BOROUGH OF POOLE
COMMUNITY SUPPORT OVERVIEW GROUP
15 JANUARY 2008
The Meeting commenced at 7:05pm and finished at 9:00pm.
Members present:
Councillor Bulteel (Chairman)
Councillors Ms Atkinson, Mrs Deas, Mrs Haines, Mrs Lavender (substitute for Councillor Mrs Hillman), Mrs Long, Mason, Matthews, Rampton and Wilson (substitute for Councillor Meachin).
Members of the public present:3
CSG35.08APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Mrs Hillman and Meachin (with the above substitutions).
CSG36.08MINUTES
RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Meeting held on 27 November 2007, having been previously circulated, be taken as read, confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.
CSG37.08DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
Councillor Bulteel declared a prejudicial interest in M.CSG40.08 as a Board Member of Poole Housing Partnership Limited and left the room during the debate on that item.
Councillor Mrs Long declared a personal interest in M.CSG42.08 as a Service User.
Councillor Wilson declared a personal interest in M.CSG40.08 as a Board Member of Poole Housing Partnership Limited and left the room during the debate on that item.
CSG38.08SUCH OTHER BUSINESS, AS IN THE OPINION OF THE CHAIRMAN, IS OF SUFFICIENT URGENCY TO WARRANT CONSIDERATION AT THE MEETING
There were no urgent items of business.
CSG39.08PARTNERSHIP FOR OLDER PEOPLE’S PROJECT (POPP) – UPDATE
The Head of Adult Social Services (Commissioning) gave a short update to Members of the Overview Group on the delivery of the Partnership for Older People’s Project and the service developments which were arising as a consequence. He introduced Jean May and Beryl Tyrell who had been asked to make short presentations on the Project.
Firstly, the Head of Adult Social Services (Commissioning) introduced Jeff Russell, Principal Officer, who had been responsible for the introduction of this Scheme who advised the Meeting that the funding from the Department of Health expired in March 2008, and a requirement of the bid was for the Borough of Poole to commit itself to an ongoing plan of service re-design and delivery based upon the outcomes of the pilot project. The key messages from POPP’S were the reduction in length of hospital stay in Poole Hospital and the promotion of independent living within the community for older people. This had been achieved through:
- Social Services and Healthcare staff working together within integrated teams
- Staff groups focusing on the needs of specific localities
- Creation of new jobs, i.e., health/social care assistants
- Engagement of GP’s, Housing and Voluntary Sector
- Engagement of older people in service design and delivery.
He emphasised that the success of the POPP’S Project, whilst being the smallest in the National Programme, had been regarded as amongst one of the most successful and had been asked to feature in major national conferences and was recently visited by the Secretary of State and referenced in the Director of Adult Social Services Conference in Bournemouth.
He emphasised that, as a requirement of the pilot, Poole had submitted a Sustainability Plan to the Department of Health which meant that there was now an exciting and significant development in service provision for adults and older people across Poole through the creation of a joint intermediate care service with the Bournemouth and Poole Primary Care Trusts. Together with reconfiguring existing teams within the Primary Care Trust and Adult Social Services, the original Department of Health Grant of £398,000 per annum for 2 years would lead to an investment of £1,190,000.
The new Poole Intermediate Care Service (PICS) had commenced phased implementation from 5 December 2007 with the appointment of new medical, nursing and social care staff, this service would become fully operational by 31 March 2008. Its aim would be to prevent avoidable admissions to hospital, facilitate rapid discharge and prevent avoidable admissions to residential care. A clear link would also be made with the new floating support services for older people being commissioned by the Supporting People Programme which meant a further investment of £440,000. These support services would represent a real opportunity to promote the wellbeing of older people across Poole.
The Poole Intermediate Care Service (PICS) would enable the POPP model of working to be extended across the Borough of Poole through the creation of 4 locally integrated teams aligned to the GP localities and Safer Neighbourhood initiatives. These teams would be managed through a single joint appointment.
Jean May, a resident of Cinnamon Lane Sheltered Accommodation, advised the Meeting that she was an original member of the Steering Group and had been involved in the Project from the outset. She congratulated Officers and staff for their enthusiasm and advice on how the project was carried out. She lived in a small, sheltered housing complex and at present, 3 residents were being helped through the POPP’S Project. There had been many benefits and outcomes from this pilot and for the first time residents had support from a Podiatrist. The Project had also brought forward social benefits, such as a photography course, exercise classes and cookery courses. She mentioned that a Newsletter had also been produced and this had resulted in one resident seeing this publication who had not been out of his house for 2 years since the death of his wife. This resulted in him now enjoying himself through social activities all down to the POPP’S Project. It was hoped that those involved, would still continue with the good work once the pilot finished.
