INDUCTION PACK

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Resident Scrutiny Committee

Contents

Table of contents

Welcome to the Resident Scrutiny Committee Page 3

Who else do I need to know? Page 4

Resident Scrutiny Committee information sheet Page 5

Fact Sheet 1—Where do I fit in? Page 6

Fact Sheet 2— Interpreting performance information Page 7

Fact Sheet 3— Committee meetings Page 8

Fact Sheet 4—Planning a scrutiny Page 11

Fact Sheet 5— Interviews Page 12

Fact Sheet 6—Who is there to help Page 13

Fact Sheet 7— Writing a report Page 14

Fact Sheet 8—Resident Scrutiny Committee Job Description. Page 15

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Welcome to the Resident Scruntiny Committee

VACANT — Chair Johnnie Walker—Vice Chair

Chris Stone— RSC Roy Liverpool —RSC

Gerry Burns —RSC Susan Thomas—RSC

Hazel Egan Performance & Quality Manager

01284 773446

Hazel.egan@suffolkhousing.org

Martin Barnes-Smith

Community Development Manager

01284 715391

Martin.barnes-smith@suffolkhousing.org

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Who Else Do I Need to Know?

Rob Longfoot

Housing Services Manager

Maureen McDonald-Cook

Housing Services Manager

(Sheltered & Supported)

Jeremy Howell

Finance Manager

Wayne Tatlow

Income Manager

Hannah Gardner

Corporate Services Manager

Tracey Chappell

Technical Services Manager

Abbie Jordan—Tenant Liaison Apprentice

01284 715391

Abbie.Jordan@suffolkhousing.org

Sue Philp

Chief Executive

Justin O'Connor

Operations Director

Karen Moore

Corporate Services Director

Hannah Casbolt

Finance Director

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Resident Scrutiny Committee

Information Sheet

Resident Scrutiny Committee

What is the role?

In simple terms, tenant scrutiny

allows a small group of tenants

to monitor and comment on the services that Suffolk

Housing deliver to our tenants. You will review and

report on how well we are doing and give your rec-

ommendations for improvement. You will also be

able to raise issues and recommendations for im-

provement at RSC Performance Meetings

Why is it important?

Tenant Scrutiny is an independent check on the

standard of service that Suffolk Housing are provid-

ing to tenants. You have the power to hold us to ac-

count.

Your recommendations give us clear and specific

areas to act on and improve.

Your work therefore helps us to improve the stand-

ard of service that we give to tenants as well as

finding out what works well and recognising people

who do a good job.

What do I need to do?

Attend formal and informal meetings.

Request and receive information on the area

being looked at

Read the information given to the panel and

ask questions of staff and residents.

How much time will I need to give?

The panel meets formally

every quarter, and then as

the group agree, dependant on the audit work being

carried out.

You will also do one formal scrutiny exercises a

year. This will involve additional meetings for:

Being briefed on the subject of the scrutiny

and planning it.

Carrying out the scrutiny (including working

with other panels like the Tenant Voice, Resi-

dent Inspectors or mystery shoppers to carry

out exercises as appropriate)

Writing a report

Presenting findings to The Management

Board

What information will I see?

You will see performance and other relevant infor-

mation provided. Some of this information will be of

sensitive and will need to be dealt with sensitively

You will have to sign a confidentiality agreement

and will be bound by regulations relating to data

protection. Any panel member who breaches these

will be removed from the panel immediately and

may leave themselves open to prosecution.

What training and development will I get?

We are keen to support your involvement. If there

are any skills that you need that you don’t have, we

will give you training

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Where Do I Fit In?

Fact sheet

One

How does the Residents Scrutiny Committee

Panel fit into Suffolk Housings’ Tenant Participa-

tion?

Everyone has an equally important role to play in

improving the performance of Suffolk Housing

It is important that members of the panel remain con-

nected to the rest of the ‘tenant body’ but also have

a formal link to our Board of Management. This en-

sures that issues are independently raised by ten-

ants. Any recommendations coming out of an audit

should treated as a learning experience, thus provid-

ing a better relationship with Suffolk Housing, ensur-

ing improvement to services provided.

