Examination of Witnesses (Questions 37-39)
30 MARCH 2004
MS JANE
ROSSER-MCBANE,
MR GORDON
HINCHCLIFFE, MR
JOHN GATWARD
AND MS
VERA BREARY
Q37 Chairman: Good afternoon. Welcome.
Can you state your names for the record, please?
Mr Gatward: John Gatward from
Hanover Housing Association, and Vera Breary, from Hanover Housing
Association.
Mr Hinchcliffe: Gordon Hinchcliffe,
Development Support Team Manager for Foundations, the national
co-ordinating body for home improvement agencies.
Ms Rosser-McBane: Jane Rosser-McBane,
Director of Foundations.
Q38 Chairman: Thank you. As you may have
seen, we give people a chance to make a brief opening statement
if you feel that is necessary, otherwise we will go straight to
questions.
Ms Rosser-McBane: Very, very brief.
Really just to say that when Supporting People was first introduced
we did welcome it and have worked very hard, as the national co-ordinating
body, to ensure that HIAs fit into it in the most effective way.
We were very conscious that they were a tiny element within Supporting
People, so they are only ½% of the budget with about 4% of
the SP service users. Our main concern has been to maintain their
profile to ensure they do not get lost and their clients do not
get lost, because HIAs are fairly unique in Supporting People
in providing services specifically to vulnerable home owners and
private sector tenants. Our main concern now is the uncertainty
at the current time and wanting to move forward to consolidating
Supporting People.
Q39 Chairman: Are you happy to go straight
to questions?
Mr Gatward: Could I say a couple
of things? Hanover Housing Association is a national specialist
in the provision of sheltered housing for older people. We have
something over 17,000 properties scattered around England. We
operate in 100 or more administering authority areas, which gives
us a rather more different perspective on things, I think. While
much of what you have heard so far I would as an individual agree
with, there are a number of other issues in relation to the providers
of sheltered housing which I hope we will be able to develop as
this goes through. We very much welcome a number of the outcomes
of the introduction of Supporting People and, in particular, the
focus upon strategic development at local level of strategies
for housing and support for older people, although I think that
is still pretty deficient. As far as I am aware, less than 10%
of local authority administering authorities have so far developed
a satisfactory strategy for housing and support for older people,
and I would very much welcome it if that percentage were increased.
Our main concern, as a provider of that size, has been focused
on the very substantial administrative costs, both from our perspective
and I believe from the administering authorities, of the introduction
of Supporting People and we also have concerns, as others have
expressed already, about the impact of efficiency savings from
the Robson Rhodes report of 2.5%.
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