Made On Line
15/12/2023
9121-0312-4269-4751

This Freedom of Information(FOI) Request concerns the Redesign of Mixed Tenure Scheme as reported by East Renfrewshire Council

EAST RENFREWSHIRE COUNCIL
1 March 2023 Report by Head of Accountancy (Chief Financial Officer) REVENUE ESTIMATES 2023/24

ANNEX B
SAVINGS PROPOSALS 2023/24 AND FULL YEAR IMPACTS/ADVANCE APPROVALS 2024/25
Department of Environment
ENV 3.1 Redesign of Mixed Tenure Service

and

Full Council Meeting - 13 December 2023 - Agenda Item 10

EAST RENFREWSHIRE COUNCIL - 13 December 2023
Report by Head of Accountancy (Chief Financial Officer)
REVENUE ESTIMATES 2024/25 - ADVANCE SAVINGS PROPOSALS
Para 8
Redesign of Mixed Tenure Scheme - £100k: Consideration was given to a redesign to attract external funding to this service but this does not seem feasible without impacting significantly on the nature of the service provided to tenants. Accordingly, this saving is no longer recommended at this time.


Please provide copies of all recorded reports/papers/reviews etc concerning

- The Redesign of the Mixed Tenure Scheme,

- the Mixed Tenure Scheme review,

- The Consideration given to a redesign to attract external funding to this service,

- Why this did not seem feasible without impacting significantly on the nature of the service provided to tenants.

Please also provide copies of all correspondence/emails/texts to/from/between Council Officials regarding the above.

Your help is appreciated.

------ Original Message ------
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Sent: Monday, 15 Jan, 2024 At 16:15
Subject: Environmental Information Regulations Response - 9121-0312-4269-4751


Information Request under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004

I refer to your information request (referenced 9121-0312-4269-4751) regarding the Mixed Tenure Scheme, following reporting to the full Council on 1 March 2023 and 13 December 2023.

To clarify, I am answering this information request under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004, as the information relates to buildings, planning, roads or the state / status of ground or air. I have arrived at this consideration in that the Mixed Tenure Scheme is concerned with the condition that buildings and grounds are maintained.

Within your request, I have identified the following asks:

Copies of all recorded reports / papers / reviews regarding the redesign / review of the Mixed Tenure Scheme.

Why a potential redesign to attract external funding did not seem feasible without impacting on the nature of service provided to tenants.

Copies of all correspondence / emails / texts to, from & between Council Officials regarding any review / redesign of the Mixed Tenure Scheme.

In relation to your first and second ask, please find attached a draft report that was intended to brief the Director of Environment on the various considerations as a consequence of the 1 March 2023 mooted review of the Mixed Tenure Scheme.

This draft paper outlined the factors that were considered as part of the review, including why external funding would not be feasible for the current design and makeup of the Mixed Tenure Scheme.

Conclusions arising from the report were that a review of the Mixed Tenure Scheme would not be resolved in the short term.

Unfortunately, in relation to your final ask - a significant volume of information is sought and would require prolonged officer time to provide this.

As such, under Regulation 8 of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004, a charge would be required to be paid to provide the information you have requested.

In the instance of your request, I have estimated that responding to your request would likely cost £1,492.89.

I have arrived at this figure through the following estimation:

- Two Council officers (Head of Housing Property & Climate Services and the Resilience Officer) have identified 457 emails following a search for "Mixed Tenure Scheme Review".

- As a minimum, there would be at least another 3 officers with emails and documentation, including Senior officers within Housing - who will likely hold more emails and documentation than the initial sample. Appreciating that some of these will be a repeat of the documentation that the initial two officers identified; I have not considered that each officer would have approximately 230 emails each; but estimated an additional 400 emails / correspondence / documents.

- With this in mind; my initial estimate is that there are potentially 857 documents / correspondence for inclusion.

- Based upon a Council officer being able to access 10 -15 documents / correspondence per hour I have initially estimated the time required for 857 items to be 57.133 hours (I have went with the higher estimate of 15 items per hour).

- Based on the hourly rate for the Resilience Officer of £26.13 (other more senior officers may need to be involved), the approximate cost would be £26.13 x 57.133; providing a total of £1,492.89.

Recognising the Regulation 9 duty for Public Authorities to advise / assist requestors in obtaining information, I have sought to include information that would be available for no cost, in providing the attached document which I believe answers your first two questions. It may be possible to further lower the costs associated with your request if you can be more specific on the nature of correspondence / all documentation sought; or narrow the timeframe.

I hope this information is of assistance to you.

East Renfrewshire Council offers the opportunity to apply to the Council for a review of how we have dealt with your enquiry. If you wish to proceed to review, please apply in writing within 40 working days to:

Chief Legal Officer
Council Headquarters
Rouken Glen Road
Giffnock
G46 6UG

Or by email at:

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

marking your letter or email "Freedom of Information, request for review". In your response, please state the exact nature of the matter you wish to be reviewed.

