Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 31 January 2012.

Resolved:       That the minutes of the meeting of the Services Select Committee held on 31 January 2012 be approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

Cllr. Mrs. George declared a personal interest in that she worked closely with Deborah White from West Kent Housing Association.

Cllr. Mrs. Parkin declared a personal interest in matters relating to housing and benefits as she had relatives in both social housing and on benefits.

(a) Performance Monitoring (Referral from Performance and Governance Committee – 13 March 2012)

(a)       Performance Monitoring (Referral from Performance and Governance Committee – 13 March 2012)

Members noted that it had not been possible to gather all of the information required for consideration at the meeting, but that it had been added to the work plan for June 2012, and would be reported along with the Human Resources Update report.

An amended version of the report was tabled as the printed copy had omitted Action 5. 

With reference to financial contributions received in lieu of affordable housing, a Member queried whether there were any plans to spend the money yet and any plans to build more housing.  In response, the Head of Housing and Communications advised that they had been working closely with the Planning Policy unit and that the Affordable Housing Supplementary Planning Documents provided advice and guidance on a range of approaches, standards and mechanisms required to deliver a range of affordable housing to meet local needs which included building.  The Planning Policy Manager reported that there was no scheme at the moment which stated where the money should be allocated.  A Member advised that the Finance Advisory Board had on their Work Plan to look at the management of the fund and how the money was allocated.

All of the remaining actions from the previous meeting were noted.

Questions to be put to selected Panel (Stages 4 - 5)

Chairman’s’ Introduction

The Chairman welcomed the Panel to the meeting, and explained the questioning process he wished to follow.

Questions to the Panel (as tabled)

Members asked the Panel of speakers the pre-arranged questions and the following responses were received:

How can Planners help to improve down sizing of under occupied Social Housing? 

(Alan Dyer – Planning Services Manager, Sevenoaks District Council)

There were two ways this could be achieved.  Firstly by granting permission for more small dwellings to increase the stock of smaller dwellings that were available for tenants of larger properties to move into.  Policy SP5 of the Core Strategy stated that the Council “will seek the inclusion of small units (less than three bedrooms) in new development schemes in suitable locations to increase the proportion of smaller units in the District housing stock.” Secondly, by using affordable housing financial contributions collected under Policy SP3 of the Core Strategy to support down sizing initiatives.  The Core Strategy stated that financial contributions may be used to support initiatives to reduce under occupation of family housing in the social rented sector.  The Affordable Housing SPD included supporting initiatives to make better use of the existing housing stock as one of five ways in which funds collected under the policy can be used.  Those five ways were: Provision of new affordable housing in the District via a Registered Provider of social housing (including adding to provision on development sites, new stand alone schemes and existing property purchase); Initiatives to make better use of the existing stock (including tackling under occupation and fuel poverty where it enabled better use to be made of the stock); Managing future needs for affordable housing, including homelessness prevention and benefit advisory services; Assisting those in housing need to access low cost home ownership; and Supporting the development of rural exception sites to meet rural housing

When asked the difference between ‘social’ and ‘affordable’ housing, the Planning Policy Manager responded that for planning purposes the definition of affordable housing was ‘housing for people who cannot afford to buy or rent on the open market.’  Social housing is one type of affordable housing but the definition also includes shared ownership.  Low cost market housing does not count as affordable.

How many tenants do you assist to move from under occupied housing per annum, under the "Small is Beautiful" scheme?

(Deborah White – Housing and Communities Director, West Kent Housing Association)

The figure varied depending on demand and availability of suitable vacancies but was around eleven to twelve cases a year between 2009 and 2011 with a budget of £20,000 which included some funding from SDC. It would be possible to increase this if there a surge in demand. WKHA had moved six cases from a 3 bed to a 1 bed, three from a 2 bed to a 1 bed and one from a 6 bed to a three bed.  The policy had changed in 2010 increasing the offer so expenditure was more appropriate though one less case  ...  view the full minutes text for item 42.

In addition to the report presented by the Group Manager – Financial Services, the Committee received a presentation from the Vice Chairman of the Universal Credit Working Group.  He reported that since the last meeting of the Committee they had appointed Cllr. Firth as Chairman and himself as Vice Chairman and had already held a number of meetings.  He reported that the system would be rolled out from 1 April 2013, which only left a year to prepare.  It was being brought in to address inadequacies in the current benefits system which appeared to penalise people for working and causing them to be better off by remaining on benefits.  There were so many different benefits that could be claimed, and not everyone knew what they were entitled to and didn’t always know how any wages may affect those benefits. However Universal Credit would automatically adjust this.  There were potential problems though.  Under the new system only the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) would administer the Universal Credit, but the Council would be responsible for the Council Tax Discount.    The Working Group had received a presentation from the Benefits Manager which the representative attending from the DWP had asked to take away with him, so it appeared the Council’s Officers were very clued up.  Another potential problem was the ‘digital by default’ expectation that all applications would be carried out online.  The target was 80%.  The group had made enquiries as to whether the Job Centre would provide a worker in Edenbridge or Swanley to help people apply. 

Universal Credit would be paid monthly in arrears, the idea was to make it like a salary.  This would also have an impact, as many people would be used to budgeting fortnightly.  There would also be penalties for under occupation, and tenants would receive the money for their rent directly with them responsible for paying the landlord which would be another learning curve for many people that could potentially cause some issues.  A possible consequence would be people falling into arrears and as the Council was responsible for emergency accommodation this could have a cost impact.  In response to a question asking whether many had bank accounts, he responded that 97-98% of those in receipt of unemployment benefit had bank accounts, but yes there was the issue of those without.  Another potential issue was the fact that the money would only be paid to one individual within the household, giving one person ultimate power to administer the benefits within the household and the potential issues that could arise from that. 

In response to a question, he replied that the DWP had not finalised a lot of the finer detail, but this was primary legislation and much of what he was reporting was unchangeable.  There was also a potential issue of staffing within the Revenues and Benefits section.  There would be no role for some of them once the DWP took over administration of the Universal Credit system   An issue the Council would  ...  view the full minutes text for item 43.

Members will develop a schedule of work over the year to reflect the terms of reference of the Committee focussing on the Council's priorities for policy development. This includes opportunities to invite  other organisations who provide services in the District to provide information to the Committee and discuss issues of importance to the Community.

Members noted the Work Plan.  It was agreed that the Human Resources Update would be combined with the Performance Monitoring report on sickness absence and reported to the meeting in June 2012.