One of the councils in this week’s latest wave of Best Value reports has warned that the inspection process may be wasting public money.
After Exeter city council’s housing services were awarded one star in a Best Value review by the Audit Commission, the council’s chief executive Philip Bostock said: "Bearing in mind the £45,000 cost of the inspection, plus the considerable time and effort given by staff, we are not sure that the taxpayer has received value for money."

The Best Value report found that tenant involvement had improved, and the council worked well with suitable partners.

But it criticised the time taken to process homeless applications, increases in rent arrears, and urged the council to consult tenants more.

Chief inspector of housing Roy Irwin said: "During the inspection we found that Exeter has both strengths - such as the quick re-let of empty properties - and weaknesses - such as its dealings with homeless people. However, we also found that the council has both the will and the potential to improve."

But Bostock said that key findings seemed hard to grasp. "We find the inspector’s assessment that there is low tenant satisfaction with the repairs service very difficult to understand as their own report states that 75 per cent of tenants are satisfied," he said.

And he added: "They also praise us on one hand for improving involvement of tenants, and then say our service is not sufficiently user-driven."

Bostock said that the inspection had duplicated work already covered by the council: "We were already aware of many of the improvements suggested by the inspectors in their recommendations.

And he questioned the level of preparedness shown by the inspection team: "That the report was published more than two months later than planned perhaps indicates the difficulties experienced by the inspectors."

But the findings of the three other Best Value reports released this week were welcomed by the authorities involved. Gosport council and Barnet council - both inspected on their repairs and maintenance - gained two stars and one star respectively. Two stars were awarded to Camden’s capital spending programme.

Source

Housing Today