Scrutiny in Rural Communities Nick Grubb Regional Regeneration Manager and Peter Kent Customer Board Member Moorlands Housing 8 th June 2011

Session aims  Brief intro to Moorlands Housing, Harvest Housing Group and our Scrutiny Journey  Achievements, Challenges and Lessons learnt  Scrutiny in Rural / dispersed stock  Sharing / best practice

Housekeeping

Moorlands Housing  Established in 2002  2,900 stock in Staffordshire Moorlands  Joined Harvest Housing Group in 2007  Provide; Housing, Regeneration, Support, Income and Repairs services direct  Managing agent for 650 units in Cheshire and Derbyshire  Group and local support to Customer Involvement / Scrutiny

Embedded Customer Involvement

Harvest – Scrutiny Phases Phase 1 (Apr 2010) Frontis D&S Moorlands Greater Manchester East Lancs West Lancs Partington Phase 2 Home Owners (June 2011) Older Persons (Dec 2011) Phase 3 Group (Apr 2011)

Where are we now?  Recruited Members  Chairs Appointed  Terms of Reference and Code of Conduct  12 months of meetings  Profile Forms Completed  Individual member Training & Skills Assessment

‘Group recipe Local flavour’  Agendas set locally  Pre-meeting  Customer led, officer supported  Thread of involvement  Agreed local offers  Defined Involvement methods  Their own budget

Achievements  Effective and supportive team - productive meetings  Learning about Moorlands Housing Speed dating and Section updates Key wider themes explained Making a bond with the office team  Identified training and learning needs and development of each member plus rewards  Real Scrutiny of real services

Lessons Learned  You can give too much too soon….  Recruitment and development of members takes time

Challenges ahead  Recruitment and representation  Continued training programme  Optimise timing of all meetings  Further developing e-scrutiny  Further establish links; Moorlands Housing staff Harvest employees Moorlands Board

Potential Barriers (Rural or otherwise!)  Nothing is wrong…?  I don’t have time and can’t get there….  I don’t want to go to a meeting…  They don’t talk about things that matter to me…  I don’t ‘fit in’ with those people…  What’s in it for me…?

Meaningful Message Mobility  Identify key issues  Trailer and Roadshows  Community Buses  Piggy - backing Local facilities and pre-existing meetings  Mobility of message, not necessarily staff…

Technology  E-panels Scrutiny with provision of laptops and broadband  Interactive games / Wii  Facebook / Twitter  Texting

Partnerships  Other agencies  Fun days and Sporting events  Importance of local offers and N’hood planning  Customer Profiling / Training / Resources

Making it worthwhile  Recognition and Identity  Personal Development; –Training –Help with Curriculum Vitae –References  Reward involvement? –Personal Rewards –Community Rewards

Case Study – High Peak Issues…  Rural location  Managed stock  Only 160 properties  Lack of attendees at meetings  No ‘relationship’ with officers or organisation  Complaints about ASB and maintenance performance

Case Study – High Peak Solutions  High ‘visibility’ staff  Small interventions  Joint agency events  Local offer centred around repairs  Individual newsletter and performance stats  Trialling e-scrutiny

Future - Flexible Scrutiny?  Is it about locality or accessibility?  What is scrutiny? Identify a range, formal and informal and be proud of it – one size does not fit all!  Fluidity and imagination, development and ‘reward’ – make it fun if possible.  Establish links with established bodies (Board etc) to maintain golden thread.

Future - Flexible Scrutiny?  Make data and service areas relevant  You are not alone – work together  Flexible and reactive systems – instant scrutiny?  Regular Review – Scrutinise the scrutiny!  Publicise outcomes and achievements

Groupwork Over to you…… Share your successes, learning and best practice