Decent Homes Figures

The request was successful.

Dear Tower Hamlets Borough Council,

This is a repeat of a request to 'Tower Hamlets Homes'. As it seems that all FOI request are carried out by yourselves and the actual email address of THH is not regularly monitored, i now re-submit the request to yourselves directly to speed up the process.

I would like information regarding some of your Decent Homes
figures.

1. How many homes have you now under your control and how many
under your management fall below the Decent Homes Standard?

2. What is the estimated cost of bringing these homes up to the
standard required of the Decent Homes Standard?

3. Is this figure inclusive or exclusive of VAT? and what is the
figure for VAT?

4. What amount within this figure is calculated and set aside or
estimated to be profit for developers etc?

5. I would like a summarised version of costs for question 2 above,
please break this down as much as possible.

6. Who carried out the surveys needed for the estimate for the
figure needed to bring these homes up to standard?

7. How much did these surveys cost?

8. How much of the estimated cost required is being sought from
central government and how much from other sources?

9. What other sources are being sought for supplying funds?

10. Have any developers (if any) have submitted tenders?

11. Please could you list the file-names of all documents that have
been used or compiled ie; surveys, costings, proposed works etc
that have been used in coming to the decent homes figure?

If any of this information requested breaks any form of the Data
Protection Act or are deemed to costly in supplying in anyway
through actual monetary cost or man-hours, could you please contact
me and advise me of resubmitting my request. Also advising me of
ways in how I may revise my submission if this matter arises.

Yours faithfully,

Muhammed Iqbal

Jane L Jones, Tower Hamlets Borough Council

My mistake - apologies

Dear Sir/Madam

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000

Thank you for your email.

Your request is being considered and if the information is held you will
receive the information requested within the statutory timescale of 20
working days as defined by the Freedom of Information Act 2000, subject to
the information not being exempt.

If the time taken to meet your request is likely to exceed 18 hours, we
will contact you and ask you amend your request to bring it below this
time limit. We will assist you with suggestions of how this might be
achieved.

I may also contact you if the request needs to be clarified; this is to
ensure that we provide you with the information you require.

Please note that some information you have requested may not be provided
to you; this will only be information that can be withheld by law. In
most cases the reasons will be explained to you along with your copy of
any information that can be released to you.

Yours faithfully,

Jane Jones

Information Governance Administrative Officer

Legal Services

6th Floor

Mulberry Place

London E14 2BG

0207 364 4736

[1][email address]

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References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
file:///tmp/BLOCKED::mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/
3. mailto:[Tower Hamlets Borough Council request email]

Dear Jane L Jones,

The response to this request is now overdue. You are now effectively breaking the law by not responding within 20 days.

Yours sincerely,

Muhammed Iqbal

Jane L Jones, Tower Hamlets Borough Council

I am out the office and will return on Monday 15th February until 23rd
February. Please send all Freedom of Information responses to Aysha Muktar
and Rupna Khanam

For Freedom of Information Requests, please contact
[Tower Hamlets Borough Council request email]

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References

Visible links
1. http://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/
2. mailto:[Tower Hamlets Borough Council request email]

Jane L Jones, Tower Hamlets Borough Council

Dear Mr Iqbal,

Your request for information has been considered under the requirements
of the Freedom of Information Act and the information can be found at.
I apolgise for the delay in sending this response.

http://www.towerhamletsfoi.org.uk/docume...
rd.pdf

You can also search our Disclosure Log for any specific topics of
interest http://towerhamletsfoi.org.uk/disclosure...

Tower Hamlets is committed to giving you the best possible service. It
is only by listening to your views that we can find out what we are
doing well and what needs to improve.

We are continuously looking at ways in which to improve our services and
will act on what you tell us.

All of your answers will be treated in strictest confidence. You will
not be able to be identified from any of the information you have
provided. Your contact details are kept separately from the replies on
the questionaire.

Please take the time to complete the online survey by clicking on the
link below :

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=rw...

If you have any queries please get in touch with me to discuss them.
You might like to know that the Council's website
www.towerhamlets.gov.uk contains a section on the Freedom of Information
Act that lists other publications readily available from the Council
under its Publication Scheme.

Yours faithfully
Tim Rodgers
Information Governance Manager
Legal Services
Chief Executives Department
London Borough of Tower Hamlets
Phone: 0207 364 4354
[mobile number]
Fax: 0207 364 4804
E-mail: [email address]
Website: http://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk
6th Floor, Town Hall, 5 Mulberry Place,
London E14 2BG

Most of the information we provide in response to Freedom of Information
Act 2000 request will be subject to copyright protection. In most cases
the copyright will be owned by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The
copyright in other information may be owned by another person or
organization as indicated in the information itself.

