Agenda and draft minutes

Members are reminded of their responsibility to declare any pecuniary interest in respect of matters contained in this agenda.

If you have a pecuniary interest you must withdraw from the meeting. Normally you should leave the room before the business starts to be discussed. You do, however, have the same right to speak as a member of the public and may remain in the room to enable you to exercise that right and then leave immediately. In either case you must not seek to improperly influence a decision on the matter.

No declarations were made.

Rachel Stewart to present background information and report relating to Select Move in the Borough.

Councillor Molyneaux was appointed Chair, with Councillor Sarah Ainsworth being appointed Vice-Chair.

Members received a report from Rachel Stewart, Housing Solutions Manager that provided background information to enable Members to effectively scope the review to build upon the review that was conducted in 2014. Members were informed of the recent activity undertaken with Select Move.

-       The Civica system had been upgraded for the operation and delivery of the Select Move partnership and register, which hosted a range of benefits.

-       The three local authorities involved, Chorley, South Ribble and Preston, agreed for the recruitment of a Select Move Coordinator, which would allow a single point of contact for Members.

-       In the two months, Rachel had been in post, the main focus had been to review the service and improve access for customers. Issues have remained with resources and use of agency staff for the short term.

Members will need to consider what the desired outcomes of the review will be and how this can be achieved.

Draft scoping document enclosed for members to consider and complete.

Members of the Task Group considered the scope of the inquiry and discussed objectives, outcomes, and who they wanted to interview as part of the review.

The Chair highlighted that an objective of the Task Group was to work on and build from the Task Group that took place in 2014, as complaints had been received that indicated that the recommendations made were no longer being adhered to, and changes had been made to Select Move without any consultation or announcement to Members. It was desired that Select Move worked for the benefit of the people of Chorley, which was not currently the case.

Issues raised and information sought included:

·         Quotas of properties that could be listed without being featured on Select Move, it was noted that it had in some areas increased to 25%, which resulted in a significant number of properties in sought after areas were not on Select Move.

·         Communication between Select Move towards customers and Members, i.e. banding and changes to the service without the knowledge of members.

·         Statistical information including but not limited to the number of properties in each ward, the monitoring of Select Move customers housed in Chorley from outside the borough, the number of customers at each banding, and the length of time people were using the service.

·         Concerns with the inaccessibility of those without computer access or technical literacy, particularly over lockdown when services were not fully operational, it was recalled that previously, a booklet of properties was made available every week.

·         Lack of photos was raised by Members, but argued by Rachel, that images are up when the property is empty, but there were safeguarding issues of identifiable properties advertised before the resident had moved out, and viewings did not occur until the resident had

Members wished to extend invites to the following witnesses for the Task Group:

·         Jennifer Mullin – Chorley and South Ribble Shared Services Director of Communities

·         Councillor Peter Gabbott – Executive member for Homes and Housing, and counterparts from South Ribble Borough Council and Preston City Council, to compare and contrast issues in partner areas.

·         Chorley Council Councillors

·         Member of Parliament for Chorley.

·         Select Move Coordinator (once in post)

·         Select Move Partners

o   Accent Foundation

o   Chorley Community Housing LTD (Merged with Jagsaw Homes North)

o   Community Gateway

o   Onward Homes

o   Sage Housing

o   Your Housing

o   Great Places

o   Progress Housing Group

o   Places for People

o   Together Housing

·         Select Move customers

Thursday, 6 January 2022 at 6:30pm

Thursday 6 January, 6:30pm.