THE ADVISORY AND SCRUTINY PANEL (ASP) Jean Robinson Chair person, ASP Mark Armstrong Head of Policy & Strategy, WPH

A BIT ABOUT US WPH is a stock transfer organisation on Wirral which has 12,500 properties There are 8 members of our Advisory & Scrutiny Panel (ASP), 2 are fairly new members We are either tenants of WPH or officers of an association in a WPH area. We were all involved with WPH in some capacity before forming the ASP : One example was most of us were Customer Inspectors.

A BIT MORE ABOUT US.... We saw that the inspection work we did resulted in positive changes to services, for example: Changes to reception areas Changes to customer care procedures following ASB mystery shopping Changes to improvement works scheme at New Ferry After this experience, we wanted to get more involved in influencing WPH

OUR ROLE Just like the Ronseal advert, we do what it says on the tin! We.. Advise WPH on services from a tenants’ point of view Scrutinise WPH services that are important to tenants and communities

WHAT IS SCRUTINY? A definition of advisory is… …to inform / offer advice …empowered to make recommendation A definition of scrutiny is… …to examine closely / carefully Scrutiny therefore provides a unique perspective on how well services are being delivered and how they could be improved, from the point of view of those receiving and using those services.

How we fit in... OUR ROLE Board & Executive Team Scrutiny Panel Umbrella Groups, TRAs, Street Reps, Lone Voices Panels and focus groups Customer feedback (eg surveys, complaints) Customer Inspectors

OUR JOURNEY November 2009 – those of us interested in becoming more closely involved received a presentation from Linda Levin Partnership Ltd about the new regulatory framework, in particular scrutiny Early 2010 – we agreed to become the scrutiny panel and elected a chair and vice chair

OUR JOURNEY...(Con`t) January – April 2010 – we developed: Aim and objectives Terms of reference Person specification Training needs assessment Code of conduct, including an agreement about how ASP members would treat each other and settle any differences Partnership agreement between ASP and WPH

OUR JOURNEY...(Con`t) May 2010 – WPH Board formally endorsed the ASP by signing a ‘Working Together’ Agreement. This agreement was written by ASP Sets out guiding principles underpinning the partnership between ASP and WPH Board

OUR JOURNEY...(Con`t) June 2010 to now We received training – team building, influencing and negotiating We received briefings – e.g. governance and the role of the Board Developed our processes and protocols to guide our reviews and scrutiny work Decided which service to scrutinise first by looking at WPH Status results – this told us that ASB is a priority issue for WPH tenants

OUR JOURNEY...(Con`t) June 2010 to now...cont’d We started and have completed our first review – ASB Advised WPH about the content and format of their first annual report to tenants (as required by the TSA) Held a recruitment process to attract new members for ASP – we developed the process and advertising campaign As you can see, we have been very busy!

OUR ACHIEVEMENTS TO DATE ASB review Our input has resulted in termination of SLA with Wirral Council for provision of ASB services. The service is now provided entirely by WPH at a greatly reduced cost and we firmly believe this will result in a much more responsive and customer focused service for tenants and community's of WPH We are working with WPH to ensure cost savings are re-invested wisely Our other recommendations have been reported to, and accepted by, WPH Board

OUR ACHIEVEMENTS TO DATE Annual report to tenants (ASR) We were very closely involved in the development of the report We are proud of the final format and content of the annual report It is an informative and clear document – focusing on the issues that matter to tenants and communities

OUR ACHIEVEMENTS TO DATE We are proud of the processes and protocols we have put in place to underpin our role: Information sharing agreement with WPH Agreement for admin support Process for completing a service review – takes us from start to finish and through to monitoring and evaluating outcomes for tenants Templates for information requests and making our evidence based recommendations Communications plan – how we will work with tenants, officers and Board

SUPPORT Support we have received from WPH includes: Senior officer is our main link Chair of the Board & Chief Executive are very committed to ensuring that we receive support we need Offer for ASP chair to attend Board meetings ASP to attend next Board development event Resident Involvement Officer support Training received Access to House Mark benchmark data Our own base Mentoring – Linda Levin

WPH PERSPECTIVE Success of Customer Inspectors coincided with co-regulation & scrutiny principles Development of ASR and local offers provided an ideal opportunity for working together The ASP emerged and developed independently – this approach fitted WPH, not necessarily others Staff & the Board relationship issues need to be recognised

LESSONS LEARNT (WPH) Developing a customer focussed publication isn't easy (eg ASR) Staff initially ‘uneasy’ about, (i) scrutiny / true challenge & (ii) information sharing Board relationships need to be established Scrutiny Panels need to be organised – solid foundations of training & basic paperwork. Need to focus on the strands & not get sidetracked. Walk before panel can run (in terms of service area and time)

LESONS LEARNT (ASP) Team work - it is important to build strong relationships between scrutiny members and with other tenants, officers and Board. Get organised – develop processes to continually guide your work as a scrutiny panel...otherwise it becomes a free for all! Get a mentor – for independent advice and guidance

NEXT STEPS? Recommendations made to WPH Board on ASB – now looking at reinvestment of resulting savings The big one…the Repairs Service Training for new members Formal liaison with Chair and Board (inc Governance review) Share our experiences / paperwork through Co-regulatory Champion process

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING Any questions? Jean Robinson, ASP ( ) Mark Armstrong, WPH ( )