Jeff Russell emphasised the benefits of the POPP’S Project in preventing avoidable admissions to hospital and also the time spent in hospital. However, the Project was not just about preventing admissions but issues of Wellbeing were important. The POPP’S Project was now being extended and would be known as the Poole Intermediate Care Service (PICS) and would be extended into other areas of the Borough by February 2008.
Beryl Tyrell highlighted the benefits of the POPP’S Project by drawing attention to a personal situation which involved her sister who lived in Canford Cliffs and 4 months ago became ill and had to undergo tests for 6 weeks, after which time she became distressed and frail. Despite the hospital saying that Social Services would be contacted, this never happened and as a consequence, when she became ill her GP was called and it was his opinion that it was unfortunate that POPP’S was not available in the area. This was just one example of the benefits POPP’S could have had.
The Portfolio Holder for Wellbeing and Housing stated that this was one of the smallest pilot projects in the country. The way the Project had been introduced had been a real achievement for those concerned. The Project had been specifically designed for Poole residents and she wished to thank all the Volunteers and Officers for their work.
Finally, Jean May advised the Meeting that this pilot was certainly “top of the POPP’s”.
RESOLVED that
(i)the Report by the Head of Adult Social Services (Commissioning) be noted; and
(ii)the Community Support Overview Group wishes to thank Jean May and Beryl Tyrell for their Presentations on the success of the POPP’s project.
For:Unanimous
CSG40.08HOUSING REVENUE ACCOUNT BUDGET AND RENT SETTING, POOLE HOUSING PARTNERSHIP DELIVERY PLAN, HRA CAPITAL PROGRAMME, MANAGEMENT FEE AND BUSINESS PLAN 2008/9
The Chairman, Councillor Bulteel and Councillor Wilson left the room for the debate on this item.
Councillor Ms Atkinson was duly elected Chairman for this item and thereupon took the Chair.
The Head of Housing and Community Services submitted a report, requesting Members to consider the principles of the setting of the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Budget for 2008/9, the Rent Setting and setting of other charges, the Poole Housing Partnership Management Fee and the Decent Homes Capital Programme.
The Report was based on the draft Government Subsidy determination, therefore, the conclusions were subject to change once the final subsidy determination was received.
(a)HRA Financial Strategy and Financial Plan
The Meeting was advised that the Financial Strategy for the Housing Revenue Account continued to be “to focus resources on achieving the Decent Homes Standard in Council properties and supporting strong, sustainable communities; to set rent increases in line with the Government’s rent restructuring policy”.
The Head of Housing and Community Services stated that the Housing Revenue Account was a separate ring fenced account within those of the Council and as such, records the income and expenditure associated with the Council’s landlord function in respect of the Council’s housing stock. The account did not impact on the wider general fund budget setting, and hence, nor on the level of Council Tax.
The Financial Plan set out how the Council intended to deliver its financial strategy and included separate strategies for revenue capital and balances.
(b)Rent Restructuring
In July 2001, the Government published a paper on HRA Subsidy and Rent Restructuring. The document set out the principles for the introduction of a new Rent Setting structure, with the object of ensuring that social rents should remain fair, affordable and closely linked to the “qualities” tenants valued in properties. To summarise, the rent for each individual property was set by:-
- Determining a target rent (the formula rent) for each property which took account of both property’s value, the number of bedrooms and county average earnings compared to the national average.
- A phased move from the 2001/2 actual rent to the formula rent in 10 steps; these started in 2002/3 and would be completed in 20011/12.
The overall impact of rent restructuring (which was limited by the safeguard of RPI plus 0.5% plus £2 per week) meant that the rent increase for 2008/9 would, on average, be 6.5%.
The Meeting was advised that to increase rents above the formula would lead to financial penalties in terms of subsidy withdrawal. Similarly, to set rents below the guideline would not obviate the need to increase rents in the future to catch up with the formula level in order to comply with rent restructuring in the long term. Furthermore, it would deprive the HRA of resources required to fund services and investment.
The proposed rent increase and scale of charges would be discussed at the Resident led Housing Strategy Panel on 6 February 2008.
(c)Scale of Charges
It was recommended that garage rents should increase in line with the average dwelling rent increase of 6.5%. It was proposed that heating charges were set taking account of the charging policy of costs being levied by the Energy Service suppliers (12%).
The Sheltered Housing Officer charge had been increased in line with CLG’s previous advice on service charge increases. The advice was to use RPI (as per above) of 3.9% plus 0.5%, totalling 4.4%.