The diagram below shows how the various active

panels fit together and thereby ensuring a close

working relationship. Resident Scrutiny must remain

independent of Suffolk Housing

How do we influence change in Suffolk Housing?

The various committees representing tenants fit to-

gether, as can be seen. It is important that the issues

coming to the attention of the Resident Scrutiny

Committee are shared and shape the discussions

and decisions made. Each Tenant Voice has a rep-

resentative that updates them regularly at their meet-

ings, especially on reoccurring issues, through the

‘All Chairs’ meeting these must be shared with the

Resident Scrutiny Committee so if needed it can be

looked into.

Question that you need to ask yourself

Who am I representing?

How do I represent

them?

Who has the voice?

Am I listening to it?

So to sum up, Resident Scrutiny is:-

Increasing the influence of tenants through empow-

ering them to independently review, examine, reality

test and challenge their landlord over decisions, per-

formance and service delivery. By effectively chal-

lenging their landlord

through making evidence -

based recommendations,

tenants collaborate with

their housing provider to

drive continuous im-

provement, and hold

their landlord to account.

•Area TV

•Sheltered

•RSC

• RSC – Strategic

• TV / Sheltered –Evidence

• Commission other panels

•SH Performance

•Managers

•Local / National

•Board

•TF

•Repairs

•GM

•Schemes

•ASB

•Complaints Area TV

Sheltered RSC

All Chairs Meeting

Audit of Services

Resident Information

Designated Panel

Editors & Readers

Resident Insp

Training

Suffolk Housings’ Tenants Management Model

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Interpreting

Performance Information

Fact sheet

Two

During your time as a RSC member you will see a

lot of performance data. Please don’t feel over-

whelmed by it. Your role

is to recognise areas

where we perform well

[green] and areas where

we are possible not do-

ing so well [red]. This

data along with infor-

mation raised through

the ‘tenant body’ you will decide what areas to scru-

tinise [scoping].

Performance Data

To monitor whether services that are provided are

working well or not we need some way of measur-

ing performance. Measures are agreed and infor-

mation is collected against these over a period of

time. Suffolk Housing provide an ‘At a Glance

(AAG) document showing their current perfor-

mance, judged against nationally agreed Key Per-

formance indicators [KPI’s]

High Performance

If a service area is preforming well, it is important to

understand how the team is achieving this. This is

as important as finding out which service areas are

not working well.

Acknowledgement that people are working well

helps to motivate them to carry on doing a good job.

It ,may be possible to apply the methods adopted to

other areas of the business, that may not be doing

so well

Poor Performance

It is important that performance is looked at regular-

ly so that a drop in performance or consistently poor

performance can be dealt with at an early stage

It is important that the team has processes in place

for dealing with problems as they happen and that

they can explain how these work.

Targets

These should be demanding. They should be built

on last years performance or the changing expecta-

tions in the business. A plan [Business Plan] should

be in place to show how performance will be im-

proved and how the business objectives will be

achieved.

Consider these points when thinking about whether

performance is actually high or not.

Continuous Improvement

Teams should be continually learning from their per-

formance and looking for ways to deliver services

more efficiently, to a higher standard and for less

money through improvement.

Performance Meetings

Prior to the formal meeting with Suffolk Housing

Managers, performance information will be provid-

ed. This gives you the opportunity to read it and as-

sess the success of the teams. If you require more

information individual managers can be invited to

the meeting to give a verbal explanation. This al-

lows you to better understand the reasons for the

performance and any actions being taken to ad-

dress under performance.

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The Chair’s Role

Before the Meeting

Planning and Preparation

To Chair a meeting well, you need to think about

the meeting before you arrive at it.

This can be done by sitting down with the Secre-

tary to review and agree the agenda. This will help

to draw out why you are having the meeting, what

you want the meeting to achieve, anything that

needs to be done ahead of the meeting, identify

any guest speakers to invite, any information that

needs to go out in advance, etc.

This will include:

Encouraging input by asking people if they

have any agenda items

Assessing the purpose of the agenda items.

There are only three reasons for putting an

item on an agenda:

To inform

To discuss

To decide

Assessing which items are the most important

and prioritise. You may have to go back to

someone and ask if his or her item can wait

until a future meeting

Deciding the order the items should go in to

ensure the best chances of covering the busi-

ness efficiently and effectively, maintaining

interest and scheduling guest speaker to en-

sure they don’t have to sit through the whole

meeting, etc.

