Minutes of the Meeting Held on 1July2013 18.00

Minutes of the Meeting Held on 1July2013 18.00

SWAN HOUSING ASSOCIATION BOARD

MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 1JULY2013 @ 18.00

Present:

Members:Richard Frost (Chair);Steve King;Angela Lyon; Carol Franklin (Essex Regional Committee);Tyson Bunby (Chair – London Regional Committee) and Colin Wannell (London Regional Committee).

Officers:John Synnuck (Chief Executive); Jamie Smith (Deputy Chief Executive and Company Secretary); Sandra Fawcett (Executive Director - Housing);and Jan Collier (Committee Secretary).

92/12/13

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies received from George Kieffer, Derek Morrison and Tim Gerrard. George Kieffer had submitted to the Chair his comments on the reports.

93/12/13

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Richard Frost, George Kieffer and John Synnuck declared interests as directors of various Swan companies.

94/12/13

MINUTES AND MATTERS ARISING

a)AGREED that the Minutes of the Swan Board meeting held on 11 June 2013 beconfirmed and signed as a correct record.

b)Tony Holland referred to minute number 88/12/13 – National Audit Office, and asked for an update. The Chief Executive said that the draft brief from BDO had been agreed and sent to the HCA who had responded with some minor amendments and there was a conference call tomorrow with BDO to finalise the brief. The HCA was generally happy with the brief and with Swan appointing BDO to carry out the investigation.

c)AGREED that the minutes of the Private Session of the Swan Board meeting held on 25 March 2013 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

AGREED that the minutes of the Private Session of the Swan Board meeting held on 11 June 2013 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

95/12/13

GENERAL UPDATE FROM THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE

PRIVATE & CONFIDENTIAL

96/12/13

HCA ACTION PLAN

PRIVATE & CONFIDENTIAL

97/12/13

HCA/GLA ANNUAL FUNDING CONDITIONS

PRIVATE & CONFIDENTIAL

98/12/13

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR:

SWAN HA

PIKE HOUSING SERVICES

SWAN COMMERCIAL SERVICES

SWAN NEW HOMES

HERA MANAGEMENT SERVICES

VIVO SUPPORT

RECEIVED the financial statements.

NOTED:

  1. the financial statements had been presented to the Audit & Risk Committee on 24 June 2013;
  2. the Audit & Risk Committee discussed the Value for Money section which was new to meet the Regulatory Standard. This had also been discussed in detail at the recent Service Improvement and Value for Money Committee;
  3. Steve King said that the Audit & Risk Committee had received a presentation from the External Auditors who gave a positive response to the audit this year. A confidential meeting had also been held with no Officers present and again Members received a positive response and felt that Swan had an excellent set of accounts;
  4. Members agreed that the CE should have delegated authority to approve any minor amendments.

AGREED:

  1. the financial statements for Swan HA, Pike Housing Services, Swan Commercial Services, Swan New Homes, Hera Management Services and Vivo Support;
  2. to delegate authority to the Chief Executive to approve any minor amendments.

99/12/13

BUSINESS PLAN

RECEIVED the business plan from the DeputyChief Executive.

NOTED:

  1. the Business Plan had been presented to the Finance & Personnel Committee on 24 June 2013, who had approved it under delegated authority due to the timescale for submitting it to the funders;
  2. the Finance & Personnel Committee would be considering multiple scenarios at their next meeting;
  3. Tyson Bunby had attended a conference last week where one of the discussions highlighted a Housing Association who had experienced high levels of arrears since the introduction of the Welfare Reform. The Executive Director Housing informed Members that the current reforms introduced related to working age tenants which were only a part of the overall rental income stream of Swan tenants. A lot of information provided from the demonstration pilots applied to some tenants, not all. The Deputy Chief Executive noted that an additional £400k had been included in the business plan, and assured Members that the Executive Team and Board would monitor the situation closely and make any adjustments to the budgets if required. Members were also informed that a new appendix had been included within the Performance Information pack regarding the impact of Welfare Reform which would give the Board regular updates;
  4. Steve King commented that Swan’s financial position was stronger than two years ago which gave Members reassurance. The DCE said that scenario testing would be carried out but the balance sheet was much stronger and there were options to manage risks.

100/12/13

RENT INCREASE 2013

RECEIVED a report from the Deputy Chief Executive seeking approval of the rent increase for 2013.

NOTED;the contents of the report.

AGREED:to increase social rents currently at target rent and affordable rents by RPI (2.6% +0.5%), i.e. 3.1% from October 2013.

101/12/13

VALUE FOR MONEY SELF-ASSESSMENT

RECEIVED a report from the Executive Director – Housing, providing Members with the draft Value for Money Self-Assessment in line with the requirements of the Regulatory Framework.

