Agenda item

The Committee received for consideration the 2017/18 Well-Being Objectives Performance Monitoring Report for Quarter 1 in respect of the period 1^st April to 30^th June, 2017.

The following issues were raised on the report:-

·        In response to a question relating to the percentage of empty private properties brought back into use, the Head of Housing and Public Protection confirmed that staffing levels within the unit had decreased by one and, as a consequence, the Division was only able to concentrate its resources on addressing high risk cases. However, a business case was being prepared to support the appointment of an additional officer which would be considered as part of the forthcoming budget preparations.

·        Concerns were raised in relation to the imminent U.K. rollout of the new Universal Credit Benefit system and to whether the Council had/were considering any avenues available to it to offer assistance to those affected by the new system.

The Head of Housing and Public Protection advised that there was general concern regarding the impact of the new system, and Executive Board Members for Housing from across Wales had recently met with the Welsh Government to place political pressure on the U.K. Government to reconsider its proposals.

Whilst representations were being made nationally, the Authority was adopting a pro-active approach in an endeavour to minimise the impact of Universal Credit both on its tenants and the potential for the level of rent arrears to increase. Those included the establishment of a pre-tenancy team to assist prospective new tenants to ensure they could viably enter into a tenancy agreement together with the appointment of an officer to examine the impact countywide.

The Head of Housing and Public Protection further advised that as it had been anticipated rent arrear levels could rise by between 20-30% the Housing Services Business Plan would need to be re-visited to address that potential increase which could impact on council policy to increase the provision of affordable homes within the Council.

In response to a question on the impact on the private rented sector, the Head of Housing and Public Protection stated that private landlords may be less inclined to accept tenants on Universal Credit and there was research to suggest that and any of their tenants falling into arrears would be evicted and become reliant on the public sector for re-housing. In an attempt to alleviate that situation, the Council was offering its services to manage landlord properties.

·        Reference was made to the Council’s efforts to dispose of its estate at Bryn Mefys, Llanelli on the open market and clarification sought on the current position. The Head of Housing and Public Protection confirmed that four bids had been received and negotiations were progressing on appointing a preferred developer to redevelop the estate.

·        Reference was made to the recent stock condition survey undertaken on the council’s seven care home and information was requested on its outcome. The Head of Housing and Public Protection advised that the results were varied as some of the homes had recently been completely/partially rebuilt to a high standard whereas others were in need of modernisation and funding bids were being made in the capital programme to facilitate those improvements. The Division was also endeavouring to develop a Home Standard for its Care Homes, similar to that for its housing properties, with a wide range of issues being considered for example the provision of en-suite facilities.

·        In response to a question on the production of a long term digital service plan to enable tenants to undertake their business on-line, the Head of Housing and Public Protection confirmed that investigations were on-going to replace the existing software and would include provision for business to be transacted via smart phones.

·        Reference was made to the measure for leisure services to promote healthier eating and drinking options for consumers and information requested on what measures were being introduced to achieve that.

The Head of Leisure advised that a range of options were being considered to achieve a consistency of service provision across leisure services including speaking with existing franchisees, examining procurement policies, and liaising with the voluntary sector. Additionally, work was on-going to examine how the authority, with its various partners could address childhood obesity levels which could include working with sports clubs in an attempt to influence them to provide healthy after match/training refreshments.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the report be received.