Agenda item

The Chair to advise the Committee of any items on which members of the public have requested to speak and advise those members of the public present of the details of the Council’s public participation scheme.

For those members of the public who have submitted any questions or statements, please note, a three minute time limit applies to each speaker and you will be asked to speak before Councillors debate the issue.

We are now live webcasting most of our committee meetings and you are welcome to view and listen to the discussion. The link to each webcast will be available on the meeting webpage, please see details under ‘click here to join online meeting’.

Public Questions were received from:

Shannon Johnstone

Housing and Homelessness team / staff training

Given that housing officers have to work within multiple legal frameworks and do hard and great work, making vastly important decisions, does the committee feel it would be beneficial for their housing and homelessness team to have a programme around what training each staff member should receive??A recent FOI confirmed that there was no policy or recorded data around what training they get.

Response from Service Director: Housing, Communities Services

Housing Options is the service area responsible for managing the council’s statutory duties and non statutory support and prevention for households who are homeless, at risk of homelessness or those who are rough sleeping.  The wider service also includes a Displaced People service.

The services is made up of circa 130 posts who previously were employed primarily by four former District Council all of which delivered there service and staff training differently.

The service recognises and agrees with the public question that the duties of the team must use a standard and consistent approach.   Good induction programmes for new staff and ongoing training and development is essential to ensure this consistency is embedded. 

The service has prepared a set of common induction materials for the Housing Options Officer role. These materials are now in final draft and will be piloted with new starters in September.  The documents will then be adopted for other roles in Housing Options and Displaced Persons service and reviewed at regular intervals.

The service through its restructure which take place later this year will help the service bring about greater consistency as the service will establish a staff structure which is consistent throughout the Counties four customer facing localities.  The service will also establish a number of officer posts responsible for establishing consistency of service and decisions. 

There has been some early success in the delivery of consistency for example all locations moved to one IT case management system in April 2023.

Establishing consistency is one of the projects placed in the housing transitional  programme which the service is calling ‘Establish consistent approach to case management & assessment for Housing Options’.

A range of materials have been developed including:

•        Induction Training Templates – Instructions.  - This document explains the corporate elements to the induction which all SC new starters must complete

•        Skillset Assessment and Training Recommendations- This document matches the competencies and skills listed on the Housing Options Officer Job Description, plus other skills such specific application skills (word, SharePoint etc) and asks the line manager to go through this on day one, capturing any gaps. For each competency or skill, the document suggests appropriate training which the new starter can do to address the gap in the skills.  By completing this document, a training plan will be established.

•        New starter plan - This document is intended as an ongoing way to capture the training and experience which the new starter acquires, so it is clear what gaps there are in their training and knowledge at all times.

•        Housing Options On Boarding Plan - This doc will be used by all of the Housing options team as a reference document – both during induction and ongoing, we see this as a living document which will be regularly updated as and when anything changes.

The service will continue to work hard to deliver a consistent service for all customers who approach the council for support.

Jean Humber:

Housing in Withycombe

Is the Committee aware of the negative effect their housing policy is having on small communities?

I have written to members of the Committee individually briefly explaining a situation that has arisen recently in Withycombe, a small village in West Somerset on the edge of Exmoor. West Somerset has a strong sense of identity as have the villages within it. The current housing allocation policy attaches no importance to the local connection of an applicant and is unfairly discriminating against those from small communities where housing availability is minimal, almost non-existent. A policy which breaks up a community cannot be right. 

Already many young people have to move away because of the lack of job opportunities but they shouldn’t have to move out of their community because they cannot get a house particularly when they are already established in that community and making a positive contribution to that community. It is one thing when they see no house, quite another when they see it being allocated to someone with no local connection.

Without going into the reasons for it, the root cause is too many people chasing too few houses but that is unlikely to change in the immediate future meanwhile local people in small communities will be unfairly discriminated against when a local connection counts for nothing. Born, bred, living and active in the village; it doesn’t get more local than that.

I would ask the Committee review their housing application policy as a matter of urgency. Members of Withycombe Parish Council would welcome the opportunity to discuss this further.

Response from Chair, Scrutiny Committee – Communities

Thank you for your letter of 31st July.

