HFI Contract Delivery and Compliance Monitoring of Islington PFI

The request was refused by Homes for Islington Limited.

Eugen Hockenjos

Dear Homes for Islington,

Homes for Islington (HFI) is being paid by Islington Council to monitor the delivery and contract fullfillment for major works refurbishments in 4,178 street properties carried out by PFI Islington Contractor United House. Funding for payments to the PFI contractor comes from the Treasury under the PFI contract the terms of which were scrutinised and approved by the Department for Community and Local Government(DCLG).

United House Group, the parent company of PFI Islington, advertises that the major works construction value for these 4,178 street properties is £ 210 million.

Public records disclose that Homes for Islington (HFI) is employing one single officer, Mr Martin Church, to "spot check 12 refurbished properties ... per month" and "and each one is graded from 1 to 10 on various criteria" (PFI Resident Forum minutes, 15th May).

1. Could you please provide the brief which sets out "the criteria" which HFI officer Mr Church must consider and check when carrying out his "spot checks"?

2. Could you please provide details of how Mr Church checked loft insulation in properties which he visited without bringing with him ladders or steps?

3. Could you please clarify if Mr Mr Church inspected dwellings in which "structural works" were carried out?

4. Could you please provide information of how many hours Mr Church has spend in tenanted properties per month carrying out his spot checks?

5. Could you please indicate how many of the inspected properties had at the time of Mr Church's "spot check" visit, already been legally certified in documents submitted to LBI/HFI by the Islington PFI as achieving the Islington PFI Street property contractually required "intermediate" and "full availability" standards?

6.Can you please provide copy of each of the last 12 monthly inspection reports? Please do provide all addresses but redact the tenants names?

7. Please supply copy of all relevant parts contained in PFI Islington Housing Contracts which set out
a) the criteria and
b) timescales
which the contractors must meet in order to warrant "enhanced completion" payments.

I confirm that in accordance with advice received from the
Information Commissioners Office (IOC), I request that you address your reply (and/or any correspondence in relation to this FOI request) only via the email address provided to me by www.whatdotheyknow.com.

Yours faithfully,

Eugen Hockenjos

Good, Kit,

Thank you for your Freedom of Information Act request, received on 12
August 2010. Your request has been processed, and your unique reference
number is 348639. Please make note of this reference number should you
need to contact us about your request.

Our team has sent your request to the appropriate service area within
Islington Council, and an officer from that team will respond directly to
your request.

If you have any questions, please contact us by email at
[email address]

Kind regards

Kit Good
Technology, Records and Information Manager
Technology Solutions Group
Corporate Resources
London Borough of Islington
60 Highbury New Park, N5 2DJ
Tel: 020 7527 1789

[1]http://www.islington.gov.uk

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References

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1. http://www.islington.gov.uk/
2. http://www.islington.gov.uk/freedomofinf...
3. mailto:[email address]
4. http://www.islington.gov.uk/

Jonas, Anthony, Homes for Islington Limited

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Hockenjos

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000: REQUEST 348639

Your request for information has now been considered and our response is
as follows:

1. Could you please provide the brief which sets out "the criteria" which
HFI officer Mr Church must consider and check when carrying out his "spot
checks"?

HFI carry out a limited number of quality checks, which attempt to focus
on the quality of work done by Partners and measure customer satisfaction.
In 2009 to 2010 HFI carried out 72 such quality checks in batches of 12
each.

The contractor must meet the standards stipulated by the Output
Specification and Availability Standards laid down in the PFI contract
which forms the basis of the HFI checking criteria.

HFI carries out visual, non destructive inspections on the works to test
that these standards are being met. HFI also briefly interview the
residents about their experience of the refurbishment process. The
criterion for the question set has evolved to provide HFI with an
indicator of customer satisfaction with the whole experience of the
refurbishment process.

If there are serious issues of a technical or customer care nature these
are noted on the HFI quality check form. Positive comments from customers
are also recorded.

All forms are sent through to Partners for their consideration and action
to resolve issues and the feedback provides them with an opportunity to
improve services.

2. Could you please provide details of how Mr Church checked loft
insulation in properties which he visited without bringing with him
ladders or steps?

For convenience lofts are normally checked using steps borrowed from the
residents but HFI is able to inspect any loft where necessary. The loft
insulation work is part of the external works and therefore only checked
if the property has met the External Availability Standard. Out of the 72
inspections carried out, 53 properties met the External Availability
Standard. Of these, there were 2 properties which couldn't be checked
because no steps were available.

