Dear Blackpool Borough Council,

Under the freedom of information act I would like to request specific information as follows:

1. Exactly how many housing licensing staff worked for Blackpool Council prior to the South Beach selective Licensing Scheme being discussed?

2. Exactly how many licensing staff where taken on/hired for the South Beach Selective Licensing Scheme?

3. Exactly how many of them are still in post working exclusively in the South Beach Selective Licensing Scheme?

4. Exactly how many licensing staff where taken on/hired for the Claremont Selective and Additional Licensing Schemes?

5. Exactly how many of them are still in post working exclusively in the Claremont Selective and Additional Licensing Schemes?

6. Exactly how many of the licensing officers transferred from the South Beach Selective Licensing Scheme to the Claremont Selective and Additional Licensing Scheme?

7. Exactly how many housing licensing officers are listed within the Councils internal staff directory within the Public protection Directorate?

8. Exactly how many housing licensing officers does the Council actually employ at this time who were already employed prior to any of the licensing schemes coming into force and/or those who were recruited for each licensing scheme who actually have the title or individual job post of Housing Licensing Officer?

9. What job specific attributes, knowledge and skills etc are required to apply for and undertake the role of a housing licensing officer?

10. What job specific attributes, knowledge and skills etc are required to apply for and undertake the role of a selective licensing officer?

11. What levels of CPD are required to keep the licensing officers up to date and when did they last complete any specific licensing related training etc?

12. Exactly how many Housing Enforcement officers were employed by Blackpool Council prior to the South Beach Selective Licensing Scheme being discussed?

13. Exactly how many Housing Enforcement officers are currently employed by Blackpool Council who specifically have that job title and/or who are listed on the councils internal staffing directory?

14. What job specific attributes, knowledge and skills etc are required to apply for and undertake the role of a housing enforcement officer?

15. What levels of CPD are required to keep the housing enforcement officers up to date and when did they last complete any specific job related training etc?

16. What are the specific skills of the housing enforcement officers? Do they all have specialist relevant degrees, specialist relevant experience, both, or none, learning on the job or picking it up as they go along? What specific and/or specialist equipment are they trained to use and do they all have the same levels of equipment and the necessary expertise to use it correctly? Please list each officers verifiable skills and qualifications plus equipment starting with the most experienced to the least experienced as Officer 1, Officer 2 etc

17. What external experience do these officers have or have they all learned their skills within the Council?

18. How many managers run the housing licensing and enforcement staff? What are their qualifications, experience and skills?

19. Who is the ultimate immediate manager over all of the above staff? What are their specific skills, experience and qualifications with regard to housing licensing and housing enforcement management?

20. Which Councillors are portfolio holders for housing and selective licensing officers? What are their specific skills, experience and qualifications with regard to housing licensing and housing enforcement management?

I appreciate that the above is a big undertaking but this level of detail is required to confirm my understandings and ensure a full picture is presented.

Yours faithfully,

C. Smith

Dear Debbie Topping,

May be I should pick myself up off the floor at the utter rubbish that has been published regarding my request. I posed my questions originally knowing many of the answers already as a test of honesty and you have failed miserably. Over the last 2 years or so I have met with almost all the officers in question as well as Mr Coglan and Councillor Campbell and I would simply state that it's not difficult for me to ask these officers detailed questions and get answers far different from what you've put in your reply.

I have no doubt that these are not your own answers but have been supplied by someone else for you to publish. Here's a little of what I know as fact, kindly provided by these very same officers and others not directly linked to the housing group.

Q1. Exactly how many housing licensing staff worked for Blackpool Council prior to the South Beach
selective Licensing Scheme being discussed?
A1. 3.5 staff (Housing Licensing Officers).
R1. Prior to any selective licensing coming into force I understand that 3.5 is correct.

Q2. Exactly how many licensing staff were taken on/hired for the South Beach Selective Licensing
Scheme?
A2. 5 staff (5 Additional staff including ASB Officer, 1 X modern apprentice, 3 Licensing Officers).
R2. 5 staff plus the original 3.5 totalling 8.5 staff or to be more precise, 6.5 licensing officers. I believe this to be less than 6.5

Q3. Exactly how many of them are still in post working exclusively in the South Beach Selective
Licensing Scheme?
A3. All are still working in the South Beach licensing area and across the whole Blackpool area and 3
specifically dealing directly with Licensing, ASB and Housing Enforcement.
R3. Following a little bit of digging and a couple of well posed questions I know that 2 officers remain in the South Beach area. 1x ASB officer and 1x Housing Enforcement officer who was one of the originally hired selective licensing officers. Where have the other 6.5 staff gone to? They moved to the Claremont area.

