Issue - meetings

Recommendation from Housing Review Board on 14 March 2024 – Housing Review Board Terms of Reference

The Council received a recommendation from a meeting of the Housing Review Board on 14 March 2024 seeking to amend the Terms of Reference to change the frequency of Housing Review Board meetings and to formally change the Council’s Constitution.

Members welcomed the change to the Housing Review Board’s Terms of Reference and the recommendation was proposed by Councillor Paul Hayward and seconded by Cllr Tony McCollum.  Having been duly proposed and seconded the recommendation was unanimously supported and Council RESOLVED:  That the Terms of Reference for the Housing Review Board are amended so that the number of meetings is decreased from five to four to read as follows:  Meetings:  Four times per year (or more frequently as required).

The Board considered the report of the Assistant Director for Housing (Tenancy Services) which had come forward following a direct request for the function of the HRB to be reviewed and refreshed.  The report aligned with the recent scrutiny review carried out by the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny (CGS), which was presented to a joint meeting of the Scrutiny Committee, Overview Committee and Housing Review Board on 15 February 2024.  An action plan would be produced by the Democratic Services Manager by 30 April 2024 based on findings of the CGS review.  Members of the HRB would receive further details on this.

The Assistant Director Housing’s report set out a proposed change to the frequency of HRB meetings (from five to four per year), which would need to be made formally within the Council’s Constitution.  This change to the frequency of meetings would allow for better alignment with quarterly performance information.  The day-to-day performance of the functions within the Housing Revenue Account were a key consideration for the Housing Review Board in terms of how they set out and derived with work plans moving forward.  To ensure that this could be achieved the Board therefore needed to receive this information in a timely manner at the end of each quarter.  Board members were reminded that an extraordinary meeting could be proposed at any other time throughout the year as and when required.

RECOMMENDED:  that Council agree that the Housing Review Board terms of reference be amended so that the number of meetings is decreased from five to four per year (or more frequently as required).