星空传媒

The Audit Commission took over housing inspection from the Housing Corporation in April 2003. Now it鈥檚 reviewing its procedures. What changes is it making?

MP: We will shortly bring in self-assessment ahead of each housing inspection.

Self-assessment is standard for housing associations but at the moment, councils only do it during comprehensive performance assessments.

Other changes include the extension of the star rating system to inspections of registered social landlords, the introduction of key lines of enquiry and a revised reporting structure.

For housing associations, we have expanded the standard scope of the inspections to cover issues such as rent collection and sustainable communities. The final scope of each inspection will be agreed after the return of the self-assessment report so, as well as covering standard issues, it tackles areas of particular concern to each RSL.

What are the new key lines of enquiry all about?

MP: Along with self-assessment, KLOEs are at the heart of the new inspection method.

When we embarked on the review of our inspection methods 鈥� starting with a consultation last December 鈥� we looked at inspection reports and feedback. One common theme was that inspectors should be clear about the criteria they use. Our response was to create the KLOEs.

They are the questions we would use to judge a service and its potential for improvement. They are designed to focus on outcomes rather than processes and are not about compliance or prescription. They also describe how a service can win one or three stars 鈥� a 鈥渇air鈥� or an 鈥渆xcellent鈥� rating.

So far, we have published the KLOEs on landlord services and prospects for improvement. Next month, KLOEs on homelessness, housing strategy and enabling and the private rented sector will be published on the commission website.

These will be followed by KLOEs on value for money, diversity, disabled access and customer care. The full set will be available

by October.

Our self-assessment guidance will be finalised this month and we will ask councils, RSLs and arm鈥檚-length management organisations to assess themselves in advance of all inspections not long after that.

The self-assessment process is designed to help drive improvements at any stage, not just during inspections. We do not want the KLOEs to be a fixed point but to evolve to meet changing needs 鈥� just as we would expect any good organisation to do.

To this end, we will be organising reference groups in September to test the effectiveness of the KLOEs and we would be interested to hear from anyone who wants to be part of these groups.

Any other changes on the cards?

MP: In the slightly longer term we will be building on the frameworks that already exist, such as the comprehensive performance assessments for councils and the Housing Corporation鈥檚 inspections of RSLs, so that we can target our resources more strategically.

The strategy, put simply, is that the poorer performers will see more of us and the better ones less. At the moment, we don鈥檛 inspect housing associations with fewer than 250 homes; we will raise this threshold to 1000 homes. For the 1500 associations below that threshold, we will gather existing data on their service and then only inspect the worst 5% of performers.

We are also working up some different types of inspections 鈥� such as assessing Supporting People services and market renewal activities. Some of this will not be specific to individual organisations, so area-based inspections are likely to feature. We will publish a guide to inspection this autumn to try to make it as clear as possible what RSLs can expect from us.

What is your timetable for introducing the new approaches?

MP: We spent some time digesting the reams of information collected from the consultation last December 鈥� thankyou to everybody who took the time to respond to the paper.

The councils and RSLs that find preparing for inspections onerous are the ones that don鈥檛 know what their customers鈥� needs are

As we are working up the detail of the new approach, changes are being introduced incrementally and the first are already in place. From May this year, all inspections use the star system to rate the current service and prospects for improvement.

Inspection reports have also changed for organisations assessed since May. We are trying to cater to the different audiences for the reports. Research has tended to become ever more technical in style, which works for the practitioners but not for the customers.

There will now be a one-page public summary attached to the report, which we will ask organisations to publish themselves.

How should associations, councils and ALMOs change their approach to preparing for inspections?

MP: We鈥檙e often asked that, and my view is that it really misses the point. Clearly, inspections put an organisation under a spotlight and this can be a stressful process.

But we find good organisations are the ones that regularly reflect on the services they provide. They have systems in place to detect and understand what their customers want and then tailor services to meet those needs. They look at effective and efficient ways of delivering those services 鈥� often using techniques such as best value processes, quality assurance systems or performance management frameworks.

I believe this is the best way to prepare for an inspection and an integral part of driving ongoing improvement.

The organisations that find the preparation particularly onerous are the ones that have never looked at what they are doing in this way and don鈥檛 know what their customers鈥� needs are. Inspection acts as a catalyst to improvement and that is what it is intended to do. So the message is: concentrate on the systematic improvement of services rather than waiting for your name to appear in the inspection programme.

Is the inspection regime getting tougher?

MP: It鈥檚 more a matter of changing with the times. The services I expect from my bank, for example, are very different from what I would have wanted some years ago. The same goes for the housing industry and regulation has to keep pace.

How will the new methodology be made to dovetail with the Housing Corporation鈥檚 regulatory regime?

MP: We are intending to be more explicit about the follow-up that organisations can expect after an inspection.

Better-scoring associations will be monitored less unless there are aspects of their operations that expose them to greater risk 鈥� for example, acquisition of stock through transfer or a big increase in their development programme.

Inspectors鈥� recommendations will feed into Housing Corporation action plans for associations. We intend to revise the protocol that exists between the Housing Corporation and the Audit Commission to ensure that any regulatory and inspection activity does not overlap or duplicate.

We will issue a revised memorandum of understanding in the autumn.

The increased focus on value for money is causing some concern in the sector. What will be your take on this?

MP: We are putting a greater focus on value for money, although we have always looked at this.

The value for money KLOE will highlight the most important outcomes that we are looking for. It will also recognise that value for money can look very different depending on your perspective. The government will take a different view on the use of public resources from an organisation interested in the effective use of resources to target organisational priorities.

These views need to be overlaid with the perspectives of the service鈥檚 users. We will look at the extent to which an organisation knows its costs and how service costs compare with those of other similar organisations; also whether costs and quality are commensurate.

We will not be prescriptive on the type of procurement but we want to see that there is a transparent framework within which buying decisions have been taken and that the method of procurement uses best value techniques or other appropriate methods of promoting continuous improvement.