i2i Housing Procurement Motion  

16.2.2011 

The report ‘Economic Dependency and Worklessness’ produced last year by the Social Justice Policy Group, chaired by Iain Duncan Smith, identified a number of problems with social housing in the UK that are familiar to practitioners in the Welsh housing industry – high levels of worklessness, long waiting lists and limited mobility for existing tenants. The extent to which spending on regenerating housing benefits the lives of tenants and the community is, of course, limited or increased by any associated attempt to regenerate the community’s local economy and jobs market. As the report states, ‘the facts are clear. For individuals and their dependents, employment is the single most effective route out of poverty. Among households where all the adults work, just 5% are below the poverty line. Where there are no working adults, the risk of poverty increases nearly tenfold to 49%’. It is essential therefore that where housing regeneration projects are pursued, that is not considered an end in itself. In an era of tighter spending regeneration project must give long lasting benefits to the targeted communities, including crucially kickstarting the area’s wealth producing private sector such as by increasing the number of opportunities for construction businesses to tender for public contracts.  

            It would wrong however to ignore some of the strengths of social housing in Wales such as the expertise of certain social landlords and Councils together with civic activism among tenants.  Last year’s Excellence Wales awards highlighted the good practice that exists in delivering quality, affordable housing and it is encouraging that in her statements on the issue the Deputy Minister for Housing and Regeneration has stressed the need for collaboration in delivering housing services in the challenging economic climate. There has much to commend about the innovative i2i programmes, Welsh Conservatives welcome the use of procurement as a vehicle for wider benefits. Equally, the Deputy Minister will be aware of concern that certain councils have allegedly failed to engage with the i2i programme in the past, which has clearly limited its effectiveness. In a similar vein, the Federation of Small Businesses report that 43% of their members are not aware of the ‘Sell2Wales’ initiative. I would add that greater publicity could be given to the employment and training opportunities for young unemployed with the construction and maintenance companies that are commissioned by Social Landlords that have adopted the toolkit. Having browsed a number of the Housing organisations in South Wales East and the i2i programme website these promising schemes do not figure prominently, and are not widely known of. Newport City Homes, which has just issued an extensive mailshot across the City, advertising vacancies with the businesses maintain its properties is among those organisations which have publicised the opportunities open to young people and the SME friendly procurement schemes better. Where businesses are taken on to undertake work for Social Landlords there is a clear need to monitor they are fulfilling their part of the agreement to take on unemployed young people. I have been made aware that a UK-wide kitchen installing company which won the contract to fit kitchens for Bron Afon Housing in Torfaen did not initially fulfil their commitment to train two young people from Remploy until being reminded to do so by Bron Afon. Nonetheless, this should not overshadow much of the good practice the Can Do approach has ushered in, such as recruiting locally, ensuring recruits are paid fairly, much needed home improvements and that waste is disposed of in an environmentally friendly way. A good example of the co-operative behaviour by the businesses which have followed the i2i toolkit can be seen in the area that Bron Afon manages, where a contractor has ceased moving heavy machinery along local routes at peak times such as when schools are opening and closing. There also exist similar good responses to the Arbed programme, and I would welcome the Deputy Minister outlining how we can capitalise on the expertise that has been developed in insulating the many 1920’s properties we have in Wales by supporting businesses specialising in this area. 

            The disappointing news in December that just 6% of social housing in 2008 reaches the Welsh Housing Quality Standard introduced in 2002 underlines the need to ensure that the new housing organisations are fully aware of their duties and the need to spend prudently. When properly administered, the i2i programme has been a positive step forward for housing and, as the Deputy Minister has recognised in the ‘Keeping it Local: Maximising the Welsh Pound’ document has the potential for application outside of the housing sector. For example, the practice by Local Authorities of ‘clumping’ procurement contracts should be monitored for its impact on local SME opportunities. Similarly, the Assembly Government can look to provide support to increase private procurement opportunities, such as by promoting private sector use of Sell2 Wales. The claim contained in the ‘Keeping it Local’ document that if the toolkit were to be applied across the public sector in Wales it has the potential to create an additional 4,000 jobs and training opportunities is particularly eye-catching, and it is to be hoped that the Assembly Government will take the opportunity to carefully examine the idea.