Minutes:
The Chair introduced Paul Jagger, new Chair of 2010 Rotherham Ltd.
Paul gave an overview of the huge achievements made by the ALMO during the past 5 years. The Decent Homes Programme would finish at the end of the year which would have seen 17,000 homes directly affected positively by the Programme. The ALMO had had 2 good Audit Commission inspections and achieved a 2* rating as well as Investors in People and Customer Services Excellence status. He drew attention to the following:-
- Excellent work, in partnership with the Council, during the floods
- Successful partnership approach towards anti-social behaviour in local communities
- Very good team in the ALMO that was committed to the success of the organisation and to moving it forward in the way the single shareholder (the Council) wants it to go the other side of the present arrangements
- Arrangement with the Chief Executive Officer was successful but not sustainable for the longer term. This was an issue that could not be dealt with until there was an understanding of what the future would be
Challenges/Future Work
- Transfer of the work to the new contractors and ensuring it was implemented quickly. It was essential that there was no dip in the standard of service
- 2010 Board - The size of the Board was being considered with a view of reducing it from 5-5-5. The size of the Board was directly related to effectiveness and sometimes a large Board could slow that process down. Alongside that, was the need to address Board member commitment as it would increase in direct proportion. Consideration had to be given to Board members’ commitment, clarity, skills and profile, training and personal development
- Open Meetings – Board meetings were largely open to members of the public but the response had been poor in terms of attendance. The possibility of having the meetings live on the web was being explored
- Future of 2010 – The decision was the Council’s but the ALMO would like to be engaged in the process of decision making. There was to be a Board Away Day to consider the Government’s proposals around the future shape of social housing. There were opportunities for Councils, improving services and adding value but there was an assumption that Council housing was the last option which was not the case
Questions were then invited:-
o The likely size of the Board would be 3-3-3. Discussions around the size of the Board had been ongoing before the appointment of the Chair
o There had been no decision as yet whether membership would be taken from the existing or new. A number of the members were new which would wish to retain due to the rigorous recruitment process that had been undertaken and some were due to “retire”. It would be the Council’s decision as to who it would appoint
o RotherFed had been included on the appointment panel and it was important that tenants were democratically elected onto the new Board
The Chair thanked Paul for his attendance and presentation.