Q4. Exactly how many licensing staff were taken on/hired for the Claremont Selective and Additional
Licensing Schemes?
A4. 6 staff (1 ASB Officer, 2 X modern Apprentice, 3 X Licensing Officer).
R4. What about the other 6.5 staff?

Q5. Exactly how many of them are still in post working exclusively in the Claremont Selective and
Additional Licensing Schemes?
A5. 6 Staff working exclusively in the Claremont area.
R5. More than 6. See R4 above.

Q6. Exactly how many of the licensing officers transferred from the South Beach Selective Licensing
Scheme to the Claremont Selective and Additional Licensing Scheme?
A6. 7 staff.
R6. You've gained 0.5 staff

Q7. Exactly how many housing licensing officers are listed within the Councils internal staff directory
within the Public protection Directorate?
A7. 15 Staff in the team (as at 21.10.2015 - all on internal staff directory).
R7. 15 housing licensing staff. Is that 6.5 or 7 staff in Claremont and the remaining 8 or 8.5 staff in South Beach? No housing, selective or additional licensing officers appear on your internal staff directory. I have seen it for myself whilst at Customer First counter as only Housing Enforcement officers are listed.

Q8. Exactly how many housing licensing officers does the Council actually employ at this time who
were already employed prior to any of the licensing schemes coming into force and/or those who
were recruited for each licensing scheme who actually have the title or individual job post of
Housing Licensing Officer?
A8. 8 Staff.
R8. I wrote this question in such a way that it would hopefully trip you up and it has. Check out the answers and replies to the questions above to spot your errors.

Q9. What job specific attributes, knowledge and skills etc are required to apply for and undertake the
role of a housing licensing officer?
A9. Housing Licensing Officer- knowledge and experience of the Housing Act 2004, part 2 and 3,
enforcement, knowledge of building defects, knowledge of part 1 of the Housing Act 2004 and other
key legislative framework.
Knowledge of Planning and Environmental Protection legislation and regulatory Reform (Fire Safety)
Order 2005.
R9. This would be the ideal skillset for an ideal officer. From what I can gather, one or two of these officers could stand up on their own and the rest would fail miserably due to lack of knowledge, experience and tuition.

Q10. What job specific attributes, knowledge and skills etc are required to apply for and undertake the
role of a selective licensing officer?
A10. as above.
R10. As above!

Q11. What levels of CPD are required to keep the licensing officers up to date and when did they last
complete any specific licensing related training etc?
A11. All staff complete Housing Act part 1, 2 and Part 3 training and enforcement and ASB training via
external training professionals/ Warwick University.
R11. One or two did I'm told but the remaining staff haven't completed any formal in depth training that would put them on an equal playing field.

Q12. Exactly how many Housing Enforcement officers were employed by Blackpool Council prior to the
South Beach Selective Licensing Scheme being discussed?
A12. 6 Officers.
R12. I believe this to be correct.

Q13. Exactly how many Housing Enforcement officers are currently employed by Blackpool Council who
specifically have that job title and/or who are listed on the councils internal staffing directory?
A13. 4 Officers.
R13. What about all the rest who are listed as housing enforcement officers as noted in R7 above!! Licensing or housing officers, which are what or what are which?

Q14. What job specific attributes, knowledge and skills etc are required to apply for and undertake the
role of a housing enforcement officer?
A14. Housing Enforcement Officers- knowledge of building defects and the effect that any defect may
have in relation to stability, life expectancy and repair requirements of a property, have the ability
to produce detailed schedules of remedial work and be able to survey properties identifying defects and hazards associated with Part 1 of the Housing Act 2004, knowledge and experience of part 1, 2
and 3 of the Housing Act 2004 and other key legislative framework. Knowledge of Planning and
Environmental Protection legislation and regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
R14. I have experienced some of these so called surveys by 4 officers over the years and can honestly say that only 3 of them carried out their inspections correctly and made notes as they progressed. The other chap just tried to feed me with bull and in fact knew very little about buildings and defects at all. God knows what he recorded when he got back to the office as he didn't make any notes whilst in my properties.