3. Could you please clarify if Mr Mr Church inspected dwellings in which
"structural works" were carried out?

Mr Church did inspect properties in which structural works were carried
out.

4. Could you please provide information of how many hours Mr Church has
spend in tenanted properties per month carrying out his spot checks?

Mr Church spent approximately 6 hours per month in tenanted properties
carrying out the spot checks.

5. Could you please indicate how many of the inspected properties had at
the time of Mr Church's "spot check" visit, already been legally certified
in documents submitted to LBI/HFI by the Islington PFI as achieving the
Islington PFI Street property contractually required "intermediate" and
"full availability" standards?

52 of the properties had reached the 'Full Availability Standard' and 67
had reached the 'Intermediate Availability Standard'.

6.Can you please provide copy of each of the last 12 monthly inspection
reports? Please do provide all addresses but redact the tenants names?

Please find an attachment detailing the 72 inspections carried out. We are
unable to provide the names or addresses of residents.

I hope the above information satisfactorily fulfils your request. If you
have any queries with regard to the information supplied, please contact
me. If you have a complaint about the handling of your enquiry then please
contact Jeremy Tuck, Chief Information Officer at Technology Solutions
Group, 60 Highbury New Park, London N5 2DJ. Alternatively please email:
[email address].

You can also complain to the Information Commissioner at:

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Telephone: 01625 545 700

[1]www.ico.gov.uk

Kind Regards

Anthony Jonas
Head of Performance
Homes for Islington
Highbury House, 5 Highbury Crescent
London N5 1RN. Tel 020 7527 4277
[2]www.homesforislington.org.uk

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2. http://www.homesforislington.org.uk/

Dear Jonas, Anthony,

FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH FOI REQUEST.

Thank you for providing partial reply to the FOI request.

I am concerned that you have not disclosed point 7 of the FOI request and I request Internal review concerning your non compliance with the FOI legislation.

Here again what Homes For Islington was requested to disclose:

7. Please supply copy of ALL relevant parts contained in PFI ISLINGTON HOUSING CONTRACTS Housing which set out

a) the criteria and
b) timescales

which the contractors must meet in order to warrant "ENHANCED COMPLETION" payments.

Yours sincerely,

Eugen Hockenjos

Jonas, Anthony, Homes for Islington Limited

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Hockenjos

My apologies

Please see the attached file. "enhanced completion" is not a term used
in the contract but I assume clause 19 is what you are looking for.

Regards

Anthony Jonas
Head of Performance
Homes for Islington
Highbury House, 5 Highbury Crescent
London N5 1RN. Tel 020 7527 4277
www.homesforislington.org.uk

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Dear Jonas, Anthony,

Thank you for the document.

Concerning the information requested under FOI, you are correct that the request seeks disclosure concerning the criteria and timescale for payments of "enhanced unitary charge payments" upon achievement of detailed requirements including the "output specifications"

These "enhanced unitary charge payments" were as you know previously referred to as "Enhanced Completion" payment by yourself in earlier correspondence addressed to me.

The clauses you mailed makes direct reference to Schedule 6 of the Islington PFI 1 contract.

Please could you resolve the disclosure request by disclosing Schedule 6 in full.

In the absence of disclosure I would ask for an Internal Review, so as to obtain full disclosure of all criteria related to the payment and time scale to be met for "enhanced unitary charge payments" to be made to contractor.

Yours sincerely,

Eugen Hockenjos

Dear Homes for Islington,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Homes for Islington's handling of my FOI request 'HFI Contract Delivery and Compliance Monitoring of Islington PFI'.

Even though the request asked for disclosure of "all relevant parts contained in PFI Islington Housing Contracts" (note the plural) Mr Jonas failed to disclose any information at all concerning the £ 425 million PFI 2 contract.

As no information about the £ 425 million PFI-2 contract was disclosed, I would ask that the failure to disclose be investigated via an internal review of Mr Jonas' decision to not disclose the information requested.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/hf...

Yours faithfully,

Eugen Hockenjos

Jonas, Anthony, Homes for Islington Limited

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Hockenjos

I enclose a version of Schedule 6 together with a statement which gives
the reasons for withholding the remaining sections.

Regards

Anthony Jonas
Head of Performance
Homes for Islington
Highbury House, 5 Highbury Crescent
London N5 1RN. Tel 020 7527 4277
www.homesforislington.org.uk

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Jonas, Anthony, Homes for Islington Limited

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Hockenjos

Please see attached

Anthony Jonas
Head of Performance
Homes for Islington
Highbury House, 5 Highbury Crescent
London N5 1RN. Tel 020 7527 4277
www.homesforislington.org.uk

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