Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors M Bailey and N Statham.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 27^th November 2024 were approved as a correct record.

(Moved by Councillor M Bailey and seconded by Councillor N Statham)

There were no declarations of interest

There was no update

(Update on responses to the Reports of the Health & Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee)

The Chair updated the Committee that following on from the last meeting they attended Cabinet on 12^th December to present the Committees recommendation to appoint a food champion which was approved.

(Discussion item)

There were none.

(To receive the Digest from Staffordshire County Council’s Health and Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee and an update from County Councillor J Jones)

The Chair confirmed that no digest had been received and there was no attendance today from the County Councillor.

The Chair confirmed that the dental strategy is to be considered by county in March and an end-of-life working has also been established which was to report back in 2026.

(Report of the Assistant Director, Assets)

The Chair welcomed the Assistant Director Assets and the Portfolio Holder for Housing, Homelessness and Planning to present the report to provide an update on the Councils approach to Damp & Mould in housing properties.

The Portfolio Holder provided a summary of the report. The Officer confirmed that this is an area of interest to the Social Housing Regulator, and they wanted to see that the Council had a process and monitoring in place. There is a spotlight on damp and mould and the Council were required to do a self-assessment.

As of Monday there were 37 live cased in the MLDINS code – averaging about 18-20 a cases per month.

Since the policy was produced the Council have been working with contractors on a contract reset process to strengthen procedures around damp and mould and provide more oversight around responses, however there would be resource implications for this.

The Council now have access to specialist contractors for more complex cases, which is a costly service but enables a better response.

There is a link to information and videos on dealing with damp and mould on the website.

Progress is being continually monitored as well as follow up calls being made after a case is closed.

There are no obvious trends in areas or archetype however family homes do seem to be worse.

The policy is evolving, and will need refreshing regularly.

The Committee made the following comments/observations and asked the following questions:

1)    Are there any common trends at all identified in terms of property type/area?

The Officer confirmed that there was a problem identified with properties with concrete balconies, so they have had insulation fitted on them, but generally there are no obvious trends. With low figures of 18-20 a month this can make it difficult to identify trends however the use of the MDLNIS code allows us to complete a breakdown and analysis.

2)    With changes in legislations, are we doing enough horizon planning as we go forward, have targets been set and are these resourced? How are future proofing and planning as age of stock declines there will be a rising cost to keep properties up to date?

We have built in costs to look at insulation and other energy efficiencies in homes and this is being looked at as to whether this is affordable. As more stringent requirements come in, more resources (which may be external) will need to be built in.

At the moment targets sit within the repairs policy, but this will change under Awaabs law, and in severe cases the Council will need to respond within 24 hours and work is being done with Equans around this.

In an ideal world we don’t want any issues with damp and mould but  there will always be some. It was explained that of the 18-20 reported some of these will only be slight (i.e. damp around windows) and some may not an inherent damp problem but the aftermath of another problem, i.e. a leak.

With  ...  view the full minutes text for item 58.

To provide any update on any working groups

There were none.

(Discussion Item - To review the Health & Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee Work Plan)

The Chair highlighted that the next municipal year was going to be important for the Committee with the changes expected to the NHS and Health and Social Care over the next 12-18 months.

The Chair confirmed that the next meeting is on 20^th March 2025 we have the safeguarding update and have been asked to consider the following reports –

• Tamworth Community Grants and Funding Options 2025 onwards
• Honest Conversations Community Cohesion Report and Workplan

The Committee agreed with these being added to the agenda for the next meeting.

(Discussion item – link to the Forward Plan attached)

Browse plans - Cabinet, 2024 :: Tamworth Borough Council

There were no new items identified from the Forward Plan.

The Chair closed the meeting at 7:00pm.