Decision details

The Committee noted its first report reviewing and scrutinising the Housing and Asset Management Service Improvement Plan, developed following the judgement of the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) in October 2025, this Committee having been added to the scrutiny arrangements for the Plan alongside the Housing Improvement Board and Cabinet, in response to feedback from the RSH that scrutiny in this area required strengthening.

Members raised a number of detailed questions on progress against actions in the Service Improvement Plan and the Safety Performance Report, including: stock condition data, noting this had improved from 63% at the time of the RSH inspection to 74% currently, with a target of 100% by the end of the year; the number of outstanding fire risk assessment remedial actions, which officers reported had reduced from 3,117 at the start of the year to 1,866 at the time of the meeting, as a result of a themed and prioritised programme of work; electrical compliance, where officers reported ongoing difficulties gaining access to a number of properties, that new legislation from May 2026 had introduced a legal obligation (previously good practice) enabling the Council to pursue injunctions and powers of entry through the courts, and that 99 properties remained outstanding as at May 2026; damp and mould, where officers reported a reduction in outstanding cases from 233 in February 2026 to 106 in May 2026; and asbestos and Legionella risk management, where officers undertook to provide further detail outside the meeting.

Members raised concerns regarding the pace of progress against some actions and the clarity of the reporting, and officers acknowledged the feedback and undertook to bring updated and clearer reports to future meetings, including more recent data than that included in the appendices to this report.