Agenda item - Field Officers

A Field Officer’s update on their work.

65.1       Brett Stacey, Field Officer Manager, introduced the Field Officer update and stated that they were working hard to remodel the estate inspection service and they were ensuring that tenants were engaged in the process. There was an online system being developed and a meeting would be organised to discuss the concrete proposals moving forward. He stated that Field Officers had successfully begun their tasks of evidence gathering, information sharing and service referrals back to Housing as well as becoming a more visible service.

65.2       Residents welcomed the new Field Officers and looked forward to their good work and invited them to attend the local Tenants Association meetings.

65.3       Residents expressed concern about the irregularity of previous estate inspections and whether Field Officers inheriting the inspection service would have the time and resources to reach the outer suburbs.

65.4       In response to residents, officers stated that the Field Officers were mobile across the city and were not assigned one area. He added that if residents wanted a case investigated that they should continue to enquire via the usual route, directly to the service, and they would get centrally distributed to avoid duplication.

65.5       Councillor Meadows stated that the Field Officers should come familiar with the Tenant Associations to enable casework to be completed easier and quicker by using their knowledge.

65.6       Residents stated that when the role of the Field Officers was originally discussed and devised that a primary focus was that they would have more of a focus and involvement in taking over the estate inspections in collaboration with residents who were knowledgeable of the area.

65.7       Officers responded that the project was discussed a number of years prior to the delivery with various versions proposed which had now refined in an enforcement based role.