PARTNERSHIP BOARD
TERMS OF REFERENCE
Background
Tenant involvement in the running of their homes and neighbourhoods is a vital component in efficient service delivery and community development.
LBC Housing department promotes the tenant participation model where mobilised communities play an important part in delivering Housing strategies both through service improvement and active community management.
The Partnership Board is a high level platform where Housing professionals share with the tenants on the Board Housing Strategies, policies and performance data in relation to the aims and objectives of the Partnership Board.
In partnership with Housing professionals the tenants on the board develop the Neighbourhood Action Plan which informs about the targets, outcomes and aims and objectives for the year ahead and therefore is a practical document to assist with performance monitoring. The Neighbourhood Action Plan identifies a member of staff/ tenant or Housing team/ community group responsible for delivering the outcomes.
Aims & Objectives
- to review performance data with an aim to provide recommendations for improvement and to identify areas of scrutiny
- to review relevant council policy and procedure to develop the Neighbourhood Action Plan with the clear targets and outcomes for the year ahead
- to identify opportunities for effective partnership working on cross-cutting issues and to deliver gaps in provision by the local authority
The role of the Partnership Board
The role is to ensure that that the Aims and Objectives are effectively carried out via:
- well managed meetings
- using a combined Housing staff and tenants intelligence to plan and drive improvements across Luton neighbourhoods and Housing Services
Membership
The South/North Luton Partnership Board is to be made up from the volunteers currently resigning in South/North Luton and paying service charges related to their accommodation.
Some tenants and leaseholders will be excluded from applying to join the Partnership Board. Where they are also:
- an employee of the council
- an employee of any contractor providing services to the landlord
- A current member of the Governance
- A locally elected council representative
- A representative of any Council Strategic Partner organisation
- A life partner, close relative or shares a household with an employee, Governance Member or contractor of the Council
- Subject to current legal enforcement action brought by the Council
There can be up to 28 members on the Partnership Board with maximum of 7 members being in each of the tenant subgroups (youth, leaseholders, sheltered housing tenants, social housing tenants).
The membership of the Partnership Board can be ended if:
ü Any Board member decides to resign at any given time whenever they wish to do so
ü An individual’s membership can also be ended if there is a serious and/or sustained breach of the Board’s Code of Conduct. These cases will be considered and decided upon jointly by the Housing management and tenant participation team.
ü Membership of the Partnership Board will be withdrawn if the member fails to complete compulsory training programmes or fails to reach the minimum competency levels required.
Meetings
Partnership Board meetings will be held 4 times a year and will always take place the week after the housing Forum.
Dates of meetings of the Partnership Board will be planned for the year ahead. The Dates for Partnership Board will be published on LBC website in the Tenant Participation section but members will be reminded of the date when invited to attend 2 weeks in advance of each meeting.
Extra meetings may be required if matters need to be discussed in greater depth.
Programme of Work
Programme of work will be focussed around developing the Neighbourhood Action Plan aimed at identifying targets and outcomes to be achieved across the Housing Services and local neighbourhoods for the year ahead.
Quorum
All Board members will be invited to all Partnership Board meetings. A quorum for a meeting of Partnership Board is half plus one of the current memberships at any time. The attendance must be confirmed 48 hours before the start of the meeting.
Financial & Administrative Support
Housing professionals involved in the tenant participation will administer the Partnership Board. This will include undertaking the recruitment of the Involved Tenants, the collection of Equality & Diversity monitoring data, and information to support the identification of Board’s members’ training needs etc.
Minutes of the meetings of each Partnership Board must be done in writing and must be accurate. The tenant participation team is responsible for producing the minutes within the 48 hours after the Partnership Board.
The Tenant Participation Team within the Housing Services will be running an online page on the LBC informing on all activities related to the tenant participation and opportunities to get involved.
Training & Development
The compulsory training programme will be put in place in order to ensure that the tenants on the Partnership Board will achieve the required competency level. The tenants on the Partnership Board are also expected to undertake independent learning (for example, related reading) to ensure that they meet the Job Description of an Involved Tenant and the Gateway Quality Development Framework.
Recruitment
The opportunity to be part of the Scrutiny Team is open to all eligible residents. Promotion of the opportunity through advertising, direct e-mails, online website, activities and events and via customer facing staff contact (customer service, repair operatives and housing staff) will help to engage residents throughout the promotional campaign.
The recruitment process will consist of an application form, supporting statement and 2 stage interviews.
Expenses
Personal travel expenses will normally be reimbursed by the Tenant Participation Officer on the day of the meeting from the Resident Involvement petty cash float. Receipts are required for public transport and a resident mileage form will need to be completed for personal car travel. Car travel will be reimbursed at the rate of 52.2 p a mile
Other Governance structures
One of the functions of The housing Forum is to review the Neighbourhood Action Plan which is being developed in The Partnership Board