The scrutiny committee received a report of the Committee and Scrutiny Officer which included the Watford Community Housing Task Group’s final report.  Councillor Khan attended the meeting to present the report to the scrutiny committee.

Councillor Khan thanked everyone who had taken part in the task group.  The task group’s membership had worked really well together.  The task group had left the Town Hall and held meetings in the local communities.  Watford Community Housing had attended two meetings and he wished to thank them for coming and responding to councillors’ questions.  He said that some of the recommendations may be challenging but the task group believed they would be achievable. 

In response to questions from the scrutiny committee, Councillor Khan confirmed that the scrutiny review had covered Watford Community Housing’s complaints procedure and service level agreements.  Watford Community Housing had shown much improvement since the previous review.  The void period between tenancies had been raised by residents.  It had been recognised that tenants should only be allowed into the property once all the required works had been completed.  He acknowledged councillors’ concerns about the follow up rates, which was a reason the task group had included a recommendation on this subject.  It was noted the scrutiny review had not covered councillors’ access to open meetings or the Gateway, as these were outside the scope. 

The Committee and Scrutiny Officer informed the scrutiny committee that the Director of Operations from Watford Community Housing had provided a quick update on the final report and recommendations.  There was an error on page 9 of the report in the last paragraph, as ‘WBC’ should have read ‘WCH’.  He had also advised that the group would provide a full response to the recommendations by Friday 5 April.

RESOLVED –

1.      that the Watford Community Housing Task Group’s final report and recommendations be forwarded to Watford Community Housing.

2.      that Watford Community Housing’s response be circulated as soon as possible.

3.      that the response to recommendations be formally presented to Overview and Scrutiny Committee at its meeting on 20 June 2019.