference in March and at our Regeneration Conference and the FLAIR Conference in June. We would also be exploring with EVH and SHARE what specific issues could be taken forward, such as seeking to expand the availability of mentoring for housing association staff.
GWSF budget 2017/18
3.2 Following the Board’s consideration of the draft budget in March, a slightly revised budget was put before the Board. There were only minor changes, made in light of more up to date outturn figures from 2016/17. The budget was very close to being a break even budget, with every likelihood that, in the end, there may end up being a small surplus at the end of the year.
4 Verbal feedback from joint Board, lead members and Campaign Group away day session 11 May
4.1 The Board members who had attended the session felt it had been very useful, with the tangible outcomes including the suggestion that a lead member come to Board meetings to update the Board on what issues were being worked on: this would ideally be a different lead member each meeting (or most meetings).
4.2 A further suggestion on the day had been re-naming the Campaign Group as the Campaign and Lobby Group. This was intended to allay any impression that all the activities of the Group were higher profile campaigning, as opposed to broader activities such as sitting on working groups etc.
4.3 The Board suggested there would be value in circulating to GWSF members an updated summary of how the lead member system worked. This could probably best be done after a few new lead members have been recruited over the coming months.
5 Arrangements for AGM election process
5.1 It was agreed that the members standing down would be Hugh Cameron, Linda Sichi, Bill Brown and Peter Howden. Additionally, Bob Winning would be standing down as a co-opted member and was of course free to stand for election. In total this meant that there would be three committee member places and two staff places up for grabs.
6 Potential research on impact of LHA cap
6.1 The Board considered the paper, which suggested that it would be important to try to ensure that at least three or four GWSF member associations were involved in the case study part of the CIH Scotland/Scottish Government research which was in progress.
6.2 A particular aim was for GWSF to aim to involve in the research at least two associations represented on the Campaign Group: not only did this make general sense in that Campaign Group members had a particular interest in the impact of the LHA cap, but it also meant that Group members may be able to help complement the data crunching part of the work with individual case study examples, for use at a later stage if this was outwith the timescale for the data part of the work.
6.3 It was noted that Hillhead HA could be one of the potential case study associations, not least as their one-bedroom rents were higher than average and so tenants in these homes could be hit.
6.4 Looking at issues such as offers refused, or the likelihood of this happening in the future, was suggested as being one of the impacts which should be looked at by the research.
6.5 Finally it was noted that some tenants who were not in the under-35 age group could also be affected by the cap, including some older people in sheltered housing and even in mainstream housing which could have rents above the one-bed LHA rate by 2019 or 2020.
7 Learning the lessons from troubled housing associations
7.1 The Board discussed the paper, which included the notes from the Forum’s Open Meeting session ‘From Crisis to New Dawn’ held on 16 March. The Board also heard feedback from the meeting GWSF had had with SHR on 11 May, when governance issues were top of the agenda.
7.2 The wide-ranging discussion included the following points:
· SHR’s risk assessment summary had said that governance issues were most common in smaller housing associations
· It seemed clear that whilst some committee/board members did not undertake much, if any, training, others did but appeared not to absorb the learning; it also seemed to be the case that some were simply overwhelmed by the scale and complexity of what was put before them
· The nature of the relationship between the senior officer and chair appeared to be central to a number of the cases where serious problems had been encountered: the issue of chairs not sharing things with the rest of the board was generally less of an issue
· As was the case with our report on succession planning, GWSF should aim to ‘promote the positive’ rather than dwell on the negative: one example might be to promote the value of internal audit and should consider producing guidance on it, as it needed to be the right kind of internal audit; another might be to explore the scope for chairs to have peer support/assessment, for example from the chair of a neighbouring association where local relationships were good
· The lack of cyclical inspections/spot checks within the current regulatory framework (due mainly to resource constraints) was felt to be a contributory factor in reducing SHR’s capacity to identify issues at an early stage
7.3 It was noted that a session on governance and regulation issues would be held for senior staff: this would be arranged once the Wellhouse report had been published. This was expected around the end of June, so the session for staff would probably be after the summer holiday period towards the middle/end of August.
8 ‘Close to home’ – proposed GWSF research on new CCHA approaches to improving their communities
8.1 The Board considered a paper on proposed GWSF research (starting August/September) into the range of membership work in areas which were not so much about ‘wider role’ but were more closely related to the landlord role – for example environmental services, working with the police on safety and security issues, and working as letting agents of private rented property.
8.2 The Board noted that part of the work would include assessing the willingness of associations to undertake a greater amount of work which had traditionally been the responsibility of local councils and other public agencies, but which were now under threat in view of severe financial pressure on those bodies.
8.3 It was also noted that associations moving into this area would be keen to show they were providing ‘additionality’ rather than simply replacing former public services with their own (tenants’) funding. The issue of tenants paying twice, through their rent and council tax, was bound to arise as part of this work. The question was asked about whether associations could tender for such work, even if this type of formal, funded relationship seemed unlikely at the current time.
8.4 Finally it was noted that in Glasgow, GWSF had arranged a session for 26 June where representatives of GCC Land and Environmental Services would talk to members about the scope for ‘partnership working’ over back courts, bulk uplift and some other areas such as winter gritting.
9 Bolstering the ‘lead members’ group
9.1 The Board considered and agreed the draft budget for 2017/18, which would be amended in the light of year end figures and reported back to the May Board meeting.
9.2 It was noted in particular that there had been a modest drop in bookings for the 2016 Annual Conference. There had not been fewer associations attending, but there were fewer delegates from each association, which Board members thought was due to some associations cutting back on tier overall conference attendance/expenditure.
9.3 It was also noted that the Forum could now devote more time to consolidating and expanding the number of commercial supporters now that we had dedicated admin support.
10 GWSF issues in Glasgow
10.1 The Board noted the paper setting out the Forum’s recent, intensive involvement in two major issues affecting members in Glasgow – withdrawal of sheltered housing funding, and the homelessness referral system.
10.2 On the sheltered housing issue, Colleen was able to update the Board about constructive talks held in the last fortnight with GCC/HSCP representatives on future provision for older people, including telecare, and how such provision might be funded.
11 Campaign Group update
11.1 Helen Moore updated the Board on recent activity, which included the following:
· GWSF was in the process of identifying two associations from within the Campaign Group membership who would be willing to participate in the CIH Scotland/Scottish Government research on the likely impact of the LHA cap on people under 35.
· The recent Campaign Group meeting had focused on the aspiration that Group members would have some opportunities to speak (on the impact of poverty/welfare reform in their communities) at other organisations’ events and conferences – something staff would try to progress.
· The Group had also input into the GWSF Board/lead members/Campaign Group away day on 11 May, where (amongst other things) it had been suggested that the Group be re-named Campaign and Lobby Group.
· Maureen would be speaking at the forthcoming GWSF Regeneration Conference: although this was to be mainly about Ardenglen’s work, it would help maintain the profile of the Campaign Group.
12 Any other business
12.1 There was no other business.
13 Date of next meeting
Thursday 17 August, 19 October