Giving each item a proposed time limit. This

will make your meetings more streamlined

and discourage time wasting.

At the Meeting

The ‘how to’ of chairing meetings

The role of the Chair is complex. S/he is responsi-

ble for setting the tone of the meeting, keeping the

discussion on track, and making sure everyone is

heard. The Chair is the one who summarises rele-

vant points and ties things together when the dis-

cussion jumps around between interrelated topics.

Committee meetings

Fact sheet

Three pg.1

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Committee meetings

Fact sheet

· Begin on time

Starting late subtly diminishes your credibility and

the importance of the meeting. It sends the mes-

sage that it is okay to be late, and shows a lack of

respect and appreciation for those who make the

effort to arrive on time.

· Create a Positive Climate

Set or review ground rules and use them to ensure

open, freely flowing discussion. Although invoking

ground rules is a shared responsibility for everyone

in attendance, enforcing them falls first to the meet-

ing leader.

· Use the Agenda

Restate the purpose of the meeting at the begin-

ning, and review the agenda to get agreement on

time allocations. Continually refer back to the agen-

da throughout the meeting to keep discussion fo-

cused on the stated purpose and objective.

· Facilitate the Discussion

Steer the discussion without dominating it.

· Stay on Track

Tactfully discourage digressions and clarify or sum-

marise points as they are made.

· Be forthright

Confront underlying issues that cause conflict. Get

them out in the open and clear them out.

· Control Dominating Individuals

Make sure each person has a fair chance to ex-

press ideas and opinions without allowing any indi-

vidual to dominate the discussion.

· Monitor Nonverbal Signals

Seek input from quiet members who may be shy, or

otherwise reluctant to voice reservations or disa-

greement with the ideas of others.

· Summarise

Conclude the meeting by summarising the discus-

sion, decisions made, and tasks delegated; then

review plans for follow up. Agree date of next meet-

ing.

· End on Time.

Three pg.2

Tips for the Chair

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Be Prepared

Read all the papers thoroughly

(minutes, agenda, and supporting

documents)

Annotate them to highlight key points

so that you can spot them fast during

the meeting

Plan what you need to ask (and how

you will ask it)

Think through how you will input to

the meeting

Make notes to refer to in the meet

ing.

Plan ahead – give the leader a list of

topics you want to discuss far enough

ahead for them to be included on the

agenda

Be on time – if you will be attending

the whole meeting, arrive a few

minutes early

Contribute con-

fidently – meet-

Be Honest – express your views and feelings

openly, honestly and concisely

Get your facts right – be careful to state

facts - factually

Don’t Dominate – take personal responsibility

for making your input without “drowning out” oth-

ers

Be Positive – present your ideas optimistical-

ly. Don’t dwell on past failures or tear down oth-

er people’s ideas

Express Appreciation – let others know

when you are impressed with something they

say or do, or when they have been helpful to

you

Watch Body Language – be alert to nonver-

bal signal from others, and help the facilitator

encourage input from quiet members of the

group

Stay flexible – keep an open mind, purpose

and explore alternate options, and move from

preconceived ideas to collaborative win/win so-

lutions

Committee meetings

Fact sheet

Three pg.3

How to participate effectively

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Planning a Scrutiny

Fact sheet

Four

For each scrutiny you do, you will need to get

evidence to help you decide if:-

The aims of the services being met

They are being met to a good standard

The needs of the tenants are being met

The service is giving value for money

Are the aims of the service being met?

To decide if the aims are being met you need to un-

derstand what those aims are. You would do this by

reading the service standard or any policy or proce-

dures for that area. #these will be provided to you

at the start of the scrutiny.

During your scrutiny you should check that the peo-

ple who deliver the service you are looking at have

a good understanding of the aims and how they

plan to meet these.

You will get performance information which show

how well we are doing. This will give you evidence

about whether we are meeting the targets set

against this particular service

Are the aims of the service being met to a good

standard?

To decide if the service is performing well, you

would look at the performance information you have

been given

To reach and keep up high performance, we need

to look at what we do, how we do it, how we could

do it better and then put changes in place. You will

need to find evidence that Suffolk Housing do.