The review will be carried out within 20 working days of receipt. If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of the review, you have the right to then appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner who has extensive powers to investigate such matters. Their address is:

Scottish Information Commissioner
Kinburn Castle
St Andrews
Fife
KY16 9DS

Regards
Anthony
Anthony Jenkins
Resilience Coordinator
Environment Department
East Renfrewshire Council

EAST RENFREWSHIRE COUNCIL
July 2023
Report for the Director of Environment
REVIEW OF MIXED TENURE SCHEME

PURPOSE OF REPORT

The purpose of this report is to advise upon the review of the Council’s Mixed Tenure Scheme.

BACKGROUND

As part of the 2023/24 Budget setting a saving on the Mixed Tenure Scheme was not approved, but there was agreement that a review would be conducted.

Findings were to be reported to Cabinet with a view to assisting future budgetary decision making.

The Housing Service was asked to consider ways to retain all posts but save £100k of costs to the General Fund. Given the shared funding of this service this therefore requires a £200k saving for the overall budget.

The Mixed Tenure Scheme is funded jointly by the General Fund and Housing Revenue Account.

The scheme’s primary purpose is to deliver a number of services in mixed tenure estates:

With a squad of 1 Project Officer & a HIT Squad of 7 FTE officers who keep mixed tenure estates clean through litter pick up and addressing fly tipping. The squad also undertake some grass cutting and hedge trimming.

Close cleaning – a contract is in place with a private sector provider to clean all mixed tenure tenement closes.

Grass cutting – a contract is in place with a private sector provider to cut the communal gardens of tenement flats in Barrhead & Neilston.

Projects – the team contract improvement works in mixed tenure blocks such as fencing, paving and tree works.

The 23/24 estimated budget is as follows:

REPORT

As the table above illustrates, a significant element of the budget is staffing costs and the items associated with their work such as premises costs, vans, tool and plant.

Furthermore, there is no flexibility within the budget for increased costs.

Therefore if the aim is to retain the Mixed Tenure Squad whilst delivering savings, only the following approaches can be considered:

Remove contracted services such as grass cutting and close cleaning.

Remove the budget for projects such as mixed tenure fencing slabbing and tree works
Generate income for the service or use other funding such as Scottish Government Employability funding.

A combination of all three

EMPLOYABILITY

The purpose of using Employability funding is to implement trainee officers in carrying out additional services under the Mixed Tenure Scheme.

Employability funding is administered for East Renfrewshire by the Council’s Economic Development Service, who will evaluate where proposals are suitable.

Assuming Employability funding was successfully utilised within the Mixed Tenure Scheme, it would support those not employed or in education, or under threat of redundancy in the immediate future.

Within the Mixed Tenure Scheme, any successfully appointed individuals would be in addition to the existing FTE employees and would be supported to obtain workplace experience that helps to build their employability, development and skills.

Support would be offered to help the individuals prepare for and sustain future employment.

The funding does not cover supervision and management costs which would have to be absorbed into the existing service.

A challenge with Employability funding is that it is short term in its nature; with single year allocations given by the Scottish Government.

At this time, even the amount available for 2023/24 has just been confirmed. For any project to be sustained it would require a longer-term funding offering.


The guidance for Employability funding through the Scottish Government states that trainees could not be utilised to replace existing roles or covered planned vacancies.

Any previous use of employability funding by the Mixed Tenure Scheme has involved trainees helping with existing service work.

CONTRACTED SERVICE CONSIDERED FOR EMPLOYABILTY

Close cleaning & Grass cutting

One area considered for potential savings has been in relation to the services contracted to third party providers such as close cleaning and grass cutting.

With both contracts ending in March 2023, there was an opportunity to consider if there are other ways for the service to be carried out.

However, this was weighed against potential obstacles that may occur.

With regard to the Mixed Tenure Scheme, the following broad options were considered:

End of close cleaning services & grass cutting: no longer carrying on with the existing contract.

Reduction of the existing contracts: reducing the scope and therefore costs of current services

No change to existing service: extend the existing contracts.


There would potentially be reputational ramifications for the Council if these contracts were reduced or not renewed.

Housing Services have very few powers to compel owners and private landlords in mixed tenure areas to look after communal areas such as closes and garden areas.

Additionally, there is recognition that reducing or removal of close cleaning would only heighten the risk of builds up of debris, and the resultant raising of the fire risk this brings.

If the service was brought in house there is a high likelihood that the Council would face Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment (TUPE) challenges for those employed under the current contracts.

Those staff are currently employed solely for the existing contract with the Council, which means it is unlikely that the Council would be successful in any tribunal if TUPE claim was raised.

This has been confirmed by colleagues in human resources and legal services.

Due to 2023/24 budget constraints the close cleaning service has been suspended pending outcome of the review.

The cost to deliver the wider service has increased as a result of the TUPE transfer of the service and the employees from the contractor VERG to East Renfrewshire Council in October 2021.

The council’s payscale and terms and conditions place a greater burden on the budget.

In addition the impact of inflation on the costs of material and contracted works, has had a significant impact.

For example, the grass cutting service has increased this year by £10k