National Housing Maintenance Forum

4a Demonstrating Value for Money in a DLO

The Audit Commission may have moved away from their entrenched suspicion of Direct Labour Organisations but we are still required to demonstrate their value to regulatory authorities, our boards or councils and, above all, to our tenants and leaseholders.  Competition is not the answer.  If you cannot win, why compete?  If you cannot lose, why waste the time and money?  If you don’t know, how will you know the answer when you see it?

VFM is too complex a term to deal with completely in this short session but we believe the key requirements are:

• To show you are using DLO to do the work it is best suited to do
• Being able to benchmark its costs and performance with authority
• Being able to demonstrate that costs and performance are actively managed and that monitoring information, together with customer feedback, is used to improve performance.

This session concentrates on fulfilling those key requirements, delivering techniques and practical advice that works.

4b So what's looking best for green technology and existing buildings?

The rate of change of the UK building stock means that nearly all of the future built environment already exists. So, it is absolutely essential that we know how to make existing buildings more sustainable.

Paul will discuss the most practical options from the perspective of an M&E contractor (using a domestic case study and feasibility study) for reducing the carbon footprint of existing and everyday buildings - taking a "what's feasible and what's not" approach.

The Electrical Contractors’ Association is a leading trade association in the building services sector, with nearly 3000 member companies. It works closely with government and key national bodies to improve industry standards and procedures.

4c Being prepared for inspection

This session will cover what happens before, during and after an inspection. Frances will take delegates through the service specific and cross cutting KLOEs, look at what excellence means and examine some case studies showing the road to improvement as well as areas of positive practice. There will be an opportunity for delegates to ask questions about the process and gain some tips on presenting information. The session will conclude with a look at short notice inspections and the difference between these and a standard inspection.

4d Keeping out of hot water

In property-related compliance the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007, which came into force in April 2008, places a clear responsibility on senior management to identify life-threatening risks and to have designed and operated appropriate controls to mitigate them.

In this session John will inform delegates about recent high profile cases of compliance value; the challenges around managing compliance and how, by implementing a structured approach through enabling technology, you can make the connection between identifying what needs to be done, to who is responsible, through to obtaining positive confirmation that what needs to be done has been done.   In short, introducing a controlled process to help organisations ‘keep out of hot water’.

4e Practical implications of the new gas installer registration scheme

On 8 September 2008, Capita signed a ten year contract with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to operate a new gas installer registration scheme in Great Britain from April 2009.

Jeff Learman, Director of Stakeholder management at Capita Gas Registration and Ancillary Services will share Capita’s plans from April 2009 with workshop delegates.

The new scheme replaces the CORGI gas registration scheme, which will end on 31 March 2009 in England, Scotland and Wales. It will encompass all aspects of the downstream gas industry covered by the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. It covers both piped natural gas and liquid propane gas (LPG). The scheme will deliver high levels of gas safety awareness amongst consumers aligned to a powerful new gas safety brand. And the single minded focus on delivering the scheme and promoting gas safety will give gas installers greater value for money.