You are free to use any information supplied for your own use, including
for non-commercial research purposes. The information may also be used
for the purposes of news reporting. However, any other type of re-use,
for example, publishing the information or issuing copies to the public
will require the permission of the copyright holder.

For information where the copyright is owned by the London Borough of
Tower Hamlets, details of the conditions of re-use can be found on our
website at www.towerhamlets.gov.uk.

For information where the copyright is owned by another person or
organization, you must apply to the copyright holder to obtain their
permission.

If you unhappy with this response or wish to complain about any aspect
of the handling of this request please write to:

Corporate Complaints Unit

Tower Hamlets Town Hall

Mulberry Place

5 Clove Crescent

London E14 2BG

If you are subsequently not satisfied with the Council's response to
your complaint you have a right of appeal to the independent Information
Commissioner at:

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire SK9 5AF

Telephone: 01625 545 700

www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk

Further information about the operation of the act is available from the
council's website www.towerhamlets.gov.uk and the information leaflet in
public reception areas in Council buildings.

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Dear Jane L Jones,

The link for the pdf is incomplete so does not link to a document. Also could you please provide this response within the content of the email message, as this is shown on a website it makes it easier for others to read directly, without the need for downloading Adobe products.

Yours sincerely,

Muhammed Iqbal

Ben Harris left an annotation ()

Here's a repaired version of the PDF link:
<http://www.towerhamletsfoi.org.uk/docume...>

Muhammed Iqbal left an annotation ()

Heres the content of the response here below;

....................................................

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST : DECENT HOMES FIGURES (2622)
1. How many homes have you now under your control and how many under your
management fall below the Decent Homes Standard?
As at 1st April 2009 THH managed 13,058 tenanted properties of which
7,523 (57.61%) did not meet the decent Homes Standard [LBTH BPSA -
annual monitoring 2009 form]

2. What is the estimated cost of bringing these homes up to the standard
required of the Decent Homes Standard?
£287.369M to achieve full compliance with the Decent Homes Standard by
2017 [Tower Hamlets Round 6 ALMO BCM bid made to Central
Government]

3. Is this figure inclusive or exclusive of VAT? and what is the figure for VAT?
Exclusive of VAT

4. What amount within this figure is calculated and set aside or estimated to
be profit for developers etc?
We do not envisage using any developers, only building contractors. Profit
is not calculated separately. Budget estimates are made to arrive at these
figures. Once project is designed, detailed specifications are tendered and
the broken down into works and preliminaries (scaffold, site set-up,
contractors profit, etc), and tenders analysed on these basis.

5. I would like a summarised version of costs for question 2 above, please
break this down as much as possible.
Type Value
Electrics £18.113M
Roof Structure, covering and chimneys £17.986M
Main Services and Plumbing £9.484M
Balconies £2.581M
Windows £18.478M
Doors £9.258M
Walls, Structure and finish £106.93M
Central Heating £34.796M
Kitchens £44.362M
Bathrooms £22.905M
TOTAL £284.897M
Please note that the difference in totals is due to an uprating element that it
used to complete the ALMO BCM fund that is not included in the
breakdown of these figures

6. Who carried out the surveys needed for the estimate for the figure needed
to bring these homes up to standard?
The original Stock Condition survey was carried out in 2000. However there
has been a rolling programme of surveys carried out to maintain the quality
of the information held and this has been resourced by existing staff.
We tendered and carried out a pilot project late last year, where a further
1500 properties were surveyed internally and externally, to assess decent
homes requirements, HHRS, SAP ratings and FRAs. In addition, as required
by Health & Safety legislation, asbestos surveys were carried out in 205
properties that are scheduled to have internal works in the very near future.
The results of these surveys have been extrapolated across the whole
stock and this has confirmed the overall level of investment required as
stated in the response to Question 2 above.

7. How much did these surveys cost?
The total cost of the surveys and the resultant analysis was £169,700.

8. How much of the estimated cost required is being sought from central
government and how much from other sources?
£217.504M is being sought as ALMO funding from central government
(excluding 5% sustainability) [Tower Hamlets Round 6 ALMO BCM bid
made to Central Government]

9. What other sources are being sought for supplying funds?
The nature of ALMOs' is that apart from any ALMO funding bid for from
central government other sources will only be from existing resources
(annual subsidy and Supported Capital Expenditure)

10. Have any developers (if any) have submitted tenders?
No as no redevelopment envisaged under this programme at the moment

11. Please could you list the file-names of all documents that have been used
or compiled i.e.; surveys, costing, proposed works etc
that have been used in coming to the decent homes figure?
Please see answers above [ ] represent where information from