Are the needs of

the tenant being

met?

To meet the needs

of the tenants we

need to find out

what their needs

are. You will need to know how tenants are involved

and consulted on decisions which affect the ser-

vices they get and how they get them

You will need to check if we have made sure that

the aims of the service that we provide match the

needs of our tenants. Information about tenant satis-

faction will help you to decide how we are doing, as

will commissioning your own survey’s of tenants to

obtain their views.

Is the service provid-

ing Value for Money?

You will get information

about the cost of the

service that you are

looking at, for example

the cost for the whole

service or cost per

household.

You will need to get evidence to decide if the cost is

reasonable and if good value is being provided.

These are two separate areas:-

Reasonable, can be measured by comparing the

same service being provided to other housing pro-

viders. (Tasks and quality)

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Interviews

Fact sheet

Five

The aim of any interview, whether for a job inter-

view or a scrutiny exercise, is to get the infor-

mation you need to help you make good deci-

sions

Planning

During your planning meetings you will have decid-

ed who you want to interview and what questions

you need to ask them. This will help you feel more

comfortable on the day as the interview will be more

conversational rather than needing to read your

questions word for word. It will also help you to be

flexible, e.g. if you need to skip a question which

has already been answered or move away from

your set questions to follow a line of enquiry.

Decide what the most important information is that

you need to get during the interview. This will help

as it will allow you to know which questions you

must ask before you run out of time.

Use open questions,

starting with words

like how, what, when,

where, why (be care-

ful; with why ques-

tions as they can at

times sound critical)

You may need to follow up your question to get

more information so think about what probing ques-

tions to ask. Practice with another member of your

team so that you are confident you can think on

your feet during the interview.

Give yourself plenty of space on the interview ques-

tion sheet for note taking. Make sure you have extra

paper and pens with you just in case

On the day

You need to consider where the interview will take

place, and the lay out of the room. The Community

Development Manager will help you with this. It

helps if there is no barrier between yourself and the

person you are speaking to. You do need to take

notes, it is worth considering if a team member can

be present during the interview to do this. However

this may make the interview too formal prevent

those being interviewed relax.

Listen to the answers to your questions:-

It has been answered

If you have been given extra information

which will change the questions you need to

ask

If the answer has covered other questions you

were going to ask.

If people stray from the subject a little, remind them

what the question was to get them back on track.

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Who is there to help ?

Fact sheet

Six

To carry out a thorough scrutiny exercise is a lot of

work, which is why the Resident Scrutiny Panel are

supported by the other actives panels. Once you

have planned the area that is being looked into you

need to decide the best way to carry out the re-

search and obtain the evidence. It is then you can

decide how this will be carried out. This is generally

known as ‘scoping’.

The table below shows the areas of auditing open to

Resident Scrutiny and the Panels they may wish to

commission to carry out that work.

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Remember, to carry out a successful scrutiny

exercise involves team work.

It is the responsibility of the RSC to pull together all

the information and write a report, which will be pre-

sented to Suffolk Housing,

[See the fact sheet on writing a report]

Work Area Panel

Desk Top Review RSC

Face to Face

Interview

Tenant Voice

Tenant Friends

Focus Groups Tenant Voice / RSC

Study Visits RSC

Site Inspections Resident Inspectors

Telephone Survey Resident Inspectors

Postal / Email

Survey

Resident Inspectors

Performance Review RSC

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Writing a Report

Fact sheet

Seven

You may have to write up your findings or rec-

ommendations, if you do this will help:-

To write a good report you need to plan it well. Be-

low are some simple tips to help you make sure

your report is clear,

Planning

It is important to plan when the report will be written

and when it will be finished by at the start of the ex-

ercise.

Dates to book:

Planning session – to bring all thoughts and

evidence together

Day to write 1st draft

Date to send 1st draft to ‘Critical Friend’ –

check they are free to read your report when

you need them to and give them at least a

week to give you their feedback

Day to write 2nd draft

Date to send 2nd draft to ‘Critical Friend’ –

check they are free to read your report when

you need them to and give them at least a

week to give you their feedback

Half day for final amendments

Evidence

The most important thing to think about when put-

ting your report together is evidence. Take care not

to make assumptions based on personal feelings. It

is important that your report is objective so that peo-

ple will take it seriously; any comments made

should be backed up by evidence you have ob-

tained from your scrutiny exercise.