NOTED:

  1. the self-assessment had been produced in line with the requirements of the Regulatory Framework, and would be published in the Autumn with the residents’ Annual Report;
  2. the Service Improvement and Value for Money Committee had been overseeing the development of the self-assessment framework during 2012 and considered the draft self-assessment matrix at their meeting on 19 June 2013. One of the recommendations from the meeting was to include a more detailed Executive Summary at the beginning showing the highlights. More would also be added on return on assets and a summary would be produced in a user friendly leaflet format and published on the website, highlighting the main points;
  3. the self-assessment was designed to look at cash gains as well as social gains;
  4. there was a requirement to show stakeholders what Swan was doing and properly demonstrate how the self-assessment was produced and how it linked to the Regulatory Framework;
  5. Tony Holland asked how rigorous the assessment of social returns was. The EDH said that a tried and tested model was used and Officers tried to be moderate in their assumptions.
  6. Tony Holland said that the Altair report had referred to the cost of producing the management information due to it being a very time consuming process and that it could be produced cheaper by using IT, and asked if this was something that the Service Improvement and Value for Money Committee focussed on before Altair identified it. The Chair said that the whole question of what information would be reviewed where was on the action plan for implementation and would be considered by the new Board;
  7. the EDH said that Swan reviews the Housemark benchmarking data and how they compare with others and that drives the service reviews each year; one of the reviews this year was IT. The Service Improvement and Value for Money Committee considered how the overhead costs compared with others;
  8. the Chair said that he would send the EDH the comments from George Kieffer to include;
  9. the EDH to circulate the leaflet to Members once it had been produced;
  10. the EDH to present the final draft with the Executive summary to the Service Improvement & Value for Money Committee and the Board gave them authority to sign it off at their meeting in August.

AGREED:that the Annual Value for Money Self-Assessment be presented to the Service Improvement & Value for Money Committee meeting in August, and authorised them to sign if off.

102/12/13

MINUTES OF GROUP COMMITTEES

a)Audit & Risk Committee – Minutes of the Meeting held on 4 March 2013

RECEIVED AND NOTED.

b)Finance & Personnel Committee – Minutes of the Meeting held on 4 March 2013

RECEIVED AND NOTED.

c)Essex Regional Committee – Minutes of the Meeting held on 11 March 2013

RECEIVED AND NOTED.

d)London Regional Committee – Minutes of the Meeting held on 18 March 2013

RECEIVED AND NOTED.

e)Equality & Diversity Committee – Minutes of the Meeting held on 20 June 2013

RECEIVED AND NOTED.

f)Service Improvement Committee – Minutes of the Meeting held on 17 April 2013 and 19 June 2013

RECEIVED AND NOTED.

g)SBS Committee – Minutes of the meeting held on 5 June 2013

RECEIVED AND NOTED.

AGREED:to resolve to adopt the minutes of the Group Committees.

To consider the draft minutes of the Group Committees

g)Audit & Risk Committee– Meeting on 24 June 2013

RECEIVED AND NOTED.

h)Finance & Personnel Committee – Meeting on 24 June 2013

RECEIVED AND NOTED.

i)Essex Regional Committee – Meeting on 17 June 2013

RECEIVED AND NOTED.

j)London Regional Committee – Meeting on the 10 June 2013

103/12/13

MINUTES OF GROUP SUBSIDIARY BOARDS, WORKING PARTIES AND PANELS

a)Swan Foundation – Next meeting on the 4 July 2013

b)Update on Chairs meeting – no meetings since the last Board

c)Design & Sustainability – next meeting on 22 July 2013

d)Swan New Homes Board – Minutes of the meeting held on 18 June 2013

104/12/13

GROUNDS MAINTENANCE UPDATE

RECEIVED a report from the Research and Development Manager providing an updateon the development of a Grounds Maintenance and Landscaping Service which employs Swan residents and provides them with qualifications and training to facilitate long-term employment.

NOTED:the contents of the report.

105/12/13

RISK MANAGEMENT

RECEIVED a report from the Deputy Chief Executive providing Members with an update on the Risk Management process.

NOTED:

  1. the contents of the report;
  2. Steve King said that at their meeting on 24 June 2013, Members of the Audit & Risk Committee debated the comment made by Altair relating to mitigation of risks that indicated that unless the inherent risk reduced to a low number it was not considered thoroughly. The discussions concluded that there were some risks that were impossible to mitigate, and there was a difference between mitigation and contingency planning.

106/12/13

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATOR AND MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTS REPORT

RECEIVED the Key Performance Indicator and Management Accounts report from the Deputy Chief Executive.

NOTED:the contents of the report.

107/12/13

CORPORATE STRATEGY ACTION PLAN

RECEIVED the Corporate Strategy Action Plan from the Executive Director - Housing.

NOTED:

  1. the EDH informed Members that this was a decision item and sought approval of the plan for 2013/14;
  2. the plan for 2013/14 included all the items in the original plan and also included the objectives for Hera and Vivo.

AGREED:the Corporate Strategy Action Plan for 2013/14.

108/12/13

ANY OTHER BUSINESS

GLA Final Compliance Audit Report for 2012-13

RECEIVED AND NOTED. The actions from this report had been included in the Internal Audit Recommendation Tracker.

Meetings

The Chair cancelled the Board Members training scheduled for 7 August 2013 and the Chairs meeting scheduled for 20 August 2013.

Resignation of Board Member – Angela Lyon

The Chair was sorry to announce the resignation of Angela Lyon, due to work commitments, and thanked her for her contribution to the Swan Board.

109/12/13

SEALS REGISTER

RECEIVED AND NOTED

110/12/13

TENDER BOOK

RECEIVED AND NOTED.

101/12/13

DATE & TIME OF NEXT MEETING

NOTED: Monday 30 September 2013 @ 18.30

The Chair closed the meeting at19.10

…………………………………………………..Chair

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j/swan/meetings 2012/13/1 July 2013

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