Issue - items at meetings - Star

Report of the Head of Housing & Social Inclusion (copy attached).

92.1    The Committee considered a report of the Head of Housing and Social Inclusion which provided feedback from a satisfaction survey of a sample of residents carried out by the Council’s Policy, Performance & Analysis Team on behalf of Housing & Social Inclusion. 

92.2    The Chair reported that the feedback was positive news.  The report showed that the general satisfaction with services had improved.  This improvement was the result of a lot of hard work from tenant representatives and officers and demonstrated the positive impact that tenants’ representatives had.  

92.3    The Head of Customer Access & Business Improvement presented the report and informed members that the STAR survey, was discretionary, and replaced the formerly obligatory STATUS survey.  The survey results provided an up-to-date and statistically significant indication of customer satisfaction on a range of housing services.

92.4    John Melson acknowledged that there was a great deal for which the council could be congratulated.  Much of this work had been carried out over the last 3 or 4 years.    

92.5    Tony Worsfold referred to the satisfaction percentages in the executive summary of the report.  These were different from the percentages quoted in section 3.5.0 in report 96 – Housing & Social Inclusion Performance Report.  The Head of Customer Access & Business Improvement explained that the two separate surveys were different in the questions and survey methodology. 

92.6    The Head of Housing and Social Inclusion reported that the STAR survey had been carried out by Housemark, and had been taken from a sample of tenants. 

92.7    Councillor Peltzer Dunn referred to paragraph 4.2 in relation to 16-24 year olds.  He remarked that 16 & 17 year olds could not be tenants.  The Head of Customer Access & Business Improvement explained that there were one or two tenants whose tenancy was held in trust.  

92.8    Councillor Peltzer Dunn queried why the age range was not the same in paragraph 5 (age range) and paragraph 4.2 (age).  The Head of Housing and Social Inclusion explained that in all of the figures, a number of questions had been completed but not all the questions had been answered.  It was a random sample.  If a question was unanswered it was not followed up.

92.9    Councillor Mears reported that 16 year olds were put into council tenancies and social workers were involved.  It was a satisfactory report but she stressed that officers should not be complacent. 

92.10  The Chair noted that tenants living in houses were less likely to be satisfied than tenants living in flats.  David Murtagh suggested that this was because most flats were built in the 1960s and 1970s whereas most houses were pre-war.  The Head of Housing and Social Inclusion stressed that flats were subject of visible investment and most tenants of flats were more aware of services due to the sharing of communal areas. 

92.11  Tom Whiting referred to the statistic that 96% of tenants surveyed in sheltered accommodation were satisfied with housing services.  He felt that this figure was too high.  He stressed that there was a need to monitor the most vulnerable in sheltered housing.   The Chair said he would speak to Mr Whiting about this issue.

92.12  Councillor Peltzer Dunn referred to paragraph 3 – Methodology. This stated that all leaseholders and empty properties had been excluded from the survey.   Officers confirmed that the STAR survey did not include leaseholders.  A satisfaction survey of leaseholders was carried out every two years.  The last survey was carried out in 2010 and another survey would be carried out shortly. 

92.13  Councillor Mears referred to the financial implications in paragraph 5.1.  She asked how much the survey had cost.  The Chair stated that costs could be provided over the last 5 years.  This would be provided for members of the HMCC.

92.14  RESOLVED - That the contents of this report and the views of the HMCC as detailed above be noted.