Before You Start

Think about:

Who is going to read it?

Why are they going to read it?

What did you do?

What did you find out?

What are your recommendations?

What do you need people to do

next?

Your report could contain the follow-

ing sections

Intention (your purpose and scope)

Outline / Executive summary

Main findings

Main conclusions

Main recommendations

Appendix

The flow chart below may help you organise the

evidence and information you have gathered.

Include it in the

main body

Yes

Will any reader

need to know this?

Do not include it in

the report

Will they need to

know it to follow

the argument in

the main body?

Will it be referred

to several times?

Put it in an

appendix

Yes

No

No

No

Yes

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Job Description

Fact sheet

Eight pg 1

Job Title: Resident Scrutiny Committee Member Position Type: Voluntary

Will Train Applicant(s): Yes – applicants are not expected to have all skills and qualities when they start and lots of training is available.

Time Commitment: 1-2 days per month

Location: East Anglia Travel Required: Yes

Job Description

ROLE:

The Resident Scrutiny Committee (RSC) acts as a critical friend to Suffolk Housing (SH) we challenge SH perfor-mance on the services it provides to residents. The RSC influences change in strategies, policies and services and promotes improvement. Members monitor and review performance. This is usually against a set target or service standard. They provide Suffolk Housing and its board with feedback from residents that helps to shape the way SH works.

RESPONSIBILITIES

All members share the same responsibilities and contribute towards:-

Preparation of an annual work plan

Scrutiny projects and the resulting presentation of findings to the Board where relevant. Involves conduct-

ing research, focus groups, producing reports.

Monitoring performance, reading and considering formal reports on performance (KPI’s)

Proposals for service improvements or new arrangements for service delivery and monitoring.

Signing off tenant facing policies and strategies before they are submitted to the Board

Provision of information and feedback to Suffolk Housing about tenants’ views and priorities in relation to services and performance.

Regular meetings, dependent on the level of work, contributing constructively to discussions and debate. Being fully prepared by reading papers prior to meeting and thinking critically about what the information provided means to SH and residents.

Developing good working relationships with colleagues, staff from Suffolk Housing, the Board, other tenant groups, external parties e.g. contractors or other housing providers

Recruitment of new Resident Scrutiny Committee members and providing them with support.

Promoting equality by treating everyone as equals appreciating and respecting everyone’s differences as well as similarities

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Job Description

Fact sheet

Eight pg 2

GENERAL:

Always act in the best interests of SH and residents and maintain absolute confidentiality.

Keep up to date with developments in social housing.

Participate in annual reviews of the Scrutiny committee performance and effectiveness in order to inform a training and development plan.

Undertake training as needed.

If relevant

You must not be currently engaged in legal proceedings with Suffolk Housing.

You must be abiding by the terms of a court order, for rent arrears.

You must not have been served with a Notice of Seeking Possession in regards to anti-social behavior by your-self, visitors to or members of your household.

Preferred Skills

You should have:-

An understanding of the needs of the residents of Suffolk Housing

The ability to research, understand and analyse complex financial, statistical and service information and communicate it in an accessible form to a diverse range of audiences. (Housing training will be provided).

The ability to question information and willingness to build up skills to be able to challenge and scrutinise information effectively

Experience of committee meetings and the ability to use own experience in an objective and neutral way to be effective as a RSC member

The skill to prepare reports as requested and contribute to the preparation of agendas and minutes

The ability to work creatively, identifying imaginative and innovative approaches

Experience in working constructively and cooperatively with others. Showing respect and consideration; speaking to different officers, colleagues, and colleagues as they would like to be spoken to, working effec-tively, diplomatically and confidentially

Commitment to supporting team decisions, keeping people informed and up to date.

The ability to communicate, in a clear, fluent and concise manner with all levels and to act as an advocate for the scrutiny function.

Excellent organisational and time management skills combined with the ability and self-motivation to work to achieve agreed goals

The ability to attend frequent meetings and other activities that may occur outside standard working hours

The ability to make effective use of standard office IT systems