Housing Service Judged "Promising"

10.55.33pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 23rd May 2007

The way Milton Keynes Council supports residents with housing needs has been judged to be "fair" with "promising prospects for improvement", according to an independent report released this month by the Audit Commission.

The findings of the Audit Commission's inspection of the "Supporting People" programme have been welcomed by the Council. "Supporting People" is the Government's funding and planning regime for the local delivery of housing-related support services to a wide range of vulnerable people. The programme started on 1 April 2003.

Liberal Democrat councillor Irene Henderson, cabinet member responsible for housing, said: "We are pleased that the inspectors' positive comments. There is clearly work to do to improve the service further and it is good to see that the inspectors recognise that we have plans to improve further - their judgement that we have "promising prospects for improvement" is what pleases me most."

On a scale from zero to three stars, the Audit Commission inspection team, in partnership with inspectors from Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Probation and the Commission for Social Care Inspectorate, gave the service a "fair" (one star) rating. This is because the Council and its partners have ensured that housing-related support services have been reviewed effectively, helping to drive up quality and promote better value for money.

The commission also noted that some new services had been developed to benefit a wider range of vulnerable people. These include:

• There are effective links between the "Supporting People" team and other adult care services

• Service reviews have been comprehensive, with a focus on involving service users and achieving value for money

• The programme has delivered tangible benefits to service users through the commissioning of new services, realignment of some existing provision and focus on value for money.

Sara Kulay, Lead Housing Inspector for the South East of England, said: 'Milton Keynes Council and its partners have put a strong focus on improving existing housing-related support services funded by the programme and have developed some new schemes to meet local needs.

"This has increased the support available to a number of vulnerable groups, including young people at risk and women fleeing domestic violence. But there is still a need to determine long-term commissioning priorities for the programme and to ensure that service users can fully influence further plans.

"The Council and its partners have already put improvement plans in place to address the areas of concern we identified in our inspection, giving us some confidence that they are now well placed to meet the challenges ahead."

The report noted that further work was needed to involve voluntary sector stakeholders and service users more in the planning and development of the programme. Some gaps in information about the housing support needs of different client groups still need to be filled and further work was needed on the long-term strategy for the service.

To help the service improve, inspectors made a number of recommendations. These include:

• Taking steps to ensure that all front-line staff can respond effectively to requests from people who may require support

• Developing a clear strategy for moving people on from temporary accommodation

• Developing better links with voluntary stakeholders and increasing their ability to influence the development of the programme.

Milton Keynes Council received a Supporting People grant of £5.24 million from central government in 2006/07 to meet the cost of housing-related support services for vulnerable people. These include older people, people who are homeless, people with learning difficulties, people with mental health problems, people with substance misuse problems, refugees, travellers and offenders.

Copies of the report are available from Milton Keynes Council or from the Audit Commission website at www.audit-commission.gov.uk/reports.