Some years ago the then West Somerset Council (WSC) transferred its Council Houses to Magna but the contract only gave WSC and its successors limited influence over future operations. This was limited to matters such as proceeds from the sale of previous council stock being reused within the district and a handful of other clauses. 

Magna as a registered social landlord is committed to the provision of well managed affordable housing and the expectations of the government and regulator as a social housing provider.  Our main opportunity to influence Magna is through our relationships and partnership approach. This offers two main opportunities:

a)       Homefinder policy – ‘local connection’ for the purposes of the Homefinder policy is defined as the connection to Somerset County Council area rather than specific localities within the council’s area.  The policy has recently been reviewed by the Board in consultation with the landlords and was agreed to remain in place as a connection to the wider area.  The main reasons for this are i) to ensure housing need receives a higher priority over location ii) there is potential for legal challenge, on grounds of discrimination, where local lettings policies encourage homes to be let to those already established in the community rather than those not established despite often being in greater housing need.  As a partner in Homefinder the Somerset Council stance aligns to this policy.

b)       Landlord members of Homefinder can choose to introduce local connection criteria but this is often as a planning approval requirement for new homes, although some landlords do introduce a blanket approach and allow local connection to be focused on much smaller localities.  I am only aware of Falcon Housing Association in the Homefinder scheme applying local connection as a common approach and should any challenge occur Falcon would need to justify their policy.  Falcon are a very small provider of homes with a rural focus and therefore they may feel better able to have this policy.  Magna could make a policy decision to use local connection more often for localities however with such acute demand for housing there are benefits to the Homefinder service and council in prioritising housing need over locality.

I represent rural community and understand the strength of local feeling over issues like these. All I can say is that the Homefinder system works very well and people do get their needs addressed even if it takes a little time. I understand from the Parish Council that another Magna property is shortly to become vacant and if this family is in the Gold Band they are likely to be in a good position to be offered it.

The Parish Council has asked if the Community Scrutiny Committee can look at the issue of local connection and housing need. I am liaising with colleagues and will reply shortly

Public questions were received from Shannon Johnstone and Jean Humber. 

The questions and the responses are provided below:

Shannon Johnstone

Housing and Homelessness team / staff training

Given that housing officers have to work within multiple legal frameworks and do hard and great work, making vastly important decisions, does the committee feel it would be beneficial for their housing and homelessness team to have a programme around what training each staff member should receive??A recent FOI confirmed that there was no policy or recorded data around what training they get.

Response from Service Director - Housing, Communities Services

Housing Options is the service area responsible for managing the council’s statutory duties and non statutory support and prevention for households who are homeless, at risk of homelessness or those who are rough sleeping.  The wider service also includes a Displaced People service.

The services is made up of circa 130 posts who previously were employed primarily by four former District Council all of which delivered there service and staff training differently.

The service recognises and agrees with the public question that the duties of the team must use a standard and consistent approach.   Good induction programmes for new staff and ongoing training and development is essential to ensure this consistency is embedded. 

The service has prepared a set of common induction materials for the Housing Options Officer role. These materials are now in final draft and will be piloted with new starters in September.  The documents will then be adopted for other roles in Housing Options and Displaced Persons service and reviewed at regular intervals.

The service through its restructure which take place later this year will help the service bring about greater consistency as the service will establish a staff structure which is consistent throughout the Counties four customer facing localities.  The service will also establish a number of officer posts responsible for establishing consistency of service and decisions. 

There has been some early success in the delivery of consistency for example all locations moved to one IT case management system in April 2023.

Establishing consistency is one of the projects placed in the housing transitional programme which the service is calling ‘Establish consistent approach to case management & assessment for Housing Options’.

A range of materials have been developed including:

•        Induction Training Templates – Instructions.  - This document explains the corporate elements to the induction which all SC new starters must complete

•        Skillset Assessment and Training Recommendations- This document matches the competencies and skills listed on the Housing Options Officer Job Description, plus other skills such specific application skills (word, SharePoint etc) and asks the line manager to go through this on day one, capturing any gaps. For each competency or skill, the document suggests appropriate training which the new starter can do to address the gap in the skills.  By completing this document, a training plan will be established. 

•        New starter plan - This document is intended as an ongoing way to capture the training and experience which the new starter acquires, so it is clear what gaps there are in their training and knowledge at all times.