The Supporting People support charge was being increased inline with the advice on charges that would be supported by the grant from the Supporting People Commissioning Body. At this time, advice was to use 1%.
In relation to the other charges the strategy adopted was to increase these in line with the Government’s inflationary target (GDP inflator) which had altered slightly this year to 2.75%.
(d)Draft Subsidy Determination
The Head of Housing and Community Services reported that the Housing Revenue Account subsidy formula was a mechanism for distributing the resources identified as available for Local Authority Housing within the Government’s Spending Plan. The Council had received a Draft Subsidy Determination which indicated that there could be a significant adverse impact on the HRA. The final subsidy determination was not issued until 14 January but this had not been received for the Meeting. It would not be possible to definitely quantify the impact at this time.
(e)PHP Management Fee
The previous approach to the calculation of the Management Fee awarded to PHP was to base it on the previous year’s fee, inflate the fee based on agreed inflationary rates for salaries and prices and fund any additional agreed activity. An efficiency target was then set commensurate with that set in the General Fund. This was consistent with the approach used for budget setting in the General Fund.
This year the Management Fee was based on the resultant available balance after all the direct charges to the HRA had been processed. However, this did not lead to a surfeit funding for PHP Limited.
(f)Decent Homes Capital Programme
The Meeting was advised that the Programme would achieve 83% decency by 2008/9 and 100% by 2010. The detail of the Programme was subject to validation of stock condition data each year. Continued investment would be needed in the Council Housing stock in the future beyond 2010.
The Head of Housing and Community Services, in response to a question, undertook to look into garage rent increases to see if market values could be optimised in certain circumstances.
Jan Thurgood, Strategic Director, emphasised that the Council should ensure that there was good advice available for those on low income etc and for Partners to be involved in this process.
A Member felt that clarification was needed by the Monitoring Officer as to why there was a need for Ward Members of PHP Limited to leave the room during the debate.
In response, the Meeting was advised that Members of Poole Housing Partnership Limited could have a prejudicial interest when matters relating to the Management Fee were discussed. On this occasion both Members felt that they wished to leave the room to avoid any conflict of interest. The Monitoring Officer would be asked to clarify the situation for Members.
RECOMMENDED that the Community Support Overview Group feels that:
(i)the Financial Strategy of the Housing Revenue Account is to remain the same as previously, namely:-
“To focus resources on achieving the Decent Homes Standard in Council properties and supporting Strong Sustainable Communities; to set rent increases in line with the Government’s Rent Restructuring Policy”;
(ii)the average increase in dwelling rents in 2008/9 should be 6.5% but that individual properties will move towards their formula rent as required by the adoption of the Government’s Rent Restructuring Policy;
(iii)the heating charges should be set so as to cover the costs levied by energy service suppliers;
(iv)that garage charges should increase in line with rent increases at 6.5%;
(v)that service charges should be increased in line with the Government Inflationary Targets and that service charges and other charges should be subject to review as part of the forthcoming review of the future of the HRA;
(vi)It is noted that the draft Government Subsidy Determination indicates that there could be an adverse impact on the Housing Revenue Account;
(vii)the calculation of the Management Fee for Poole Housing Partnership Limited to undertake the management and maintenance of the Housing Revenue Account dwellings should change for 2008/9 from the previous approach;
(viii)the proposed Decent Homes Capital Programme be noted; and
(ix)following the final subsidy determination, expected to be issued by Government imminently, it is noted that Cabinet will receive a full report recommending the charges to be set, the HRA Budget, the HRA Capital Programme and the PHP Management Fee as part of the Council’s Budget Setting process.
For:Unanimous
COG41.08COUNCIL’S HOUSING STOCK – SETTING UP OF SELECT COMMITTEE STYLE WORKING PARTY
The Head of Housing and Community Services presented a report seeking Members’ support for the Terms of Reference for the Working Party on the future of the Council’s Housing Stock. There was a need for investment beyond 2010 to achieve Decent Homes Standards, coupled with pressures on the Housing Revenue Account which meant that there was a need to review the Housing Stock.
The Working Party was being set up to look at what were the expectations of residents for the future and the options available to ensure funding was in place beyond 2010 to meet these expectations. The Working Party would consider all options, including emerging new options, to establish the best one for Poole. The work would be done jointly between the Borough of Poole, Poole Housing Partnership Limited and Residents Representatives (Tenants and Leaseholders) of Poole.
The Working Party would aim to identify the viable options based on consultation. Once these had been established the options would need to be developed with residents. Residents would ultimately need to make a decision on any changes from current arrangements via a test of opinion or ballot.