Agenda item

Members are reminded that under paragraph 11.1 of part 4 of the Constitution, questions can be asked of the Leader and Cabinet Members without notice about any matter contained in any address.  Questions shall be limited to five minutes in total for each announcement.

Councillor A V Smith announced that following development by a task and finish group and consideration at Policy Development Group, the measures to be contained in the Armed Forces Community Covenant had been agreed.  She reported that the covenant would be signed on Friday, 2 May by the Leader of the Council, Andrew Bridgen MP, the Chief Executive of the Council, Lt Col. David Dawber representing the Armed Forces and David Atterbury as County Chairman of the Royal British Legion Groups.  She added that by signing the covenant the Council were making a public statement and commitment to working with the armed forces community in North West Leicestershire, which was supported by all.

Councillor A V Smith advised that in her role as the Council’s Armed Forces Champion, she had been made aware that this year’s Normandy Veterans service was unfortunately to be the last one organized by the Normandy Veterans Association due to the age of the veterans.  She urged all members to support this last service which would take place on Saturday, 31 May at Holy Rood Church in Packington.  She asked all Members to let her know if they were able to attend.

Councillor R D Bayliss gave an update on the Green and Decent Homes project, which invited tenants to participate in a trial of alternative energy forms to identify the most suitable types of technology for the Council’s housing stock.  He reported that nearly 60 families had expressed an interest in participating, and after reviewing all applicants, this had been reduced to 12 properties. He added that the Energy Trust had recommended the following technologies:

Solar thermal heating (4 properties).

Solar photovoltaic system (3 properties).

Air source heat pumps (2 properties).

Hybrid air source heat pump and gas system (1 property).

Biomass system (1 property).

Ground source heat pump (1 property).                                                         

Councillor R D Bayliss explained that all participating tenants had agreed to allow the Council to monitor the technologies for 12 months. Smart meters and similar monitoring equipment would be installed to keep track of monthly fuel usage.  He stated that work would hopefully start in April / May 2014.  He thanked everyone who had taken part in the project.

Councillor R D Bayliss reiterated that he had promised to keep Members informed on progress in respect of the loophole regarding the under-occupancy charge.  He referred to information from the Revenues and Benefits partnership which had been received today and summarised the actions taken as follows:

•   System reports were produced for North West Leicestershire which identified 288 people from the electronic records available.  This list of 288 people included Council tenants and Housing Association tenants affected by the under-occupancy changes, who appeared to meet the main criteria for the exemption.

•   A letter was drafted and approved and was loaded onto the Document Management System on 26 February 2014.

•   The Partnership’s Welfare Reform Officers went through the list of 288 people, filtering each case and checking against the Council Tax records to see if they had moved since 1 April 2006.

•   The list of 288 people was cross-referenced against the lists also provided by the Housing department and East Midlands Housing to ensure that all those possibly affected were checked.

•   Anyone who had moved was not written to as it was clear that they would not be eligible for the exemption.

•   Once the list had been filtered, and those who had moved were removed from the list, the number of claimants potentially affected was reduced to 168.  168 letters were issued between 27 February 2014 and 5 March 2014.

•   33 applications have subsequently been received.  19 have been completed and 14 are currently new or in progress pending an investigation of the paper files.

•   Of the 19 completed applications, 9 were successful and these claimants have been issued with a revised award letter.  8 of these were Council Tenants and for these cases the resulting credit has gone to their rent account.  The Housing department will determine if a refund direct to the tenant is appropriate.  2 of these cases received a Discretionary Housing Payment, which, following DWP guidance, will not be recovered from the tenant.

•   Of the 10 unsuccessful cases, the reasons for refusal varied. The reasons included:
1. They moved in or out after 1996,
2. There was an ineligible break in the claim,
3. Housing benefit was first claimed or commenced after January 1996.

•   Each unsuccessful claimant has been sent a refusal letter explaining the reason for the refusal and advising them of their appeal rights.

•   In most cases, the reasons for refusal were obvious from the information written on the declaration form or from the summary notes contained within each paper file.

Councillor R D Bayliss agreed to provide Councillor D De Lacy with a copy of the information he had received.

Councillor S Sheahan stated that when considering green energy it was important to look at fuel poverty and combating rising fuel prices.  In respect of the under-occupation charge he added that it was important to bear in mind that this reinforced that it was unfair and had not been thought through, as the Labour Group had said all along.  He added that he would be keeping a close eye on this issue as it was important to ensure that people were not being overcharged.

Councillor D De Lacy thanked Councillor R D Bayliss for the report and added that he looked forward to reading it in detail.  He expressed concern regarding the content and complexity of the letter which had been sent to tenants.  He referred to a demonstration which had recently taken place at Stephenson College which he had found fascinating.  He urged any Members who were interested in finding out more about green energy to visit the college.

Councillor T J Pendleton reported that he had presented the Respect Awards last week at the Radisson Blu hotel.  He announced with great pleasure that the Council’s Community Safety Team Leader, Sarah Favell, had become the first civilian to receive a Superintendent commendation from Leicestershire Police for her partnership work in tackling anti-social behaviour in the District.  He explained that the commendation was awarded for the innovative approach which had brought together partners and council departments to work together and share information to improve customer satisfaction with the way anti-social behaviour was tackled.

Councillor T Neilson congratulated Sarah Favell on her award.  He stated that he had seen the effect of her work on the levels of crime and anti-social behaviour in Measham.  He thanked her for her work in contributing to the safety of all.