•        Housing Options On Boarding Plan - This doc will be used by all of the Housing options team as a reference document – both during induction and ongoing, we see this as a living document which will be regularly updated as and when anything changes.

The service will continue to work hard to deliver a consistent service for all customers who approach the council for support.

Jean Humber

Housing in Withycombe

Is the Committee aware of the negative effect their housing policy is having on small communities?

I have written to members of the Committee individually briefly explaining a situation that has arisen recently in Withycombe, a small village in West Somerset on the edge of Exmoor. West Somerset has a strong sense of identity as have the villages within it. The current housing allocation policy attaches no importance to the local connection of an applicant and is unfairly discriminating against those from small communities where housing availability is minimal, almost non-existent. A policy which breaks up a community cannot be right. 

Already many young people have to move away because of the lack of job opportunities but they shouldn’t have to move out of their community because they cannot get a house particularly when they are already established in that community and making a positive contribution to that community. It is one thing when they see no house, quite another when they see it being allocated to someone with no local connection.

Without going into the reasons for it, the root cause is too many people chasing too few houses but that is unlikely to change in the immediate future meanwhile local people in small communities will be unfairly discriminated against when a local connection counts for nothing. Born, bred, living and active in the village; it doesn’t get more local than that.

I would ask the Committee review their housing application policy as a matter of urgency. Members of Withycombe Parish Council would welcome the opportunity to discuss this further.

Response from Chair, Scrutiny Committee – Communities, Cllr Gwil Wren

Thank you for your letter of 31st July.

Some years ago the then West Somerset Council (WSC) transferred its Council Houses to Magna but the contract only gave WSC and its successors limited influence over future operations. This was limited to matters such as proceeds from the sale of previous council stock being reused within the district and a handful of other clauses. 

Magna as a registered social landlord is committed to the provision of well managed affordable housing and the expectations of the government and regulator as a social housing provider.  Our main opportunity to influence Magna is through our relationships and partnership approach. This offers two main opportunities:

a)       Homefinder policy – ‘local connection’ for the purposes of the Homefinder policy is defined as the connection to Somerset County Council area rather than specific localities within the council’s area.  The policy has recently been reviewed by the Board in consultation with the landlords and was agreed to remain in place as a connection to the wider area.  The main reasons for this are i) to ensure housing need receives a higher priority over location ii) there is potential for legal challenge, on grounds of discrimination, where local lettings policies encourage homes to be let to those already established in the community rather than those not established despite often being in greater housing need.  As a partner in Homefinder the Somerset Council stance aligns to this policy.

b)       Landlord members of Homefinder can choose to introduce local connection criteria but this is often as a planning approval requirement for new homes, although some landlords do introduce a blanket approach and allow local connection to be focused on much smaller localities.  I am only aware of Falcon Housing Association in the Homefinder scheme applying local connection as a common approach and should any challenge occur Falcon would need to justify their policy.  Falcon are a very small provider of homes with a rural focus and therefore they may feel better able to have this policy.  Magna could make a policy decision to use local connection more often for localities however with such acute demand for housing there are benefits to the Homefinder service and council in prioritising housing need over locality.

I represent rural community and understand the strength of local feeling over issues like these. All I can say is that the Homefinder system works very well and people do get their needs addressed even if it takes a little time. I understand from the Parish Council that another Magna property is shortly to become vacant and if this family is in the Gold Band they are likely to be in a good position to be offered it.

The Parish Council has asked if the Community Scrutiny Committee can look at the issue of local connection and housing need. I am liaising with colleagues and will reply shortly.

The following comments and questions were received and discussed with Members:

•        Homefinder Service all Member briefing, to gain greater insight to the 10,000 households seeking affordable accommodation to include projects and scheme to incentivise property downsizing

•        The increased Home Finder Service queries and escalating demand and the challenges, including demand outstripping the supply of affordable housing, the significant cost of living crisis, national displaced persons agenda, local demand for private sector housing

•        The work to address the challenges, including, joint working with Children Services and work with housing providers to grow local authority housing stock.

•        Planning application law, viability and developer issues regarding set figures for building affordable housing and delivering both social and affordable housing.