Q15. What levels of CPD are required to keep the housing enforcement officers up to date and when
did they last complete any specific job related training etc?
A15. All Housing Enforcement Officers are fully qualified / CPD in HHSRS, Part 1 application and
enforcement.
R15. You didn't answer my question here. I'm specifically asking for levels of CPD to keep the officers up to scratch and when they last complete any specific job related training.

Q16. What are the specific skills of the housing enforcement officers? Do they all have specialist
relevant degrees, specialist relevant experience, both, or none, learning on the job or picking it up
as they go along? What specific and/or specialist equipment are they trained to use and do they
all have the same levels of equipment and the necessary expertise to use it correctly? Please list
each officers verifiable skills and qualifications plus equipment starting with the most experienced
to the least experienced as Officer 1, Officer 2 etc
A16. The team are all fully qualified in respect of professional training. We have a range of skills from
Officers with Building degrees/qualification, Environmental Health Degrees, Law degree etc.
Detailed information is withheld – see exemption described next.
R16. I'm very disappointed at this answer. The truth would show that only 3 or 4 officers have the desired attributes, skills and knowledge to carry out this role properly. By failing to list as I requested Officer 1, Officer 2 etc so that names could be kept out of this, you've admitted to the housing enforcement officers not having the required skills and knowledge. Every time I have called the housing enforcement team for specific questions surrounding technical issues such as fire regulations or HMO standards, I've mainly been signposted to one specific male officer. Why is this? Surely all should be competent and be able to administer the required legislative requirements fairly across the board? My own feelings on this are that your housing officers are not qualified enough and lack specific knowledge and experience.

Q17. What external experience do these officers have or have they all learned their skills within the
Council?
A17. Officers come from a range of backgrounds from Police Service, Fire Service, Building, and
Environmental Health, and utilise this experience to the benefit of the team.
R17. If there is such a wide range of external experience why is there such a wide difference in their application, methods and technical abilities? If ever I end up in court (which I seriously doubt) over a housing matter I'll be sure to request officer skills, qualifications and experience to highlight this issue.

Q18. How many managers run the housing licensing and enforcement staff? What are their
qualifications, experience and skills?
A18. One Housing Enforcement Manager- a qualified Housing Law Specialist.
R18. I believe this to be a correct answer.

Q19. Who is the ultimate immediate manager over all of the above staff? What are their specific skills,
experience and qualifications with regard to housing licensing and housing enforcement
management?
A19. Service Manager- a qualified Public Protection Manager.
R19. I'm told that the service manager is a trading standards officer. What would he know about the complex housing legislation and landlord and tenant law that encircles it? Coming from trading standards wouldn't equip anyone with adequate knowledge at all and would in fact take years to get your head around. It always becomes apparent when you get down to basics that so many organisations have people up the ladder who know diddly squat about the very officers they hold title over. Looks like the Council is the same. Trading standards gives you housing skills or any other skills for that matter? Seriously doubt so. May be that's why the service is going down the pan! I remember around 2007 to 2009 speaking to a few housing officers and getting down to earth advice and genuine help in housing matters. No so these days I'm afraid.

Q20. Which Councillors are portfolio holders for housing and selective licensing officers? What are their
specific skills, experience and qualifications with regard to housing licensing and housing
enforcement management?
A20. Cllr Gillian Campbell. This is a strategic rather than operational role. Cllr Campbell has 5 years’
experience within this role.
R20. You could loosely apply R19 to this as well.

What I see from outside and what I have learned from your own staff over the years is that they are very unhappy, are controlled by someone who doesn't know anything about housing except possibly that a house has walls, a roof and a chimney and that their skills are far below what would be expected. I can see that the original south beach licensing scheme no longer has the officers/staff in that zone that the original documents specified and that they have all, bar 2, been moved to the second zone. Doesn't the licensing fee pay for them for 5 years to be in the area exclusively for 5 years? If they've moved surely a discount is required as we wouldn't be getting what we paid for? Has this same method been applied to the second zone?

I wonder because we have recently received paperwork regarding the third zone and I'd suspect that the very same staff will move to it meaning a discount would be required in the second zone as we wouldn't be getting what we paid for in that area either. The answers to my questions don't stack up either pouring doubt on this whole licensing scam. May be a review of the service is required to get to the bottom of it. Where has the money gone that people like myself have paid for a service we are certainly not getting or were promised? Is is being used somewhere else because it certainly isn't being used for what it was specified for.

Yours sincerely,

C. Smith