Issue - meetings

Report of Assistant Director - Customer Focus

Purpose of report

To give the committee an update on how the council has performed against its performance indicators for October 2023.

Recommendations

The meeting is recommend:

1.1           To review the Council’s performance report for October 2023 and considers what, if any recommendations it would like the Executive to consider.

Resolved

(1)      That having given due consideration, the Council’s October 2023-24 performance be noted and no recommendations be submitted for Executive consideration.

The Committee considered a report from the Assistant Director – Customer Focus that detailed the Council’s performance against its indicators for October 2023.

In introducing the report, the Portfolio Holder for Corporate Services explained  that all  indicators were on target.

In response to a question on indicator BP1.2.01, number of homeless households living in Temporary Accommodation (TA), and how many of the families were the same as had been reported homeless at the previous meeting of the Committee in October, the Portfolio Holder for Housing responded that there were 20 families in that category. The Committee was advised that nine of those households were under offer and awaiting accommodation, with the remaining 11 families waiting for an offer or under assessment.

The Committee was also advised that around 20% of households in temporary accommodation at any one time, were waiting to have their situation assessed. Part of the role of the Housing Options Team was to assess the circumstances of people that approached the Council to understand their reasons for homelessness and whether the Council could offer them an ongoing housing duty.

The Portfolio Holder for Housing advised the Committee that none of the households still in temporary accommodation, were as a result of waiting for Sanctuary Housing to carry out and complete repairs.

Further questions were raised regarding the process for Registered Providers to nominate properties for registration on the Homechoice housing register. The Head of Housing advised that as part of the Nominations Agreement with Registered Providers, they were only able to register properties that would ready and available within six weeks.

Following further discussion, and in response to a request for clarification regarding the target for the number of homeless households in the Cherwell District, the Assistant Director Wellbeing and Housing advised that the target number was reviewed regularly. The Committee was also advised that in the event of a large increase in the number of homeless households the Council faced capacity challenges but was able to mitigate these to a certain extent using alternative accommodation options such as hotels.

In response to a question regarding the historic data for the indicator, the Assistant Director Wellbeing and Housing confirmed that she would investigate how much historical data was available and respond accordingly.

In response to a question on indicator BP4 1.02, support community safety and anti-social behaviour prevention activities and the outcomes of the Active Leaders Course, the Portfolio Holder for Healthy and Safe Communities advised that as the first course had only recently finished, none of the participants had yet entered paid employment. The Head of Regulatory Services and Community Safety gave an overview of the course objectives and planned outcomes.

Resolved

(1)      That having given due consideration, the Council’s October 2023-24 performance be noted and no recommendations be submitted for Executive consideration.