Scrutiny Lounge Northampton10th February 2014

Scrutiny panel members attended the Scrutiny Lounge from the following organisations:

Circle Housing Mercian

Hyde Housing Group

Milton Keynes Council

South Northants Homes

The Scrutiny Lounge begins with an exercise that allows scrutiny panel members to vote on the areas of scrutiny they would like to discuss. The following questions were the most popular. For each question short discussions were held around the tables and then a group wide discussion followed. Some of the main issues raised are shared here.

  1. Should members of a scrutiny panel be paid?

All the scrutiny panel members present agreed that member should NOT get paid. Those present said they were on their scrutiny panel because they “wanted to make a difference”, “they do it for the love of it’, they might not speak their own mind” if they were paid. There was also concern about how being paid would be perceived by the wider tenant body; how it might increase their workloads and what was expected of them. Lastly and by no means least there was concern about how payment would affect / impact on any benefits / pensions that Scrutiny Panel members received.

However, there was general agreement amongst those present that in order to attract younger tenants they would need to be offered incentives and be clear about the benefits to them of being on the Scrutiny Panel e.g. training

  1. What response did you get from the Board / Council following your recommendations?

There were 3 different responses to this question:

  • One scrutiny panel said they completed their first review last year and that those recommendations tasked to the Resident Involvement Team had either been completed or were in the process of being done. However those allocated to other members of staff had not been done. Whilst there is support from the Board it was felt that there was not the support from senior staff.
  • A second scrutiny panel said that they had made 26 recommendations in their first review and all of them had been agreed and had either been completed or were in the process of being completed.
  • A third scrutiny panel said that they go direct to the Assistant Director of Housing who ensures things get done.
  1. Have you had any access to information issues?

Again, there were 3 different responses to this question:

  • One scrutiny panel said they have quite a big problem getting information from their landlord who question why they want it and its relevance. If the landlord thinks the information is not relevant they won’t provide it.
  • A second scrutiny panel said that as yet they had not experienced any problems with their landlord providing information requested although they had been given some wrong information.
  • A third organisation said that they don’t have too many problems getting information. They have a very supportive Senior Managing Director but feel some of the other managers are not quite so supportive
  1. How are your scrutiny panel members recruited?

The following techniques are used: articles in tenants newsletters and on the landlords website, recruitment leaflets, presentations at other tenant group meetings; events and tenants conferences. Interested tenants are sent an application form to complete. All tenants who submit a completed application form are interviewed by members of the Scrutiny Panel, with a member of staff present.All those present agreed that it is important that tenants have an interest in scrutiny, are committed and willing to be trained.

  1. Who should set the budget and agree it with the board?

None of the scrutiny panel members present know how much the budget for scrutiny is, This was either because the budget for scrutiny was included in the overall budget for Resident Involvement or simply because their landlord would not tell them.

It was agreed that it is important to know the budget to ensure Value for Money and that limited budgets can restrict activity and members that don’t know about budgets. There needs to be an allowance to train and up-skill members and for provision of advice and guidance.